Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

O come, O come Immanuel

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Isaiah 7:10-14
Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (which means "God with us")."

I've heard the last of these words so often they trigger many warm memories of Christmas Eve Sunday School programs, cantatas, Dad reading the Christmas story to our family, singing carols at Wednesday night Advent services ...

But what I remember doesn't start with the frustrated cry of Isaiah (and God) about the stubbornness of the house of David. Realizing how fed up God was with Israel and Judah, I think his restraint was remarkable. Rather than blow them all up, he promised to send them a messiah, a "god with us," a hero. And as the prophecies expanded this promise, it became evident that this wouldn't be an ordinary man; he would be God's presence here on earth. This extra-ordinariness would start, of course, with his birth by a virgin.

Like now, not many virgins had babies in those days, so this would have been quite a sign. That this birth didn't take place till several hundred years later made the prophecy no less accurate; it just pointed out the difference between God's time and ours. Generations of his people would be born and die before Jesus came. But that doesn't seem to bother God very much.

Knowing from many other passages of the Bible that God loves his individual children more than we can imagine, I think he must not see my individual death quite the way I do. In fact, perhaps he sees death as the beginning of my real life, my eternal life. And in this eternal world, time is not just insignificant; it might be entirely meaningless.

So God does send his son for me, for you, for every one of us. We are each precious and sweet to him. There is nothing he would not do to bring us home. Forever. And death, the event we fear so much, only brings us closer.

There is so much we don't understand, Lord. Thank you for the glimpses you give us. We'll take what we can get. You are our God.

Devotions Archive

O come, O come Immanuel

Wednesday, December 20, 2006