Isa.7: 11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.

12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.

13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?

14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel

 

Math.1: 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” Math 1:

 

In the part 1 of this meditation, we have indicated that fear came upon king Ahaz because of what the king of Syria and that of Israel planned to do to Judah through invasion.

And in verse 11, in order to reassure Ahaz that He God will protect him from their planned attach, He said .

“11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. In other words, tell me what I can use to prove to you that I will surely protect and defend you from hands of your enemies. The reply of the king was  ”… I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD”.

 

And so the lord said, if you will not ask for a sign from me, I am going to give you one and here it is …

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”

Futherrmore, that by the time this child is weaned and knows right from wrong, the two kings you fear so much-the kings of Israel and Syria -will both be dead. Verses 15-16

 

So, again this is the background to the promise of the virgin giving birth to a son whose name shall be called Emmanuel as a sign to king Ahaz to take away his fears.

The prophetic words of Priest Zachariah at the birth of John confirm this to us that we who have come to know the Lord as Emmanuel are truly being delivered from the fear of men and everything that obstructs us in the worship of our God the Father. Hear him prophesied as it relates to the birth of Jesus.

 

Luke 1: 67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,

69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;….

71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;…..

74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,

 

This then is the Emmanuel factor in our worship and life. To live and serve God without fear

 

IM-MENU-EL; literally, means the STRONG GOD WITH US: Now what is the true meaning of this in the New Testament for us and to us.. It is simply

‘the Word which was God-was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth’ ( John 1:1,14). In other words, the strong invisible God was made manifest in the flesh..

1Tim. 3:16. 16 “ And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

 

This then is the full mystery of the meaning of the name ‘Emmanuel’.  This is what we are called to see and understand, Emmanuel,God with us, it implies that God incarnated, took on him the human nature.

 

Paul sharing this thought said…Rom.1: 3 “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

 

His being born as the seed of David is the God incarnating as man..’Emmanuel’. And so we are told

“Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. ” 1 John.4:2-3.

 

In other words, the antichrist spirit will not accept the fact that God became man and lived amongst us as the Jesus Christ. it simply means therefore whosoever will not believe or accept the fact that the word again can be made flesh in the believer is the antichrist. If we can’t live up to ‘flesh’ the word in our daily lives and in the world, then we are manifesting the spirit of the antichrist. We are called to make the word flesh again, that is the meaning of Emmanuel, the strong God is with us.

 

Let us  understand that ‘Emmanuel’;  was not just the  common name of Christ or his surname,  but rather this name  points out his nature and office; as He is God incarnate, and dwells by his Spirit in the hearts of his people.

 

Maybe scriptures like Isa.43:6-7 will begin to make more sense to us..

 

“I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; .Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him”

 

It is man that is made in the image and Glory of God who lost it through the fall.  And so “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past”( Eccl..3:15).

 

That which is past , which is required, is the restoration man to his dominion mandate, back from the realm of decay and corruption through Adam. For Adam WAS the son of God, (Luke.3:38) But Christ IS the son of God.( Mtah.16:16).

 

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”.( 2Cor.5: 17).

 

This is the revelation of the Emmanuel dimension in the believer. The new creation man.

Again,  this union of the Divine and human nature is what is termed a sign or miracle, (twaoth), i.e. talking of that which goes beyond the power of nature to produce.

Therefore, this miraculous union of the divine with the human nature should be perfected in a divine way, i.e. a virgin bringing forth. And this miraculous union was to be brought about in a miraculous way, a sign indeed!.

So, we found  the fulfillment of Gen. 3:15; “The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent,”

It is the seed of the woman without the impute of the man that shall bruise the head of the serpent. Meaning the incorruptible nature of God coming in union with us destroys the power and source of the serpent, the deceptive spirit within our being. Resulting in ‘old things being passed away and all things becoming new’. Because of Emmanuel, the strong God is with us.

 

To be continued…

 

©2016 –  Dr. David O. Ogaga