Old Testament
Names Meant Something
Why were
you given the name that you now have?
I’m sure some of you were named after a relative or two. Others of you were probably given names that
your parents found in the Bible. And
others of you were given the first names you still have today simply because
your parents liked the name and nothing more.
But no matter what name you have, you probably weren’t given it because
the name meant something special. There
are exceptions, of course, but names in our culture usually just identify who
we are - they don’t mean anything beyond that.
That
wasn’t the case among God’s people in the centuries before Jesus was born. Many of the names that were given to children
in those cultures actually meant something back then. For example, Adam was given the name “Adam”
because it means “man” - and he, of course, was the first man ever to be
created. Eve was given the name “Eve”
because it comes from the word that means to “live” - and she was the mother of
every person that has ever lived on this earth after her. Isaac means “laugh” because his mother Sarah
laughed when she heard that she was supposed to have a baby in her old age. Esau means “hairy” because he was hairy. Jacob means “deceives” because he deceived
people in more ways than one. Names
actually meant something back then. But
the most interesting names in Old Testament times were those that ended (or
began) with “el.” Because that ending
(pronounced ‘ale’) was a name for God in the Hebrew language. So Samuel means “God listens” because God
listened to the prayer of his mother Hannah when she asked for a son. Daniel means “God is my Judge.” And Israel means “Struggles with God” because
Jacob, to whom that name Israel was given, once struggled with God himself on
the night that the Lord blessed him. Any
name back then that ended with an “el” had a very significant meaning that had
to do with God.
And so
you can imagine the excitement when the name given to the coming Savior also ended
with an “el.” But there was something
different about this name. There was
something special. Over 700 years before
the promised Savior came into this world, the Lord predicted what name the
Messiah would be given. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a
sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call
him Immanuel.”
Immanuel Means
“God With Us”
“Immanuel.” It means “God is with Us.” What a telling name for the coming
Savior! There had really never been
another name like it! There may have
been names given to men about what God had done for them. There may have been names given to men about
what God would do. But there had never
been a name given to a man about who the man would be: God is with Us. And so it wasn’t just a little baby lying in
that manger; God was with us. It wasn’t
just a regular man walking around performing miracles and healing the sick; God
was with us. It wasn’t just a teacher
instructing the crowds, it wasn’t just a preacher proclaiming the good news, it
wasn’t just another prophet speaking the words of God; God himself was actually
with us! In the flesh! Someone you could visibly see! Someone you could physically touch! God was with us! Immanuel!
What an
exciting prospect for those people who received this message for the very first
time! Because after Adam and Eve, no one
had been allowed to see God. People had
seen clouds and smoke and fire that shielded God’s glory from human eyes;
people had been given visions in which they could see a representation of who
God was; Moses had even been given a glimpse of God’s back for a brief moment;
but no human being had ever looked God in the face. Because “You
cannot see my face,” God told Moses.
“For no one may see me and live”
(Exodus 33:20). No sinful human
being could ever stand in the presence of a perfect God and survive. No one outside the gates of heaven could ever
be able to experience the full glory and power and majesty of the almighty Lord
and live to tell about it. No one on
this earth could see God. For 4000 plus
years no one had laid eyes on him. Until
Immanuel.
Until
the one named “God with Us” came to be with us.
Until that one evening in a barn in Bethlehem when God wrapped himself
in the skin and the flesh and the bones and the hair of a real human
being. And Mary saw God himself. Joseph saw God himself. The shepherds and the wise men and many more
people saw God himself because God was with them! And he still is! Jesus certainly lived and died, rose from the
dead and ascended into heaven, but remember at the end of Jesus’ time on this
earth before he went up into heaven, he told his disciples and all of us: “Surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). God
is with us right now. We might not be
able to see him, but he is with us nonetheless.
He’s not simply far above us, unattached and unaware of what is
happening here. God is with us now just
like he was on that first Christmas evening almost 2000 years ago.
If God is With
Us, We’re in Trouble
Parents,
I want ask you a question. And whether
you still have kids in the house or not, you’ll know the answer. In fact, kids, you’ll know the answer too:
Are children more likely to misbehave when a parent is standing right there in
the room with them or when the parent is someplace else? Usually a child is more likely to do what
he/she shouldn’t do when the parent is not there. Why?
Because the parent can’t see them, the parent can’t hear them, the
parent can’t catch them in the act and stop them. When the parent is right there with the child
however, that child thinks twice before doing something wrong because it’s no
fun getting in trouble.
I bring
this up because God himself is with us.
