18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother
Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to
be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And
her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame,
resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But
as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in
a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife,
for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son,
and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their
sins.” 22 All this
took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear
a son,
and they shall
call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). 24 When
Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took
his wife, 25 but
knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25
One of the most unique names of Jesus
is Immanuel. And we find the name
Immanuel is mentioned here by Gabriel to Joseph as he conveyed God’s message to
Joseph that he should take Mary as his wife because the child in Mary’s womb
was from the Holy Spirit. Gabriel quoted
from Isaiah 7:14 to speak of the baby in Mary’s womb. This name is indeed a great and spectacular
name to be given to a child, especially when the manner of the conception was
told by an angel and prophesied by a great prophet of God many hundred years
prior. This is one of the most wonderful
events ever written in the Scripture, since it reveals to us the glory of God
that we celebrate every year on Christmas time.
The word Immanuel is of Hebrew origin,
which is commonly translated as “God with us.”
In Hebrew “עִמָּנוּ אֵל” means literally “With us God.” I prefer the literal translation of it rather
than the common one. Let me tell you why
in a second. “God with us” gives a
connotation of a state that God is being with us. It is like an incomplete sentence, in which
we understand its meaning by adding the word “is” in the middle to become “God
is with us.” It is a very nice statement
and it is indeed a true one. But this
then easily turns into precisely a statement rather than a name. A statement that God is with us. Whereas “With us God” is different. “With us God” gives the feel of
identification. It is like saying “The
God who
is with us.” So, if one points to Jesus
and asks: “Who is He?” or “Which God is He?”, then the answer is “Immanuel –
With us God – The God who is with us.” The connecting word “who” gives the special
identification of God. This name
Immanuel is uniquely assigned to Jesus who is the Christ. Jesus whose birth was foretold since a long
time ago for so many times. Jesus who
was given birth by a virgin named Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph. And with so many other identifications of
this specific Jesus, one must not mistake Him with other people with the same
name. To this particular Jesus Christ is
the name Immanuel given.
In a few minutes, I will elaborate
further to you the deep meaning of Immanuel so as to help you understand
further of the Glory of God that the name in itself bears. With it you will also see the significance of
the meaning of the name Immanuel to the entire human race. Thus we will cover the theme “Glory to God
& Peace for Mankind,” the song the angels of heaven sang on the day of
Immanuel’s birth in front of the shepherds.
While we are touching the angels and the shepherds, let me insert here
that God sent the greatest and most beautiful choir and orchestra of His angels
to sing the most beautiful song to the shepherds, the poorest of the poor. Not to the kings and queens, princes and
princesses, generals and prime ministers, the wealthy and the powerful. No!
God sent the host of angels, that was a million times better than the
best choir or orchestra the world has ever known – London Philharmonic
Orchestra for example, to the lowest of the low. This is most astonishing to witness how the
glorious God does not despise those people marginalized by the world’s societal
system. God revealed Immanuel’s birth to
the poorest of the poor first on that day.
And they were the first strangers to come and see God the Son in the
bodily form. Amazing, isn’t it?
Now, let me walk you step by step into
the deep mystery of Immanuel. Please
give me your undivided attention.
Now, I would like to open John 2:13-22
to get us into the first step of this remarkable mystery of Immanuel.
13 The Passover of the
Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling
oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of
cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he
poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those
who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a
house of trade.” 17 His
disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume
me.”
18 So the Jews said to
him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said,
“It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in
three days?” 21 But he
was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he
was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and
they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
The
Jews mistakenly thought about temple only in the brick and mortar term. Jesus, on the other hand, had a much richer
comprehension of the meaning of temple.
Before Solomon built the temple of brick and mortar, God’s temple was
the tent of meeting, or what we know as the tabernacle. The question is: “Why did God order Moses to
build the tabernacle, a tent, as God’s temple?”
All other nations during that time built the temple of their gods with
brick and mortar. And they built them
grand and majestic. But the pattern of
the heavenly temple that God showed Moses was applied in the form of a simple
and humble tent. Why? I hope to stimulate your appetite to
understand this profound mystery more.
Now, let me move further by tracking
down the history of the people of Israel.
When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, he was told to tell Pharaoh (Exodus
3:18): “‘The Lord,
the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three
days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’” Pharaoh refused, and Moses continued to say
the same thing to Pharaoh over and over again.
