Title: The meaning of Immanuel
Traditionally, singing has been a very important element of worship. Songs not only clear our souls, focus our minds, but also break the thick layers of our daily lives. Church-goers like to sing "Ave Maria", in Eastern religions "Ah-Uh-Um-", and in Protestants, "Hallelujah". Let's sing "Hallelujah" together.
"Hal" - awaken our sleeping souls.
"Reel" - May our wounded souls be comforted.
"Lu" - Give our souls new life.
"Hey" - May our souls be united with the soul of the Holy God.
"Hallelujah-"
Focusing on today's text, I would like to think about God's Word under the title "The Meaning of Immanuel". Immanuel means “God with us” as in verse 23. I think the reason why Christmas is a joyful day is because we confirmed the fact that “God is with us” through the birth of Jesus. Let us consider only two meanings of Immanuel.
As you go through life, you may experience things like the sky is falling and the earth is going to go down. Accidents happen unexpectedly, you get terminally ill, your company goes bankrupt or you get kicked out of your job due to restructuring, and sometimes you get betrayed by someone you trusted. Children who have been raised with all their heart and soul sometimes run away and burn their parents' hearts. Even after graduating from school, I can't find a job. When the heavens fall and the earth go through like that, I also complain to the sky about what sin I have to endure. I don't know if it's a joke of fate, but I can't understand how this could happen if God lives in such a dark way.
Maria would have been. The news of the sudden pregnancy to Maria, who had been sleeping through the night thinking that she had met a healthy and kind-hearted husband and was engaged to be starting a new household, must have been the news that the sky was falling and the earth was going down. Maria must have thought about dying countless times.
It is easy to think that the birth of Jesus is only beautiful because the Christmas story is often depicted in Christmas cards with twinkling stars and the wise men offering gifts, but in reality it must have been a marvelous event. Even 50 years after Jesus died, in Matthew chapter 1, there are only four women in the genealogy of Jesus. Just by looking at the fact that they were “strong” women, it makes you think what kind of fate Mary was at that time, and how terrifying her situation was. In Tamar's case, when her first husband died, her second husband also died, and she did not give her a third husband, she disguised herself as a prostitute and had a relationship with her father-in-law and had a child. She was a woman who had to go through the events of the sky falling and the earth going down.
Joseph, too, would have done more, never less if his heartache had increased. I got a true sexual feeling that everyone in the neighborhood knew, and said, "Oh, you will have a family in a few days! I hope that day comes soon. Even if you don't have money, let's have a happy wedding and live happily ever after!" Hearing the news that his fianc e, Maria, was pregnant with someone else's baby, must have been utterly shocking. Moreover, if the population of Nazareth at that time was about 300 people, the people in the village knew how many spoons there were in anyone's house. Just imagine. Even in today's world, premarital pregnancies are common in the neighborhood, but how amazing would that have been in 2000 years?
Ah! How could this be? How could this happen to me? No matter how much both Mary and Joseph sighed and complained to heaven, there would have been no other way. At best, there would have been no other way than to quietly break up the marriage so as not to cause further embarrassment to each other. No matter how much I reiterate that if God were clearly alive, this would never happen to me, there would be no other way to jump and jump.
Just at the moment when he would have decided that there was really only one last resort left, Joseph hears the voice of God. "Don't be afraid," he said. "Get up". "Don't try to avoid it, break through it head-on." God says, “He is with us.”
When the sky is falling and the earth is engulfed in despair, when all roads are blocked and we have no strength to stand up, God is with us. When we don't know when this dark tunnel will end, when the whole world makes us discouraged, when we feel like throwing fists at the sky, saying that if God lives, it can't be, God whispers to us. "Don't be afraid," he said. “I am with you,” he said. Immanuel means these whispers.
The women in the genealogy of Jesus, such as Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and other women with strange fates, heard the voice of God Emmanuel, saying, “Do not be afraid” and “I am with you” in the midst of despair. , they were the people who got up and carve out their own destiny, who changed their life from a really strange one to a beautiful life.
Second, people at the time of Jesus saw Jesus and confirmed the fact that “God is with us.” The confession that Jesus is the Son of God is a confession that we could see the image of God in the human form of Jesus. That is why he confessed the birth of Jesus as the incident of Immanuel. In the past, it was believed that God was in heaven, in Mount Sinai, or in the temple in Jerusalem, but the confession that God is now in Jesus and in humans like us is the Immanuel incident. The second meaning of Immanuel is that God dwells in us humans.
Those who met Jesus were able to realize that the spirit that had taken hold of Jesus was the “Spirit of God.” All that Jesus did was to breathe life into people. He healed the sick, freed the captives, made the blind see, and made everyone full of vitality. Jesus restored our life in this way. You made me live a happy life. It is said that just as children laugh out loud, He made us live a lively life.