We come now to open God's word together, and so let's bow together in a word of prayer, asking the Lord's blessing upon our time. Oh Father, our hearts are already full as we have sung of the rich truths of Emmanuel's first advent, of how he came in such humble estate, and yet he came that he might die for sinners such as us. And so as we come now to open your word and to meditate further on who this Emmanuel is, I ask that you would please direct us by your spirit, illumine our minds, teach our hearts, and cause our affections to grow in love for your son. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. Well, as I said earlier, our theme for Advent this year is rejoicing in Immanuel. And to help us rejoice in Jesus, who is Immanuel, I've chosen to direct our attention during the sermons of this Advent series to a portion of Scripture that's been dubbed the Book of Immanuel. the book of Emmanuel. Some of you may have heard this, others of you may not, but the book of Emmanuel is found in Isaiah chapter 7 through 12. Now this is not a separate book, this isn't a separate book of the Bible, a mystery book of the Bible that you've never heard of. It's simply a series of chapters within a larger book, within the book of Isaiah. And it is called the Book of Emmanuel because of the concentration of messianic prophecies found within these chapters. And in particular, there within these messianic prophecies is the revelation of one coming named Emmanuel. And so, because of this concentration, because of the unique theme that runs through these chapters, this section of Isaiah has been called the Book of Emmanuel, and thus will provide a fitting scene for us as we seek to reflect and to rejoice in Emmanuel this Advent season. And so we're going to Begin by looking at Isaiah chapter 7, and so if you're not there already, I invite you to turn there. If you don't have your own copy of the Bible, you can use one in the pew rack in front of you and find our passage this morning on page 678. Page 678 of the pew Bible. Now as we come to Isaiah 7, at first glance, it seems to be about a particular historical episode in the 8th century BC. But as we examine it closer, we're going to see that it includes a promise that holds relevance not just for 8th century Israel, but really for all of humanity and for the whole world. This is the significance of the promise in Isaiah chapter 7. This promise is found particularly in chapter 7 verse 14. But we need to understand the setting and we need to understand what is around this singular promise. We can often read this one verse and yet not understand what's going on around it. And so we're gonna seek to do that this morning. And so we're gonna read verses one through 17 to set the context for this promise. Follow along as I read the words of the living God beginning in Isaiah chapter seven verse one. In the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezan, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramalia, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, Syria is in league with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. And the Lord said to Isaiah, go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shir Jeshbab, your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field. And say to him, be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands at the fierce anger of Rezan and Syria and the son of Ramalia. because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Amalia, has devised evil against Usain. Let us go up against Judah, and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tbil as king in the midst of it. Thus says the Lord God, It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within 65 years, Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Amalia. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. Again, the Lord spoke to Ahaz. Ask a sign of the Lord your God, let it be as deep as Sheol, or as high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. And he said, Hear then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, the king of Assyria. Thus ends the reading of God's word. May the Lord impress its truths on all our hearts this morning. And this morning, through the lens of this passage, we're going to look at three aspects of the promise of Emmanuel. Three aspects of the promise of Emmanuel so that we would rejoice in the gift of Jesus Christ this Christmas season. We need to rejoice in Emmanuel, in Christ. And so we're gonna look at this promise given of Emmanuel, and there's three aspects in particular that we need to see, and we'll begin by seeing it in this text, which will then lead us also into the New Testament. But let's begin with the first aspect of the promise, and that is the promise of Immanuel revealed. The promise of Immanuel revealed. This is the first aspect that we need to see this morning, and it was revealed here in the text that we just read before us in Isaiah chapter 7. This was, as we can tell, in the midst of a historical context. Some of the prophecies that we read about Christ are found in the more future predictive sort of parts of scripture, but this one is found in the midst of a narrative section in which there's a back and forth between historical characters, and so it makes it a unique circumstance. And so we need to understand what's going on if we're to understand what God is promising. And so, In this revelation of this promise, let's look first of all at the context of the promise, the context of the promise. The events described here take place in about 735 or 734 B.C., 735 or 734 B.C. Now about 200 years previous to this, in 931, because remember BC is all backwards, but previous to this, 931, The