The Lord told Moses that
the sign of his commission was that Israel would serve the Lord in the very mountain the Lord appeared to Moses.
12 He said, “But I will
be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you
have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this
mountain.” (Exodus 3:12)
And
we know this mountain as the Mount Sinai, where Israel stayed for about 1 full year
(Exodus 19-Numbers 10). At Mount Sinai,
the Lord made a covenant with
Israel. There He gave Israel the Ten
Commandments. There the Lord showed His Holiness. There the Lord
showed His glory. Israel saw the
“Shekinah Glory” descended upon the mountain of the Lord. Israel learned
in that one full year how to worship the One True God of heaven and earth. That mountain was like the Lord’s temple. The temple that was not made by human
hands. The voice of the Lord was truly heard there.
But here is where things got more
interesting. The Lord ordered Moses to build a tabernacle according to the
pattern of the heavenly temple that God showed Moses. Why?
And what is a tabernacle anyway? Before
we answer those questions, let me explain briefly about the building of the
tabernacle. All other nations built
their temple according to their own imagination and vision, but Moses was to
build the tabernacle according to the vision of God Himself. No other nations heard the voice of the One
True God telling them how to build their temple. Only the Lord
did that, because He is the true God.
Now, to answer those questions I posted above, let me ask you this: Was
Israel supposed to stay at Mount Sinai forever?
No! Where then should they
go? Yes, they were supposed to go to
Canaan, according to God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, Israel could not stay at Mount Sinai –
God’s first temple. How could they then
serve the Lord if they should
leave the “temple” and go to a faraway land?
Remember the golden calf incident in
Exodus 32? After God’s anger burned against
Israel and 3000 people died that day, He said to Moses that He would not go
with Israel, but instead He would just send His angel. Exodus 33:1-3 records:
1The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from
here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to
the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your
offspring I will give it.’ 2 I
will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the
Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land
flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you
on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
Pay
attention to the change in the tone. The
Lord said to Moses that Israel was
“your people” instead of acknowledging them as His people. God indicated that He would stay on Mount
Sinai while Israel would leave to claim Canaan.
What did that mean? It meant that
God would not be with Israel. Then, in
Exodus 33:12-16 Moses interceded:
12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up
this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you
have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I
have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know
you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your
people.” 14 And he
said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him,
“If your presence will not go with me,
do not bring us up from here. 16 For
how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people?
Is it not in your going with us, so that
we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the
earth?”
For
Moses, God going with Israel was extremely important. And so, Moses said to God that he would not
want to go if God would not go with Israel.
Brothers and sisters, this is the significance of the tabernacle.
The tabernacle is God’s temple
according to the pattern God showed Moses (Exodus 25:9, 40). And the tabernacle is meant to be the
expression of God going and dwelling with the people. Exodus 25:8 says: “8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” This is where we get the understanding of
Immanuel. More interestingly, if you
think of it carefully, you will find that the tabernacle is not like any other
temple people build, because this temple is a portable temple. Mount Sinai could not be easily moved, even
though if God wanted He could. But
that’s not what God had in mind. So He
required Israel to build the portable temple, the tabernacle, that it would go
with Israel everywhere they go.
Interesting, isn’t it? Before the
ultra-modern era of the 21st century, God already made a super
innovation that no other nations made, based on the idea of mobility and thus
portability. A portable temple, who
would have thought? When people of the
ultra-modern era made the portable computer and then the cellular phone, if you
understand the mystery of the tabernacle, you will not be too amazed at the
invention of laptop and cell phone. For
way before the ultra-modern era, God had made something that was “impossible”
into reality. Israel was the only nation
that had the portable temple or portable Mount Sinai the mountain and temple of
God.
More importantly, in Exodus 40:34-38
we will find a record of something very important to heed:
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of
meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Throughout all their
journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people
of Israel would set out. 37 But
if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it
was taken up. 38 For
the cloud of the Lord was on the
tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house
of Israel throughout all their journeys.
Pay
attention here, the Shekinah Glory that Israel witnessed descending upon Mount
Sinai, now resided on the tabernacle.
The Cloud of Glory moved from Mount Sinai, the first temple God
introduced to Israel, to the tabernacle, the portable temple built according to
the pattern of the heavenly temple God showed Moses. And so, wherever Israel went, God’s temple
went with them, and so God was seen to be always with them. This is the meaning of Immanuel – With us
God.
