Riverside Community Church

I’ve been on vacation for a few weeks, so I need to get back into the swing of things. So what are my usual jokes? Mark’s old, Norm takes a while to get to the point, and he’s old, and I love them both deeply which is not a joke. I was also told we started a new series? Given the fact that I wasn’t here last week, I only have George’s notes to go on for the plan for the series, the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and the Bible. And that’s good enough for me.

Last week George spoke on Jesus as our saviour; Jesus, who was here to save all people. This week we are going to be looking at the concept of Emmanuel, God with Us. We’re going to take a look at the Old Testament, and how they would have understood God with Us, how the people at the time Jesus was alive understood it, and how we can understand it today.

So we start in Isaiah 7. This is a very famous passage, talking about the coming of Immanuel. So let’s look at it. I want to give you a little bit of background before we do, though. Judah was being besieged from Israel and Damascus. Egypt had offered aid, and God through Isaiah is encouraging the king that he only needs help from God. Isaiah 7:11-16: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your[f] God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he[g]said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 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.[h] 15He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

This passage actually likely has multiple meanings. The word virgin can be translated as “young maiden” and the concept of “knowing evil

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from good” in Jewish culture happens around 10-15, when a child has their bar mitzvah and is considered an adult. Before this point they are only responsible for obeying their parents, but after this point they are

responsible for their own sin, and know right from wrong. So Isaiah here is giving a message to King Ahaz that within maximum 15 years the kings of Israel and Damascus will be defeated, because God is with Judah. And he’s right. This prophecy was given around the year 735 B.C., and both Israel and Damascus have fallen by the year 722 B.C., 13 years later. And this is how the prophecy would have been understood back then. Picture yourself as an ancient Jew. Not like an old Jewish guy, but a resident of Judah. You are being attacked by Israel and Damascus, your way out seems to be death or slavery. And God gives a pronouncement, that the kings they fear most in the current land will be deserted by the time a boy, who is “God with Us” is of age. And that comes true. God truly is with you, you are saved from the people you dread.

This passage is also fulfilled by Jesus. Jesus is born of a virgin, Mary, and he is called Jesus, “I save”. He is literally God with us, descended into the world, taking on human form. God is with us.

The prophecy continues in chapter 8: 9 Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered!

Listen, all you distant lands.

Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

10Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;

propose your plan, but it will not stand,

for God is with us.

God is with us, no battle plan will defeat God. How can it? God is with us, Immanuel, as we are besieged by the kings of Damascus and Israel.

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God is with us, Immanuel, as we are besieged by the kings of sin and death. What more could we ask of God, other than to be with us?

Then we get to Isaiah 9. This promise of a definitively future Immanuel. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

2 The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.

3 You have enlarged the nation

and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you

as people rejoice at the harvest,

as warriors rejoice

when dividing the plunder.

4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,

you have shattered

the yoke that burdens them,

the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor.

5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle

and every garment rolled in blood

will be destined for burning,

will be fuel for the fire.

6 For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

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Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.

God will be with us; through Galilee, a child is born. The government on his shoulders. He is not just any child, he is Mighty God! God with us! His peace will last forever.

So we can see the ancient view. God has been with us since the earth was formed. There’s a really cool concept that I learned of from Skye Jethani: "In the ancient world a temple was only a temple when God dwells there. Without God, it’s just a fancy building. It may take

years or decades to physically construct the building, but it was common throughout the ancient Near East to launch its function as a temple during seven days of sacred ceremonies because at the end of this seven-day period, the deity would finally take up residence in the temple. Again, Dr. Walton says, 'It is the inauguration ceremony that transforms a pile of lumber, stone, gold, and cloth into a temple.'

"That appears to be what’s happening in Genesis 1. From the seven-day structure, the reference to sacred times and festivals (Genesis 1:14), the filling of the space with sacred objects on days four through six, the final addition of the divine image (humans), and the presence of God coming to take up his residence (rest) on day seven—the message

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would have been loud and clear to an ancient audience. Unlike the gods of other nations who live in mere buildings made by people, the God of Israel dwells in a temple he made himself—the entire cosmos!"

God is with us. He has been since the universe was created. He was with us when the earth was flooded. He was with us when he brought us out of Egypt. He was with us taking the promised land, and he remains with us now. Yet we continue to doubt him. Why? Put a pin in that, because it’s not just the ancient Jewish folk who doubt whether God is with them.

Then we get to like 4 or 5 B.C., in a stable in Bethlehem. And Mary, a virgin, is told by Gabriel that she will give birth to the Messiah. And Joseph is instructed by an angel in a dream to name the child Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. He will be Immanuel. Jesus is God with us. We see that time and again. He heals people, commands the demons to retreat, and forgives sins. Who else can do that but God? And then we hang him up on a tree and kill him. God is finally with us, the Word made flesh, and our first instinct when he doesn’t live up to our standards is to torture him to death. Nietzsche’s quote is not about this, but I think it’s a potent reminder of this moment in time: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us?”

We kill him, and how does he punish us? By taking our sins upon himself, saving us from it, and beating death. He comes back from the

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dead, proving his power over it and his power to save us. God with us, God for us. How awesome is that?