nation of Israel had split. Remember, it was one kingdom. And then in 931, under the son of Solomon, the kingdom split between north and south. And we have a map just to show you briefly to get a orientation of that north and south. The pink that is the north is the kingdom of Israel. The green on this map is the southern kingdom of Judah. And this is the what is The historical situation through much of the prophets all the way up until the exile in which Israel is cast out of the land. The northern kingdom was exiled in 722 BC, the southern kingdom in 586 when the temple was destroyed. This is the context of our passage here this morning. It is 735, Ahaz is king of Judah, the southern kingdom that you see there on the map. And the king of the north is in league with Syria, its northern neighbor, northern eastern neighbor, and together they are coming down to attack Ahaz in the south. Ahaz at this point had just begun to reign in Judah. He was newly placed upon the throne. 2 Kings chapter 16 verse 2 tells us he was 20 years old when he began to reign. It also tells us of the character of this king. He was a wicked king. Listen to what 2 Kings 16 tells us. It says that he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. and he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. This just gives you a flavor of the spiritual character of Ahaz, the king whom Isaiah is interacting with in Isaiah chapter seven. We do not have high hopes, high spiritual hopes for this man, do we? And so soon after his coronation, this king Ahaz is attacked. He's attacked by Pekah, the king of Israel, and Rezin, the king of Syria, or Aram. And Ahaz was scared. As most people who are attacked by an enemy, they're fearful. Notice how it describes them in verse 2. Did you pick that up? It says verse two, when the house of David was told Syria is in league with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. That's a pretty good metaphor, huh? Trees shaking in the wind. We've seen some strong Santa Ana winds around here. We see all those trees shake. And this is what was going on in their hearts. Their knees were knocking. They were scared out of their minds. And because of this fear, Yahweh does not leave them in their fear to suffer. He graciously sends Isaiah with a comforting message in verses three through nine. You'll notice that it says, verse three, and the Lord said to Isaiah, go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shir Jashub, your son, at the end of the conduit at the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field, and say to him, be careful, be quiet, do not fear and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands. Don't be afraid, Ahaz. I mean, what more could you ask for that God sends a prophet directly to you to give you a direct word from God to comfort your heart? In addition to that direct message, I believe that even the inclusion of Isaiah's son here is meant to be a comforting message. Isaiah's son, Shir Jashub, it's a symbolic name. The name means the remnant shall return. And so there's this promise even in his name that God is gonna take care of his people. And so God's message to Ahaz is don't be afraid. He's not gonna allow the evil plans of that enemy king to succeed against you. Verse seven. It shall not stand, it shall not come to pass. Again, that is a great, strong word from the sovereign of the universe to say those plans that you hear about that are making you, cause you to shake in your boots, those are not gonna stand. Those are not going to remain. Do not worry about them. And so, because of this promise, because of this strong word from the Lord, what is Ahaz and the house of David and all of Israel supposed to do? They're supposed to believe. They're supposed to trust. They need to hold on to Yahweh's word as firm, as believable. And that's why at the end of verse 9 it says, if you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. There is a call here for Ahaz to believe. There is call for Israel to be firm in faith. to trust and believe the word of Yahweh. But there's a threat here that if you are not firm in faith, if you do not remain strong, if you do not trust in Yahweh's word, then you will not stand, then you will not remain firm, you will not be established. They are not to trust in military might, but they are to trust in the word of God. Well, in verses 10 and 11, Yahweh, through Isaiah, tells Ahaz to look for a sign, to confirm these comforting words. God is being continually gracious to Ahaz here. Not only does He give him a strong word, which Ahaz should just believe and move on, and go, sweet, God spoke to me, He gave me a strong word, that's all that I need, we're good. But no, God says, that might be hard to believe in light of the fact that there's armies right there breathing down your neck. So I'll give you the opportunity to ask for a sign. If you want a confirming sign that these things are true, go ahead, ask away. We already know that these signs, you think of like Gideon, right? Who had trouble believing God's Word and without God's prompting, he just asked God for a sign and that's the fleece and asking for dew on the ground and on the fleece and back and forth. That was, he was asking for a sign to confirm the Word that he had heard. Here Ahaz is not asking for a sign. God is just graciously giving that opportunity to him and you'll notice that there's no restrictions, really, on the permission given to him. It's not like, oh, ask for a sign, but could you keep it small? No, do you notice what it says, verse 11? Ask a sign of the Lord your God, and let it be as deep as Sheol, or as high as heaven. This is literally the sky's the limit. There's really almost