Immanuel

I want to share with you an old prophecy that is seldom if ever brought up. It’s actually a very interesting and insightful prophecy that is continually fulfilled. Even the Sadducees and Pharisees had a problem with this regardless of their correction by Jesus himself. They provided the perfect example of blind and stubborn people that do not want to open their eyes or dig deeper into the scriptures, but prefer to dig in deeper defensively. I think this debate will continue till Jesus’ return I feel.

Let us go back and start from the beginning where the prophecy predicts the issue that we face today and until his coming. In Isaiah 7:14 we read of the prophecy concerning Jesus that he would be born of a virgin, but that his name would be Immanuel. Most know that Immanuel means “God with us”, and from that many have said and thought that it meant that Jesus himself is God and not that it meant that God was again with His people.

I believe this prophecy was twofold, one as I said of God’s returning presence to His people, but secondly that this one who has come would be called Immanuel (God with us), because people would make the claim that he is God. That people themselves would make that assumption. Straight from the start we read in Matthew 1:18-25 that though they were told to name him Jesus in verse 21, that others would call him Immanuel in verse 23. People would make the claim he is God as foretold in Isaiah 7:14 and here in Matthew 1:23.

Regardless of how many accounts that can be found where even the demons knew exactly who Jesus was as shown in Matthew 8:29, still people then and now do not believe. Also God Himself makes several proclamations to who Jesus is such as in Matthew 3:17 and again people then and now refuse to even listen to God on this matter.

Others will use accounts in John 5:1-18, especially verse 18 as well as John 8:48-59 to say that here it shows Jesus is God. Even though Jesus himself never makes the claim himself that he is God, but for every scripture that they may try to use there are about five times as many that say otherwise.

Putting all that aside let us just look at what Jesus says about himself, since it is him we are talking about here. In John 10:24-38 this very question arises and they accuse Jesus of calling or making himself God. In verse 36 we get to see how Jesus responds to their accusation, and that response is not to confirm what they say was true, but to correct them saying that he did not call himself God, but that he was the son of God. Never once did Jesus consider himself equal to God or being God himself.

Just as Jesus continued to try to get everyone to turn back to his Father and to worship Him, we should do as Jesus was trying to do and we should turn our lives over to God who is not only his Father but ours as well. Let us not place Jesus before God, making him God in fear of breaking the very First Commandment “Thou shalt have no other god’s before me.” Jesus has and continues to do great things for us and we should give him praise and honor for that, but we should also honor him by doing what he came here to do by turning our hearts towards His Father as he wanted us to do.