And not just in an abstract, warm fuzzy feeling kind of way. God is actually with us. He is standing right by our side at all
times. He’s never in the other
room. He’s never looking the other
way. He’s never distracted by something
else. God is with us. Constantly.
Continually. Whether we want him
to be or not! You have no privacy when
it comes to your God. But if God is with
us that means he sees everything that you do.
If God is with us he hears everything that you say. If God is with us he knows everything that
you think. Isn’t that a little bit
unnerving? You can’t hide anything from
him. You can’t get away with anything with
him. You can’t pretend or talk your way
out of or slip anything by him. You
might tell yourself that no one else will see - but God is standing right in
front of you. You might convince
yourself that no one else will hear - but God has his ear right next to your
mouth. You might think that no one else
will ever know what goes on inside your mind - but God knew what you were going
to think before you ever thought it. You
are caught red-headed every time. And
there is nothing you can say or do to get out of it.
And you
know the penalty, don’t you? It’s not
just a slap on the wrist. God has made
himself very clear in the Bible: for just one ill-advised action, heaven is
closed off. For just one mean-spirited
word, heaven is closed off. For just one
inappropriate thought, heaven is closed off.
And we have committed thousands upon thousands of those offenses,
haven’t we? How can we expect to get to
heaven and live with a perfect God when he doesn’t allow imperfect people in
his presence? How can we expect to
convince God that we’re OK when God has been with us from the very beginning
and has seen and heard everything we have ever done? God is with us. He knows how bad we are in every way.
If God is With
Us, We Are Saved
Two days
ago on Friday morning, a 24 year old entered an elementary school with a couple
guns. He shot and killed 28 people - 20
of which were little children. And as
the news spread throughout the community, the parents who had children at the
school came rushing in from all directions.
Of course, they weren’t allowed inside right away, they had to wait
until their children were brought out to them.
But why were these parents so eager to be with their children on that
Friday morning? So that they could catch
them doing bad things? So that they could
monitor their behavior? So that they
could punish them if they stepped out of line?
Of course not! These parents
wanted to be with their children so desperately at that moment to make sure
that they were alright, to protect them, to comfort them, to hold them close.
That is exactly
why God is with us. He isn’t with us to
catch us doing bad things or to monitor our behavior or to punish us when we
step out of line. Our God, Immanuel, is
with us to protect us, to comfort us, and to hold us close. Our God came down to be with us in the form
of a human being not just to check up on us to see if we’re OK, but to actually
do something about it. Because we
weren’t OK! We were in a far worse
situation than those children were in two days ago in Connecticut. We needed Jesus to be with us. We needed our God to intervene. We needed Immanuel: the God-Man who could do
what we could not. The God-Man who could
keep the commandments that we don’t even come close to obeying. The God-Man who could die in our place and
take the penalty we deserved. The
God-Man who could lie in a tomb but then rise from the dead. The God-Man who could win our forgiveness,
who could secure our salvation, who could earn our eternal life. The God-Man who would give it to us free of
charge. So that now the Father doesn’t
look at us as imperfect sinful human beings, but perfect and pure children of
the Lord.
But we
needed God to be with us for that to happen.
There was no other way. There was
no other solution. God himself had to
come down and fix the problem. God
himself had to open heaven for us once again.
Now make no mistake: God still sees and hears and knows about everything
we have ever done and said and thought.
But because he knows it all, he was able to pay for it all by the holes
in his head and his hands and his feet and his side. He didn’t ignore what we had done. But he isn’t going to punish us for what we
have done either. Because he has already
taken the punishment himself. And
through faith in him, we never have to worry about it again. There won’t be a penalty for those who
believe in him. There will only be
Paradise.
We Will Always
Be With God
In just
over a week is Christmas Day. The day
every year when we celebrate the birth of Christ, the coming of Immanuel. And it will be a day filled with presents and
cookies, music and food. And that’s just
fine. But don’t overlook the gravity of
that event and the eternal implications of the birth you will be celebrating. Because it is no regular birthday; it is no
regular baby; and it is no regular name.
It is Immanuel, God with us. And
that day of his birth is the start of his climb to the cross. It is the beginning of the battle for our
souls. It is the point at which the
perfect God came down to an imperfect world for the very first time and put
into motion the plan of our salvation.
What a momentous occasion! What
an incredible occurrence! What a
comforting name! Immanuel. The God who came to be with us so that one
day we could be with him.
Amen.
“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and
honor and power and strength be to our god forever and ever. Amen!”
- Rev. 7:12
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