nothing that Ahaz could ask for that wouldn't fall between these two things. He's trying to show the outer limits and really there is no limit. I mean this is a blank check from God to do something amazing and wonderful to just confirm the word that he's just heard. I mean, it'd be an interesting thought experiment for you to think through, what would you ask God for? If God were to give you a comforting word and he lets you choose what the sign would be so that you'd believe it, what would you choose? I mean, we could probably come up with a good list of things, right? Well, look at how Ahaz replies in verse 12. Ahaz said, I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to the test. So Ahaz refuses the sign. He refuses the sign, and this sounds pious, doesn't it? I'm not gonna put the Lord to the test. I mean, even Jesus in his temptation, right, he quoted that verse and said that you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. But here, Yahweh had given that permission. He should have gone forward with it. This reply was fueled not by faith, Not by a love and respect of Yahweh. This reply was fueled by unbelief. It was fueled by a, rather, a disdain for the Lord. In other words, Ahaz doesn't want a sign from Yahweh because he doesn't believe the word to begin with. He didn't believe the comforting word from Yahweh through Isaiah, and so therefore a sign, yeah, that's okay, I don't need that. He doesn't believe that Yahweh is the true source of his help. You see, as we learn from 2 Kings 16, verses 7-10, Ahaz, at this moment, is planning to, or already has, sought help from the king of Assyria. He felt these armies on his northern border and he was scared and so then he gathers up the gold that he has and he sends it off to Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, and seeking to pay him enough to bribe him to come and to attack these other enemies. And so, Ahaz's trust, Ahaz's faith was not in Yahweh, but was in the military might of a greater king in the area. Commentator Derek Kidner explains this well. He says this, he says, to waive the offer aside was to reject God flatly. But Ahaz had already made up his mind. Faith played no part in his religion or his politics. Behind the smooth scriptural talk lay a plan to outwit his enemies by making friends with the biggest of them. You see, Ahaz was scheming a totally different direction. He didn't need the Lord. He didn't need those promises because he's already got things figured out. He's going to go by pure human might. Ahaz's faith was in his foreign policy and his ability to bribe the greatest king of the region to attack his enemies, not in the greatest king of all the earth, Yahweh himself. And so in light of Ahaz's unbelief, Isaiah then rebukes him in the house of David. Look at this in verse 13. And he, that's Isaiah, said, hear then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also? This is a rebuke. This is a rebuke to say that your unbelief is unbelievable. It is wearying God. Now, God cannot be wearied, but he is, his patience is wearing thin, you might say. at the unbelief of this king. And so, because Ahaz refuses God's offer, flatly rejects the Lord, then Yahweh chooses to give a sign himself, and that's where verse 14 comes in. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. A sign was permitted, but now a sign is going to be imposed. Okay, it has, you didn't wanna sign, you didn't want to see what I could do, you didn't wanna see anything, I'm gonna give you something, you didn't even ask for it, but I'm gonna show you. And so this gives us the context of this promise, but let's now narrow into verse 14 and look at the content of the promise. Look at the content of the promise. It says, it begins, Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold. Behold. Anytime you come across the word behold in the scriptures, it's a textual and verbal indicator for you to pay attention. Of course, we're always to pay attention, but it's meant to kind of grab our attention in a special way. Okay, I've been listening, but now I'm really sitting on the edge of my seat. Now my ears are really perked up. It's meant to stand out in the text and particularly in an oral culture when scripture was passed on orally, they would listen for the beholds. We need to listen for them too. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Now this promise is remarkable. The virgin shall conceive and bear a son. A woman who has not known a man will become pregnant and in her continued status as a virgin, she will become pregnant, she will remain a virgin even as she bears a son. Now we know, humanly, this is not possible. And so this text is remarkable, and particularly the fact, not only that this is talked about in this sort of way, but the fact that it is a promise that we believe is fulfilled over 700 years before Christ came on the scene. The fact that this specificity was given to the prophet Isaiah so many years in advance is absolutely remarkable and therefore because there's so much on this messianic text, there's been much debate and there's been much attack. The attack has come from the liberal theologians, those who don't believe that the Bible is God's word. Those who believe that this wasn't really a prophecy given 700 years in advance, but really someone after the fact that changed it, or what they do actually is that they say that this isn't a prediction of the virgin birth at all, that the word for virgin here, it really just means young woman. And so the prediction is just that a young woman is going to have a son, which takes the miracle right out of it, doesn't it? They say that it predicted a certain young woman would give birth to a special son