God With Us: Matthew 1:18-25

Tucked within Jesus’ birth story is an amazing passage and declaration of who Jesus would be. This declaration is more of a side-note that Matthew breaks from the story to share with his readers, and it contains a name for Jesus that is surprisingly absent from the rest of the gospels and the New Testament.

While Joseph slept on his decision to divorce Mary secretly, an angel came and visited him with the message: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (v. 20-21)

Matthew then adds some commentary into the story at this point. He tells his readers, “Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’” (v. 22-23)

We don’t see the name Immanuel used for Jesus in the New Testament anywhere else that I could readily find, however, the theme of Jesus being “God with us” is one of the big key themes that every gospel writer includes in their writing.

The theme of God with us should be important for those of us living 2000 years later. This name that was given to Jesus by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14) draws our attention onto who Jesus came to represent.

Jesus was not simply a good man who pointed people to God. Jesus was God living among us. That was who the Messiah was to be. When the religious leaders rejected Jesus, they were rejecting that their God would live and act like Jesus. They had taken God and placed Him in a box of their own making, and Jesus didn’t fit their man-made picture.

Isaiah reminds us with His words that Jesus truly was God, and in this Old Testament prophecy, we see a picture of a God of love because God chose to come and be with us rather than watch us from the sidelines.