“They shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)” ~Isaiah

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Angel, God is God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Matthew, Matthew 1, Matthew 1:23, Summary

Nothing is impossible with God. Jesus came to us, born of a virgin. His name is “God is with us”. That is message of hope in God’s new plan. His goal is that we will have an intense relationship with Jesus.

May I experience His presence every minute of every day. He is Immanuel.

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Master 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: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).^[1]

Matthew 1:20-23

One of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible is found in Matthew 1:23, where the angel tells Joseph that Mary will give birth to a son, and his name will be Immanuel, which means “God with us”. This is a direct quotation from Isaiah 7:14, where the prophet Isaiah announced that a sign of God’s faithfulness to his people would be a virgin conceiving and bearing a son, who would be called Immanuel.

• What does this name mean?
• How can a human child be God with us?
• And how does this prophecy relate to the rest of the Bible and to our lives today?

In this article, we will explore these questions and see how the name Immanuel reveals the identity, mission and presence of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

1. The name Immanuel means that Jesus is God in the flesh. He is not just a human prophet or a divine messenger, but he is the eternal Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of his being. He is fully God and fully man, sharing in our humanity without sinning, so that he could reveal God to us and reconcile us to God.
2. The name Immanuel means that Jesus is God for us. He came to save us from our sins and to fulfill all the promises of God to his people. He is the Messiah, the anointed one, who was born in the line of David and who inherited the throne of his father. He is the Master, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, and who commands us to follow him and make disciples of all nations. He is the Savior, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead, defeating death and giving us eternal life.
3. The name Immanuel means that Jesus is God with us. He is not a distant or impersonal deity, but he is a personal and relational God who loves us and wants to have fellowship with us. He is with us by his Spirit, who lives in us and guides us into all truth. He is with us by his Word, which teaches us his will and his way. He is with us by his Church, which is his body and his family, where we can worship him and serve one another. And he is with us by his promise, that he will never leave us nor forsake us, and that he will come again to take us to be with him forever.

The name Immanuel is more than just a name. It is a declaration of who Jesus is and what he has done for us. It is a reminder of how much God loves us and how close he is to us. It is an invitation to trust him and follow him with all our hearts. It is a hope that fills us with joy and peace in this world and in the world to come.

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 1:20–23.