The Mystery of Immanuel; God with Us
Who can comprehend the mystery that is Immanuel; God with us?
Over the past 23 days I have been pondering this thought time and time again, hoping to gain extra clarity but every time I try to make sense of it, I quickly realise my insufficiency to understand such a concept; for who can comprehend God in flesh!
The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit expounds the truth of the incarnation of Christ in the following way:
6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Philippians 2: 6-8
Imagine that, Jesus being fully God laid aside the full expression of His deity (not the essence of His deity but the full expression of it), humbling Himself by putting on an earth suit, being both fully God, perfect pure and sinless and fully man; suffering in our weakness (Heb 4:15).
For what purpose did all of this serve? To present Himself as the perfect, spotless Lamb of God, sacrificed to redeem sinful man:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him
2 Corinthians 5:21
That’s the mystery of Immanuel; God with us! Does it make sense to us? Absolutely not but if we could make sense of it He wouldn’t be a God worth worshipping and I would still be dead in my sin.
This Christmas, devote some time to meditating on the wonder and the glory of Immanuel; God with us.