Pastor Slaughter

Fourth Sunday of Advent

12-18-22

Immanuel-God With Us

Text: Matthew 1:18-25

Who is it that you want to spend the most time with? Your spouse? Your children? Your friends? Now why do you want to spend time with them? It maybe the relationship you have with them like your family. It could be that you have the same interests and hobbies, or it is just fun to be around them. It could simply be the person that makes you feel good whenever you are around them or a person that is always there when you need them. People who make us feel happy, people who we enjoy being around are usually the people we want to spend the most time with right?

On the flip side, who is it that you don’t want to spend time with? Someone who has hurt or wronged you in the past? Someone who annoys you? Someone who is constantly looking to pick fights with you or brings you down? Generally speaking, we might try to avoid spending time with someone who does those things.

Thinking about our lesson for today and the truth that God proclaims, it just blows my mind. The Old Testament Scriptures prophecy and it is stated in our lesson and says, “Look, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son. And they will name him Immanuel,” which means, “God with us.”  I have to ask the question why? Why would God want to be with us? This is one of those upside truths of God’s Word. We want to spend time with people that make us feel good or what they do for us. So why would God want to spend time with his creation? Because if we go back to the time of Adam and Eve, they ate that forbidden fruit. We have inherited that original sin. So why would a holy and a just God want to be with us who are sinners? But God is also a God of love and grace. And made a promise to Adam and Eve to send a savior and this promised savior would do everything necessary so we can be with him! Immanuel—God with us.

This just seems like one of those truths that is just too big for me to grasps. I wonder if that is how Joseph felt. Joseph found himself in the middle of nightmare: His bride-to-be was pregnant, and he was not the father. During this time, it was most likely that they had spoken vows of marriage in the presence of witnesses. They were regarded as husband and wife. According to the custom of the time, the marriage celebration would follow some months later, and only then would the bride and groom begin their life together as one flesh.

The Bible describes Joseph as being a righteous man. He was concerned about doing what was right. And now Mary is pregnant, not with his child. He couldn’t go through with the marriage. But he was also a merciful man and did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace. I wonder how long it took for Joseph to fall asleep that night. The Bible doesn’t say how all this went, but I wonder if he thought back to the conversation with Mary. “Joseph I have news. I am pregnant. I didn’t cheat on you, really, I didn’t. This is a gift from the Holy Spirit.” I wonder if this was too big of a thing for him to believe. A virgin to be with child.

When he was asleep, an angel of the Lord came to give him assurance and the comfort that he needed, “Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Wow! I can’t even fathom being Joseph now. What the angel says to him is so amazing. First of all, the angel called Joseph, “Son of David.” He reminds him that he is the dependent of kings. He reminds him of the promise made to David long ago that someone would sit on his throne forever. Jesus’ Davidic lineage came genetically through Mary and legally through his stepfather. While many of the kids rejected God in the distant past, this living son of David would accept it. Starting this night, Joseph would act as one of David’s line again: He would care for the promised Son who would reign on David’s throne.

And the angel tells him what he is to call the child, “and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This is it! It is finally happening! The savior is going to be born! He has the privilege to name him Jesus which reminds us what he is going to do. Save us not from the Romans, not from other nations, not from people, or tragic events. He is going to save us from our sins. He is reminding Joseph that God is with us!

Here we see how we have such an amazing God. That he is a God that wants to be with us. That he is going to do everything to be with us. He made a promise to Adam and Eve. We look at history and see how the kings and nation kept turning their backs on him. But God is a God who is going to keep his promise because he is a God that wants to be with us. God is choosing to be with humanity., “‘The virgin will be with child and will birth to a son. And they will name him Immanuel,’ which means, ‘God with us.’”  God will take on flesh in the virgin birth to be with us.

Although Joseph was a righteous man, he still needed the reassurance that came from the angel, so that he could see how things actually were. Yes, Marry is pregnant. Yes, this from the Holy. Yes, this God’s promised fulfilled. Yes, this is the Savior. Yes, this the way God will be with us.

Sometimes we need this same reassurance as well. Because there is a lot of doubt living in a sin filled world. There is hatred and oppression. There is suffering and pain. Guilt and shame. As we walk through this world sometimes there are doubts that God is with us. Doubts that God is with us when we are overwhelmed with sorrow about the death of someone we love. Doubts that God is with us when there is such animosity in our families or with other people. Doubts that God is really with us when I go through_____ or face______. Sometimes life is overwhelming, and we may question is God really with us? We like Joseph need that reassurance.

This is a God who was with his people in the Garden. This is a God who despite sin and rebellion, he comes to his people again and again. He is the God who took on flesh. This is the God who went to the cross. This is the God who rose from the dead. This is the God who forgave my sin, and wickedness and rebellion. His name is Jesus which means God saves. His name is Immanuel, which means God with us. This is pure gospel. Where God is the doer, and we are the recipients.

I think this is one of the most amazing promises that God gives to us and Gospel of Matthew emphasizes. It is like the gospel writer bookends that promise here at the beginning of his book and the very last words he records when Jesus says, “And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” Why would God emphasize that he is with us? So that we can have the same confidence that David had when he wrote Psalm 23, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” So that when we walk through this valley, whatever we may face, we can rest assured that God is with us. How do we know when it’s hard to see? We look back at what he has done for us. The virgin was with child. God took on flesh. His name is Jesus because he saved us from our sins.

My family, what did Joseph do when he heard the angel’s message? Our lesson says, “He did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him. He took Mary home as his wife, but he was not intimate with her until she gave birth to her firstborn son. And he named him Jesus.” He went with the confidence of God’s Word. As we leave here today let us take that same word, that promise that Jesus is with us always, into the world trusting that God is with us always! Amen.