"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel, (which means, God with us)." Matthew 1:23
It has been a while. No surprise there, as when I am home I am easily distracted and don't do much good. But here is a passage that blows my mind. And it fits a nice Christmas theme. The Christmas season is one for miracles. The virgin birth seems to be the big one people talk about. That is a biggie, I will grant it, but the more I think on it, the biggest thing that blows my mind about Christmas is Immanuel, meaning God with us. That God stepped down into His creation and took human form. Christ, who is equal with the Father did not see equality with Him as something to be grasped (Phillippians 2:6) but He came down to be a servant and die for our sins. He left perfect intimate fellowship which He had enjoyed for all eternity, and came down to bear the wrath of God for my sins. He came to have the father turn His face away. God, all powerful, magnificent, he came down and was born a small crying child in the humblest of surroundings. It is amazing. God with us! GOD WITH US! Not some distant God of Mount Olympus who comes and goes as he feels. Not some removed prescence that may or may not care. But God, perfect and loving beyond all comprehension, with us, on Earth walking, living as a man. The same weaknesses. The same struggles. The pain. The death. The scorn. And He rose and ascended and sent the Spirit of God, to be with us now. God with us. Christmas is the day to celebrate Jesus' birth, when love was made manifest in flesh, human form.
This hits me right now as I am here feeling far too human lately. Feeling like I do not eveen do a very good job at that. That I don't really want to be here. Don't really want to be anywhere. Hell, don't really want to be at all. But at the very bottom of things, far down past it all, wherever in my mind or heart I feel despaired, I feel alone, I feel unloved, somewhere down there something is whispering "Immanuel." Love came down. Love for me. Jesus would deign (Deign is one of my favorite words to use talking about this, since it means "to condescend to give or grant" meaning He would come down to our level despite the fact he is far superior) to come down, leave the Father, live as a man, facing all the trials, temptations, and fears that we do, be hated, beaten, and killed, because he loved me. And He loved me for no other reason than that He loved me. I am a terrible person. I am, there is no denying that. All the time, I am a terrible, sometimes I display it more clearly, but it is always there. And that doesn't matter. God loves me. Jesus died for me. My sins are forgiven.
Some 2000+ years ago God came down. God with us. God saved me.
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Hey Tory, I was actually thinking about that passage on Christmas Eve. Now what else is ridiculous. . that a virgin would give birth. It blows my mind to think that for 33 years people thought that Marry was a whore.. . she probably even started to believe it by then. In fact the story itself is unbelievable even in the bible until Jesus starts his ministry and we actually see him start to fulfill prophecy. Its so amazing.
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