31 Days of December…..Day 2: Christmas is about Presence

Thunder and lightening are two things that always brought our family together when our kids were younger. I always knew when a thunderstorm was forecast, that our bedroom would have visitors. One flash of lightening and a crack of thunder would be followed by the thud of feet hitting the ground and the patter of running across the kitchen floor toward our room. For whatever reason, the thunder was much quieter and the lightening much dimmer when my children were in my presence. There was something about the security and safety my kids felt in my presence. But as much as my presence impacted my kids, I could not really offer any real deliverance or safety from the storms. However, the presence of Christ as Immanuel should impact us infinitely more than the presence of Christ just as a prophet, good man, priest, or ruler. Christ did not come to deliver us from the storms. He came to redeem us to Himself and rescue us from a ChristLESS eternity in hell.

The word “Immanuel” means God with us. This term occurs three times in Scripture and is clearly associated with Christ in the following: “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 (Matthew 1:22-23).’” As you read through Matthew you can’t help but sense a common theme of God’s presence with His people.

Many of the Jewish people were looking for political and religious deliverance, but God, through Christ, intended to provide spiritual redemption. This is why Jesus as Immanuel was so critical. Wayne Grudem puts it this way:

• Only someone who is infinite God could bear the full penalty for all the sins of all those who would believe in him – any finite creature would have been incapable of bearing that penalty;
• Salvation is from the Lord (Jonah 2:9), and the whole message of Scripture is designed to show that no human being, no creature, could ever save man – only God himself could;
• Only someone who was truly and fully God could be the one mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), both to bring us back to God and also to reveal God most fully to us (John 14:9).[1]

So, Christ as Immanuel is more significant than shepherds or a manger. Christmas is ultimately about redemption. Jesus as Immanuel came to earth to redeem us. As you ponder Christmas, think of Christ as the infinite God who eventually gave His life for you.