He Comes to Be With Us – December 19, 2022

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14

He Comes to Be With Us

We make plans around Christmas to be with the ones we love. If they are far away, we make travel arrangements. Then we wait for that day to come when distance will no longer separate us from those we love, and we can finally be with them.

There was once a time when God was with his people, and it wasn’t a long-distance relationship. When God created the first people, he dwelt with them in the Garden of Eden. Then came a serpent, the devil. He tempted them. When they sinned and did what God had told them not to do, for the first time, they were separated from God. But in the very same moment, God made a promise. He promised that one born of the woman would crush the devil and his plan to separate God and his people forever (Genesis 3:15).

It was always God’s plan to be with his people. It was always his plan to take on the burden of traveling the long distance between us and him. He’s the God that comes to us. He doesn’t meet us halfway. He doesn’t kickback in heaven and say, “You know where to find me, but it’s up to you to come the distance.” No. He’s the God who comes to us in love.

In the centuries that followed the promise he made in the garden—that one born of a woman would come to save—he revealed more details about the coming Savior. Here is living proof that our God comes all the way to us: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Immanuel means God with us. No longer separated by sin. He wants nothing more than to be with us. God bridged the gap just as he always planned. Jesus—the offspring of the woman, the son born of a virgin—is living-proof that God came to be with us, and he will come again to take us to be with him.

Prayer:
Come, Lord Jesus, to be with me and to comfort me with your promises. Amen