So the very first people in the Garden of Eden understood God with Us as literally, God is here. He’s walking around in the garden right now. Ancient Jews understood God with Us as “God is with us in our struggle and in our victory, he is our ever-present help in times of trouble”. The people of Jesus’ day who believed he was God understood it as: “This Jesus dude is Immanuel. God is with us. He’s our friend, maybe he’s even from our hometown.” I really like the concept of Jesus just having people know his family. “Hey you hear about that new prophet?” “Yeah I heard he’s challenging all the religious leaders, and he's going to be in town today”. “Look, there he is! Wait a minute, isn’t that Mary and Jo’s boy?” “Hey, yeah, he built my deck!” God was with them in the literal, physical sense.

So what about today, how do we interpret Immanuel? Well, Jesus said in Matthew 28:20 “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Well that’s a nice summary. God is with us right now, he promised he would be. He stands by what he claims, no promise goes unfulfilled. We have the Holy Spirit with us, he is with us in our everyday. And he will be with us for all time. In Revelation 21 the New Jerusalem, our final destination, is a cube. Now that might sound stupid. “Eli. What? Why does that matter?” Well in 1 Kings 6, when Solomon builds the temple, he builds the Holy of Holies twenty cubits long, wide, and high. That is where God dwelt, where he made his dwelling among his people. Now the New Jerusalem is the cube, the Holy of Holies. God dwells among his people in their entirety. He is now fully realized as Immanuel. We get to live with the hope of God dwelling with us for all of eternity.

Yet we don’t always act like he is with us, do we? Remember when I said the ancient Jews weren’t the only ones who doubt whether God

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was with them, despite all the evidence? The people in Jesus’ day didn’t believe God was with them, otherwise they wouldn’t have killed him. We don’t consistently believe God is with us, or we would seem crazy. Just picture this: you’re hanging out with your friend all day. Do you speak to them? Do you talk to them, listen to them, involve them in every aspect of your day that day? Or do you pretend they’re not there, and just walk around with them following you, not caring to speak to them or listen to them. And that’s how we treat God. He is there, closer than any friend can be, yet we don’t really internalize that, or else we’d want to have conversations with him constantly, we’d want to listen to him and his guidance for our lives, we’d want to bask in his love.

God is with us. He has promised us he is. And we can take comfort knowing that he is. Philippians 2:5-11, our call to worship, shows us how we should live in light of this. 5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[ 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

He came in the form of a servant to be with us, to be realized as Immanuel. To be more like God, we need to be more servant-like. So I am going to give you just a few applications of how we live in light of realizing Jesus as Immanuel.

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The first is to simply be in relationship with him. Talk to Jesus, listen what he has to say in your life. Norm once gave me the advice of “not focusing on asking God what I should do in the future while praying, but focus on asking God “who have you designed me to be?”” Once you begin to understand that, you will begin to understand where you should go”. So talk to the Lord. He’s waiting, he’s listening, he’s here with us. I saw this super cool comic where Jesus is sitting in a coffee shop, and the barista comes over to him and says “Ah Jesus. Are you here alone?” Jesus responds “no, just waiting for a friend. He’ll be here soon and we can have some coffee. I think he just woke up.” Time passes and Jesus goes “Oh looks like he’s sitting down to have lunch. We can have a conversation.” Finally 10pm rolls around and this guy bursts into the coffee shop and Jesus goes “ah you’re here after work, I’ve missed you” and the guy cuts him off and goes “yeah yeah hey Jesus, work’s super stressful. Speaking of, can you, y’know, help with this project at work? I’m still stuck between buying a house or staying in the apartment, so if you can help with that decision it would mean a lot to me. Oh and by the way, the girl at church, you know who, I really like her. So if it’s your will and everything make things go smoothly. And heal the poor, help the sick and stuff. Okay. Our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name, your kingdom come amen.” And he leaves. The barista come back and goes “Same time tomorrow?” And Jesus goes, “Yep.” And as funny as it is, how often do we get caught up in this pattern? Anthony Blooms said “A relationship [with God] must begin and develop in mutual freedom. If you look at the relationship in terms of a mutual relationship, you will see that God could complain about us a great deal more than we about Him. We complain that He does not make Himself present to us for the few minutes we reserve for Him, but what about the twenty-three and a half hours during which God may be knocking at our door and we answer “I am busy, I am

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sorry” or when we do not answer at all because we do not even hear the knock at the door of our heart, of our minds, of our conscience, of our life. So there is a situation where we have no right to complain of the absence of God because we are a great deal more absent than He ever is.”

If we live our life with the knowledge and expectation that Jesus is with us, and turn to him as our greatest source of love and comfort, we will experience a far greater relationship and love in our lives. God is always with us, but he won’t force his way into our hearts.

The second application is simply this: Jesus came in the form of a servant, so we should serve. Serve in whatever capacity God has created you for and called you to. God came to be with us, and he came serving. So let’s serve: show God’s love and ever-presence with our service. God is with us until the end of the age. Let’s live it.