I is for Immanuel

In Matthew 1:23 it states “they shall call His name Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is God with us.” Why, you may ask, was Jesus not called Immanuel as His given name? My notes in my Scofield Bible say that ‘according to Hebrew usage, the name does not represent a title, but a characterization. It shows that He really was “God with us”. It also shows that the diety of Christ, our anointed one, was emphasized at the very beginning of the New Testament.

The word “Immanuel” consists of two Hebrew words: ‘El’, meaning God and ‘Immanu’, meaning “With us”. It is pronounced ‘ih-MAN-yoo-el’, and is used only three times in Scripture; the first appears in Isaiah 7:14, with prophetic words spoken by Isaiah about 700 years before Christ. It is used again in Isaiah 8:8, and then in our verse of Matthew 1:23, which is quoting from Isaiah. Matthew is applying it to the child to be born of Mary, the virgin betrothed to Joseph. In Jesus, God would become a man that He could save the world and bring man back to God. Through Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, would redeem and restore this relationship between man and God.

David tell us how God is with us as our ‘Immanuel’ in Psalm 139:7-10:

“If I go up to the heavens, you are there,
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
If I settle on the far side of the sea,
Even there Your hand will guide me,
Your right hand will hold me fast.”

How can we lose? What do we fear? Immanuel, God is with me.

A 4th century prayer known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate, says:
“Christ be beside me, Christ be before me,
Christ be behind me, King of my heart;
Christ be within me, Christ be below me
Christ be above me, never to part.”

‘Immanuel’, God with us.
                          He is our God
                                           He is truly with us!