Then the Davidic and Solomonic era
took place. The portable temple was
replaced by a permanent temple of brick and mortar. David prepared the materials, but Solomon
built the temple. And once again we see
that the Shekinah Glory descended upon the temple that Solomon built. 1 Kings 8:10-11 writes:
10 And when the priests
came out of the Holy Place, a cloud
filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests
could not stand to minister because of
the cloud, for the glory of the Lord
filled the house of the Lord.
The
same Cloud of Glory filled the temple, which now was called the House of the Lord.
It is important to understand that the change from the portable temple
to the permanent temple/house has its profound meaning. It is meant to portray the promise of God to
dwell with His people for all eternity as revealed in Revelation 21-22. Thus the permanent temple/house of the Lord.
Surely, the temple that Solomon built is not the eternal and true
permanent house of God. But the shift is
important from the tabernacle to the house of the Lord here.
But the temple of Solomon, so it was
known as, did not last. It was built in
1000 BC and was destroyed in 586 BC. It
stood for 414 years. Then the 2nd
temple was built in 516 BC, after Israel returned from exile, by Zerubbabel,
Jeshua the Priest, and Ezra the Scribe.
But the 2nd temple did not witness the Shekinah Glory
descended upon it (Ezra 6:16-28). The
second temple was destroyed in 70 AD, after standing for 586 years.
Now, during the time of Jesus, it
was the 2nd temple that was in John 2. The people of Israel built it for 46
years. How the Jews perceived the
temple/house of the Lord was the
main problem. This is where we find the
trouble in John 2:13-22. In this John 2
passage, Jesus revealed a more profound meaning of Immanuel as He spoke about
the temple of God. As the true Immanuel,
Jesus discloses the next level of understanding God’s temple, which was his
organic human body. Colossians 2:9
testifies about Jesus Christ: “9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells
bodily.” Now, if
it is said and believed that god dwells in his temple, then Jesus Christ is the
perfect temple of the Lord. The permanence of the temple of God was being
made into reality in Christ. For all
have known that the brick and mortar temple is not permanent, given that the 1st
temple was destroyed and then the 2nd temple too was destroyed. Besides, the value of the brick and mortar
can never surpass the value of a human body, no matter how grandeur the brick
and mortar temple is. And we are talking
about the body of Christ Jesus, the organic body of the God incarnate, who is
blameless and sinless.
So, from the type of the permanent
temple, now the establishment of the true permanent temple of God has started
in Jesus Christ. The true meaning and
manifestation of Immanuel started to take form, and it took form only in Jesus
Christ, whose birth we celebrate today.
This was why Jesus challenged the Jews to destroy “this temple” and then
He would raise “this temple” in 3 days.
Nobody understood what He meant at that time, not even His
disciples. Only after He rose from the
dead that the disciples understood what He meant.
During Jesus’ baptism, Matthew 3:16-17
records: “the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is
my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”” This is a unique confirmation of the identity
of Jesus as the Christ of God where we witness the Trinity in one scene. And during the transfiguration of Christ,
Matthew 17:5-8 writes:
5 He was still speaking
when, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved
Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their
faces and were terrified. 7 But
Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8 And when they lifted
up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
The
Cloud of Glory made appearance again here and Jesus was at the center of it. Yes, Jesus is the true temple of the true
God. And what is most striking? This Jesus was walking and living among
humankind. The embodiment of “With us
God” was expressed gloriously in Christ Jesus.
Yes, True Immanuel dwelled with humankind. When He did, there was heavenly peace – not
the peace that the world offers. Luke
4:16-21 shows the fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy:
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his
custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of
the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place
where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim
liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the
scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in
the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And
he began to say to them, “Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus
indeed liberated those in bondage. He
gave them the truth and the truth set them free (John 8:32). He healed the sick, threw out demons,
resurrected the dead. And finally, on
the cross He made peace with God on behalf of humankind.
After the resurrection, nobody could
destroy the temple of God anymore. Jesus
was risen in glory. But then He ought to
ascend to heaven to assume His throne.
The King of kings had to leave earth.
Does that mean “Immanuel no more”?
No more “With us God” among mankind?
This is where yet the meaning of Immanuel is elevated to another level
and its manifestation is done beyond our wildest imagination. The organic temple of God in the body of
Christ is made spiritual through the Holy Spirit. The Pentecost was the mark of the inclusion
of all the elect into the body of Christ.
