'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?  The 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, (the reason the word is sometimes spelled ‘Emmanuel’) 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 tells 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!

'G' is for Gate

We take the word Gate from Jesus claim in John 10:7:  “I am the Door for the sheep.”  Several translations use the term ‘Gate’ for ‘Door’, and since we already did a name for D, we shall use the term ‘Gate’.  

You may be asking “How can Jesus be called a “Gate’?  A good way to explain how this term can be applied to our Lord is by taking a look back to the Shepherds of the Bible times.  It was, and perhaps still is, a common thing for the shepherd to place his sheep into a sheepfold for the night for safety.  Then instead of closing a gate, the shepherd himself would lie down in the doorway making himself as a human door.  Should anything try to get to the sheep, it would first have to go through the shepherd.

Do you see the significance here?  The first time I read about this I felt excited, awed, and thankful all at once!  What a beautiful picture of my Lord’s protection.  No matter what comes my way, be it sickness, poverty, injury, death, it must go through my Shepherd first.  Jesus is the Gate; nothing gets by Him that is not allowed to go through.

Anyone who tried to get in any other way than through the ‘Gate’ will be called a thief (see John 10:1) In verse 9 of John 10, it tells us that Jesus is the ‘Gate’ and that anyone who does go through this ‘Gate’ will be safe.

Here are some excerpts from John 10 from “The Message” translation:
“If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the Gate, you know he is up to no good…I am the Gate for the sheep…All those others are up to no good…I am the Gate.  (Repeated twice for emphasis).  Anyone who goes through me will be cared for…”

There is no other way or name under heaven, given among men, whereby we can come to the Father, other that through the Gate, Jesus.

"F" is for Father

When Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray, He said to begin this way:  “Our Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:9)  In the same chapter, verse 31 and 32, He tells us not to worry about what we eat or drink or wear because: “your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”

The Hebrew word of ‘Ab’, or Aramaic “Abba” means Daddy or Papa.  This eventually came to mean ‘dear father’.  A few years ago I heard a very strong Christian, a church leader, begin her prayer with “Dear Daddy”.  I felt very uncomfortable with this, totally against the way I had been brought up and feeling this was being disrespectful.  Yet, in Scripture we are told that through faith we may each one of us call Him “Abba” which as we said in English is “daddy”.

Three places in the New Testament, God the Father is referred to as “Abba”.  Mark 14:36 when Jesus was pouring out His heart to the Father, sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, His cry was to “Abba”.  The verse says “Abba, Father” or “Father, my Father”.  To put it even plainer as to the Hebrew and Aramaic interpretation, He was saying “Daddy, my very own daddy.”

In Romans 8:14, 15 it is telling us that the believer is a ‘son’ (or daughter) of God, and we can cry ‘Abba, Father’.  Then in Galatians 4:6 it says we have the Spirit of Jesus to confirm that we are sons and daughters, by crying out for us “Abba, Father”.

How can we have such a close association with God that we can call Him Father, or Daddy?  We become God’s children by placing our trust in Jesus Christ as Lord.  God receives us into His family and our sins are forgiven.  When our ‘Daddy’ looks at us, He sees us as a pure and forgiven child because of what Jesus did on Calvary.

I may never feel the freedom to actually talk to God as my “Daddy” (He will always be thought of as ‘Father’ or ‘Abba, Father’ by me), but I will never criticize anyone who feels this freedom to do so.  Our God is a loving compassionate Father, and because of Jesus going to the Cross and paying the debt of sin, we who have put our trust in Him, Jesus, now have the freedom to enter the Throne Room of God and cry out to Him “Abba, Father”.

Father, my Father, I thank You for the gift of becoming Your child.  I thank You for being my refuge and providing all my needs.  May I always glorify You and may others see me as Your child.  I would like to hear someone say “she has her Father’s eyes”, because  my eyes are a reflection of your love and image.  Amen

"E" is for Elohim

In Genesis 1:1 it states: “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.”  The word ‘Elohim’ (e-lo-HEEM) is the plural of El (or possibly Eloah) and is the first name for God given in the Bible.  He is God, our Creator, and the Creator of all.

The name Elohim is used more than 2500 times in the Hebrew Bible, and it is used 32 times in the very first chapter of Genesis.  The fact that it is a plural word is not because it indicates many gods, but to emphasize the majesty of the one true God.  It also indicates the trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God in Three Persons.

This ancient name for God shows God is mighty with creative powers, as well as having total authority and sovereignty.  Jesus of course, knew this name, and used a form of it when on the Cross, calling His Father “Eloi, Eloi…” (My God, My God)

Our God, Elohim, is creator of all heaven and earth, night and day, seas and land, animals and man.  David gave praise to this and to the unchangeable nature of God in Psalm 102:25-27a:

“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,

And the heavens are the works of Your hands.

They will perish, but You remain,

They will all wear out like a garment,

Like clothing You will change them

And they will be discarded.

But You remain the same.”

Elohim, My God,  You are the Mighty One who made everything out of nothing by the breath of your mouth.  Help me to know You more and more as my very own Creator, who made me and placed me on earth for a reason. I will magnify Your name forever. Amen