Many of the famous last words of notable people have become distorted over the years, unless they were properly recorded and preserved. Their words were final and usually a farewell of sorts at the time of their death. But Emmanuel’s famous last words were not a farewell of someone dying, but were a promise of love and hope from the only One who had conquered death. His famous last words as recorded in Matthew are, “And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age;” and then he ascended into the clouds. Talk about one dynamic exit! It was as spectacular as anything that you have seen in any movie, complete with supernatural pyrotechnics, without the animation and the computer-generated special effects, of course. But nothing was as spectacular as his entrance on this planet.
The carol “Silent Night” gives a sense of the world holding its breath, waiting for something momentous to happen. It suggests that the world actually fell silent and nature stood still in anticipation of the birth of Emmanuel. The name Emmanuel means “God with Us.” He was to be called Jesus, the promised Messiah, who would take away the sins of the world and redeem man from the curse of the law.
The words to the song, “Then Christ Came,” by Mercy Me convey the cries of our hearts.
I was searching for a reason to believe that I could ever really matter—ever matter.
I was hoping, I was reaching so desperate for my soul to find its Savior---I need a Savior.
Then Christ came---changing everything; he took my sin and shame away.
Now every song I sing will be for him, ever since the moment he walked in.
Then Christ came.
It says in John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus was with God in the Beginning; he is the Word. So, let’s go back to the beginning in Genesis 1, another amazing extravaganza. Picture this…First God created the Heavens and Earth…all you see and all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded, or hovered if you like, like a bird above the watery abyss. God spoke, “Light!” and light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated it from dark. Many theologians see this as the first reference to a triune God. Right there, in the beginning, you have Creator-God the Father, you have God’s Spirit hovering, and you have the Light, which is probably a reference to Jesus, since he is the “Light of the World.”
Shepherds would sometimes sing in their fields at night. If you could hear a fellow worker singing nearby, you knew you hadn’t strayed too far in the dark of the evening. In the song, “Angels We Have Heard on High,” a heavenly host of angels made a glorious noise and invited everyone to come and see what all the “fuss” was about. Come to think about it, just what was all the fuss about? Can you even imagine how amazing it must have been to look up and see a thousand angels singing and lighting up the sky in such wonder?
The word “noel” as sung in “The First Noel” means either “birth or new light.” The meaning of the word is not nearly as important as the One of whom the song speaks, the One whom angels, shepherds, and magi came to see. He is the One who goes before us and lights our way. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105) And the lights have not gone out yet, the sun still comes every morning. On any dark day he will light our way to the peace that only he can give.
The light of Jesus also sheds light on just how much he loves you. He wrote the book on true love. He really did---it’s called the Bible. Many think that the Bible is just a book of rules---that it is so out of date and boring, but it is anything but. It is a collection of love letters written to you about his eternal love for you. It tells the story of Emmanuel who would rather stoop down to earth from his glorious home in heaven to suffer and die a horrendous death in order to spend eternity with you. Now, that’s true love. His story is written in every book of the Bible, but you may not realize it. They say he is in the Old Testament concealed and in the New Testament revealed. But, the story of Emmanuel is so much more than a story---it is a miracle. Someone was asked, “Does your gray-matter make room for miracles?” Are you still amazed by wonder?
So many of us have no problem believing that we have a saving grace, which is a miracle in itself, but there is so much more to this adventure with Emmanuel. If we allow our gray-matter to rest long enough for our faith to travel only 12 inches from our heads to our hearts, we will see that there is another miracle, the mystery of all the ages, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) This miracle empowers you to live each and every day by his grace. There is no better way to live---walking in his light and trusting in his love to guide you and direct you every step of the way.
This is a quote that some really smart person said, “You can take the love of God and nail it to a cross, and he will still love you enough to come back from the dead and hunt you down, just to tell you that he’s forgiven you and loves you and wants to be with you forever.”
We will never fully grasp just how deep and how wide his love is for us. He loves us so much that a hug wasn’t enough for him. He died on a cross and took the punishment for all of our sins, that’s right---all of our sins. Matter of fact, “God turned his back on Jesus so that he would never have to turn his back on us.” Don’t believe this? Then read Hebrews 8. Isn’t it just like God to come up with this perfect plan of Grace, where there is “no condemnation in Jesus.” Romans 8 tells us this as well. Grace says, “He is in us, he is for us, and he is with us.” That’s the promise of Emmanuel. Listen to these lyrics from the chorus of “Emmanuel, God is With Us” by Casting Crowns.
Love is raining down on the world tonight---There’s a presence here I can tell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us, Emmanuel
He’s the Savior we have been praying for---In our humble hearts, he will dwell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us, Emmanuel.
In Luke 4 we learn that Jesus read aloud in the synagogue from the book of Isaiah revealing that he was the promised Messiah. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” The favorable year of the Lord points to a time of Jubilee, a time of celebration. In ancient times, every 7 years the slaves were set free. A big part of the reason that Jesus came was to set the prisoners free forever. Romans 6:18 tells us, for those who believe in him that “we are no longer slaves of sin and have become slaves of righteousness.”
This is another quote that needs to be shared, “God doesn’t have mood swings. He isn’t hormonal. His love doesn’t wane. He doesn’t hide or pull back from us. That’s our M-O; not his. God never has a bad day. He is good all the time. Even if you blow it-big time, he never picks up his marbles and says, ‘I don’t like you anymore; I’m going home.” He is Emmanuel, and he always fulfills his promises.
The song “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is a cry to God to bring us the promised Messiah, and God answered that prayer by sending us Emmanuel. It was his plan all along, way back in Genesis. It was good-news. God declared that he would never again abandon his people---and that includes everyone who trusts in him. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) At one point in our lives, we were dead in our sins with no hope for the future, but then came Emmanuel with an eternal promise. His birth brought us hope of a new and better life, and his death and resurrection fulfilled that promise to us. Christmas is a time that we hold dear and celebrate his birth and the gift that he brought us, “God forever with us, the promise of Emmanuel.”
The writer of “Joy to the World” pointed out that when Jesus comes back at the end of days, the joy of the whole world will be unrestrained. Even the rocks will cry out. And heaven and nature sing!
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