This makes all true Christians God’s temple collectively and
individually (1 Corinthians 3 and 6).
The Holy Spirit dwells in each and every one of Christ’s disciple for
all eternity. Immanuel is progressively
revealed and implemented permanently through the work of the Holy Spirit in
each Christian. Thus everywhere we go,
individually even, God is always with us, because the “With us God” is within
us, all three – Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. In John 14:23 Jesus said: “23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will
keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Yes, we no longer worship in this temple or
that temple, this mountain or that mountain, as the Jews and the Samaritan and
the people of the world have disputed and debated forever. John 4:19-24 records the conversation between
Jesus and the Samaritan woman:
19 The woman said to him,
“Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our
fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place
where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus
said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship
what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the
true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is
seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
All
true Christians worship God in spirit and truth. No more brick and mortar temple, no more the
portable temple that Moses built, no more Mount Sinai as the temple of
God. The true temple of God is Jesus Christ,
and we are included as God’s temple through the work of the Holy Spirit, which
makes us the body of Christ. Thus here
we see the organic body of Christ is extended spiritually to all of His true
disciples. This is the full implication
of Immanuel – With us God – as we are waiting for its completion and
consummation in the total perfection when Jesus comes back again.
The manifestation and implementation
of “Immanuel” cannot be destroyed anymore.
Even though the brick and mortar temple is no more. Even though the tabernacle is lost. Even though the human body of Christ is now
in heaven. We are all God’s temple in
Christ through the Holy Spirit. As the
body of Christ, we are the extended temple of God where Immanuel – With us God
– dwells on this earth. No wonder we are
called God’s peacemakers, for through us we proclaim His message so people
would return to God and make peace with God through Christ. No, again, not the peace that the world
offers, but the peace of Christ. In John
14:27 Jesus speaks: “27 Peace
I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to
you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Let me sum it up for you in your
hearing today the genius of God thousands of years before the ultra-modern era
of the 21st century where we now know the wonder of portable
technology and when every person may own the portable device, the smart phone
that fits our palm and that changes the entire world, God has done it, millions
and billions times better, so that all of us He has chosen since before the
world began would be saved and would live with Him forever and ever. From the highest Heaven God came down to earth
and resided on Mount Sinai where His chosen people worshiped Him, then He
descended from the lofty mountain to the portable temple that was the
tabernacle so He would dwell with Israel wherever Israel went, then from the
portable temple God moved to the House of the Lord
that Solomon built to show the world the vision of the eternal Immanuel, then
after the disobedience of His people and thus the destruction of the brick and
mortar temple, the Lord dwells
fully in Jesus Christ for He is indeed God – God the Son, after His
resurrection His temple could no longer be destroyed and thus the fulfillment
of the everlasting Immanuel has started to take place in full force, then as
Jesus ascended to His throne in heaven above He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell
in all His elect eternally to claim us as His and to sanctify us as His temple
where the Triune God would dwell collectively as His church and individually,
and this is our state now, being God’s temple on earth expressing and carrying
Immanuel throughout our life and therefore being the peacemakers according to
the Peace of God, and now we are waiting for the Lord’s second coming for the
total completion of the eternal dwelling of God among humankind in the new
heaven and the new earth. And now, what
does this mean for us practically in our daily living? I sure hope you can connect the dots by now,
knowing that each one of us and collectively as God’s church we are indeed His
organic portable temple that is meant for all eternity. But as we anticipate the consummation of the
Eternal Permanent Dwelling of God in the New Heaven and New Earth, we must
realize that through us God has extended His presence in this world –
Immanuel. Our daily living must then be
a reflection of God’s presence, going, and dwelling among humankind. This is how God makes us fulfill our grand
purpose as being created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, how then can we not live following
is will or reflecting His glory, grace, love, mercy, justice, kindness, and all
His communicable characters as lived by Christ Jesus the True Immanuel? No, we can’t live not reflecting God. If we, thus, ponder and reflect on this
Christmas celebration and remembrance, I would urge you to resolve to live your
life daily to reflect God. How would
that look like in practice? I would
point to what Paul said in Romans 6:11 for us to start: “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in
Christ Jesus.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, for this beautiful grand design that is
progressively revealed and manifested, the host of angels sang in front of the
shepherds and God on the night of the birth of the true and perfect Immanuel –
With us God – the God who is with us:
14“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is
pleased!”
Luke
2:14
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