God With Us

14“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15“Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16“For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.
Isaiah 7: 14 - 16 NKJV

I find it interesting that people this time of year continue to seek to celebrate the "True meaning" of the Christmas eason.  For the past few weeks I have found myself listening to a local radio station which began playing non stop Christmas beofre most families Thanksgiving leftovers had even disapeared from memory.  I found myself trying to get into the holiday spirit.  Not wanting to be seen as the proverbial grinch, I had to immerse myself in what popular culture tells us is the reason for the Christmas season. That is, buying, giving and celebrating.  You've seen it in the endless advertisements from black friday sales to pre Christmas deals.  It seems that the true reason for the Christmas season has been lost over time, and that we obvously need to be reminded now and then.  But what is this true meaning of Christmas?  Most who have read my page o a regular basis may have noticed that I spend a good deal of time focusing on the very truth of Christ Jesus, which is Christ in us.  Now, you may also need to search your memory to recall that this presence of Christ was actually predicted in the book of Isaiah.  For in the prophesy of the coming savior, we are told that the virgin shall bear a child and that they "Shall call His name Immanuel."  Most people with a slight knowledge of christianity know that the very name of the coming Christ child meant "God with us."  For even in the days of Isaiah the prophet, the truth of the baby Jesus was fortold.

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or eprincipalities or fpowers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Colossions 1: 15 - 18 NKJV

From the begining, the reason for this season of the birth of Christ was not one of retail sales or a fat man in a sleigh, but of the joy of the birth of the Christ child.  The child who would become the man who would take the sin world upon Himself that our relationship with our heavenly Father might be restored.  The very birth of Jesus is a major event, which could only come from God.  Born of a virgin, in such humble beginings as a lowly manger.  That is, a barn.  On the surface this had no semblence of a royal birth, but this child was indeed the "King of kings."  So it was that with the birth of Jesus, that the prophesy of Isaiah speaking of "God with us" had become a reality.  Not only was He a child and a newborn son, but God with us.  The devine redemption made possible through the love and mercy of our heavenly Father had been set in motion.  There is no black friday sale or ornate Christmas display which could ever match the glory of this event.  For through this newborn child all things were created in heaven and on earth.  Through His child, God came to dwell among us.

~Scott~