EMMANUEL—GOD WITH US!
“They were on the road going up to Jerusalem,
(The Gospel According to Mark 10: 32 NASB)
and Jesus was walking ahead of them;
and they were amazed,
and those who followed were fearful.
And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him.”
At Christmastime, we often sing songs praising EMMANUEL
However, our Savior is not just with us in the wintertime. Jesus is not with us just when we are celebrating His birth, when He left heaven, fully the Son of God to become the Son of Man.
Our Savior & Our God remains “with us” wherever our life-path leads us.
Let’s pause to remember why God sent His Only Son!
Today, in reading in The Book of Isaiah, we are reminded of the blindness of God’s people and how they saw but were blind, how they heard but were deaf.
“Hear, you deaf!
(The Book of Isaiah 42: 18-19 NASB)
And look, you blind, that you may see.
Who is blind but My servant,
Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me,
Or so blind as the servant of the LORD.”
We live in a world, in a generation & in a time that seems filled with sin, where so many seem to live as if they hear the lies of Satan louder than the Truth of God.
Consider how this generation is full of these particular obstacles—
- Drug Addiction.
- Alcoholism.
- Materialism.
- Workaholics.
- Sexual Immorality.
- Sexual Perversion.
- Relational Bondage.
- Spiritual Blindness.
JESUS CAME TO SET US FREE FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN!
Just as
JESUS CAME TO SET US FREE FROM THE DARKNESS OF DEATH—UNBELIEF!
There is an amazing image we see depicted in this scene from thousands of years ago. This image is one the disciple John Mark specifically wrote about in the Bible.Quite assuredly, today, this remains an image we need to SEE & HEAR today.
“They were on the road going up to Jerusalem,
and Jesus was walking ahead of them; . . .”
- Wherever we go—Jesus walks with those who believe in Him!
- Wherever we walk—The Savior walks ahead of us, beside us, & with us!
- Whomever we walk alongside who might be struggling as they walk life’s path—God’s Holy Spirit will give us the words to speak!
- Whatever sins we carry with us as we go—God made a way of repentance to escape sin’s bondage!
- As we walk in God’s will—God leads us in how we are to walk!
EMMANUEL—GOD IS WITH US!
- JESUS WALKS AHEAD OF US!
- JESUS KNOWS WHERE WE ARE HEADED, EVEN BEFORE WE SEE THE PATH FOR OURSELVES!
“He Is With Us” by Love & The Outcome puts—GOD’S TRUTH—into melody.
We can Trust God!
- We should not be afraid.
- We must remember.
- We can walk in Faith.
When Jesus walked on earth, when He came as the Son of Man, when He walked within the world—STILL JESUS WAS SOVEREIGN AS LORD!
The Son of God knew exactly how He was going to suffer, so as He was walking with His disciples, He knew they could NOT SEE THE FUTURE—WHAT HE COULD SEE.
“And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him.
(The Gospel According to Mark 10: 32b-34 NASB)
saying,
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes;
and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles.
They will mock Him
and spit on Him,
and scourge Him
and kill Him,
and three days later He will rise again.”
As a God’s Servant, sent by God to us, the Savior knew how He would suffer & how His disciples would suffer because of their faith, as servants of God once Jesus returned to heaven.
THAT’S WHY GOD SENT HIS HOLY SPIRIT, THE COMFORTER!
At the moment of a person’s salvation, God’s Holy Spirit fills the saved one completely!
GOD WITH US—COMPLETELY FILLING US—EMMANUEL!
Therefore,
- Despite the struggle &
- Despite the persecution &
- Despite the addition &
- Despite the fears we carry &
- Despite those who oppress us for our faith &
- Despite the sexual sin Satan tempts us to commit &
- Despite the way we have sinned against God in our past &
- Despite our guilt we cannot seem to lay aside &
- Despite the anxiety we carry &
- Despite the generation we walk within today
DESPITE ANYTHING—WE CAN TURN TO GOD!
&
IN GOD’S POWER, WE CAN WALK IN HIS COMPLETE WILL!
The Holy Spirit calls people to repentance; so, we may face opposition. Jesus calls people to know Him as Lord; so, we may face oppression, despite how persuasively we present the Gospel. God’s children must stand up against the oppression & opposition & do battle.
We can fight in Jesus’ name!
- We can love those who sin differently than we do.
- We can love those who are caught in their struggle with sin.
- We have been entrusted with the precious gift of God—our own salvation.
There is power in the blood of Christ!
- We can love our enemies, those who oppose our Christian faith.
- We can love those who walk, who see the world surrounding them, but who do not really SEE THE TRUTH of GOD!
- We can love as Jesus loves, the ones who hear the confusion found in this current generation, who hear the lies of Satan, but who cannot yet HEAR GOD’S TRUTH!
When the children of Israel were walking in blindness & not following the voice of God, the prophet Isaiah was sent by God to proclaim the TRUTH of GOD to the people.
THIS IS WHAT GOD WILL DO!
THIS IS WHAT GOD DOES STILL TODAY!
EMMANUEL—GOD REMAINS WITH US!
“I will lead the blind by the way they do not know,
(The Book of Isaiah 42: 16 NASB)
In paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will make darkness into light before them
And rugged places into plains.
These are the things I will do,
And I will not leave them undone.”