and that it was fulfilled completely in chapter eight with the birth of Isaiah's son named Maharshal Hashbaz. Yes, it's a mouthful of a name. I don't know if there's any way to get around that. I can't imagine his mother trying to call him Maharshal Hashbaz. He must have had a nickname. But they say that this promise in chapter 7 was given, and oh, it was fulfilled in chapter 8. End of story. Now, that's for those who attack these verses. For others, and particularly for those who are Bible-believing Christians, conservative scholars, they're trying to understand what's going on here, and scholars have landed in different camps, and particularly there's two different views, one that believes that there is a single fulfillment view, in that this promise only applies to Jesus the Messiah. And then there's what are called the dual fulfillment view that believes that there was a near-term fulfillment in that son of Isaiah, but then they also looked forward to a far fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Both scholars believe that it was fulfilled ultimately in Jesus Christ. And this dual fulfillment view is actually a very popular view right now amongst evangelical scholars. And it's held by many scholars and authors that I respect and follow in many other ways, but after my own study, I don't believe the dual fulfillment view is accurate or is necessary. I believe that the single fulfillment view, that this promise was given and was fulfilled only once, and that is in the person of Jesus Christ, is the best way to understand this passage. This verse foretells the coming of the Davidic Messiah, who was born of a virgin. No other birth was in view here than the one who was born of a virgin. Now again, those who hold to a dual fulfillment view still believe that this predicts Jesus, the Messiah. They still believe he was born of a virgin. They don't waver on those points. But my contention is that I believe there's only one fulfillment while they believe that there is two. And if you are interested in knowing the difference between those two points and why I hold to the one fulfillment and not the two, then you can read my sermon notes when they come out this week. I'll have all the details for you who want to get into the weeds. We don't have time to do it this morning. It is fascinating for those who are interested. And if you don't currently get my sermon notes, they go out every week, any of you are able to get on that email list, you can just email the office and be able to receive those in your inbox each week. But this verse says not only that the child will be born of a virgin, but his name will be Emmanuel. And as we know, this name means God with us. So in some sort of amazing way, there would come a child who would be God with us. Now there are those, again, among the liberal scholars that would claim…that would object to the human impossibility of this reality. How can a virgin give…conceive and give birth? Well, I would simply note the context. What did God, what kind of range did God give Ahaz in asking for a sign? It was quite an extreme. As deep as Sheol and as high as heaven. He asked, he gave Ahaz permission to get a sign that was supernatural, essentially. And so Ahaz didn't get a sign, didn't request a sign in that way. But God Himself would give a sign in the category of the supernatural. And so, for Him to present a sign in this way is not far-fetched. Now as we continue, look at verse 15. There's some more details about this Son that we need to see. He shall eat curds and honey, it says. Curds and honey. When we Cross-reference this with verse 22 in this same chapter, we learn that curds and honey are the food of poverty and devastation. After an army sweeps through a land, after an invading army goes through and attacks, all that's left is curdled milk and honey. And so this child, verse 15 is saying, is gonna be born in poverty and in a time when Israel will be overrun by an invading power. Verse 15 also tells us that he will know to refuse the evil and choose the good. You see that? He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. This choosing the evil, this refusing evil and choosing good, I believe is a statement about this child's discerning character, not his age. In other words, this isn't just when he gets old enough to know his right hand from the left, you'll know that from Jonah chapter four. This is talking about that this one will be one who rejects the evil and chooses the good. And this is meant to be in direct contrast with the king, the current Davidic king in the time of this passage. Was Ahaz one who was rejecting evil and choosing good? No, exact opposite. Ahaz was choosing evil. He was choosing the king of Assyria over Yahweh. He was rejecting the good, he was rejecting Yahweh. And yet this one, Emmanuel, he will be the one who rejects evil and chooses good. Verse 16 then says that when, before this child appears, the land will be forsaken and deserted. Some take this to mean the lands of Syria and Israel, but I think that it speaks to the land of Israel. And so in other words, before the Emmanuel comes on the stage, becomes of age, the land of Israel will be forsaken. It will, and this forsakenness will take place because of none other than the king of Assyria, verse 17, than the one that Ahaz had looked for help. So the prophecy is that there's this one who's going to come, Immanuel, but before he gets here, Ahaz, that very one that you're seeking refuge from, the king of Assyria, he's going to desolate this land. And so in summary, the promise, the content of this promise is this, that a virgin will conceive and give birth as a virgin to a son whose name will be Emmanuel. This child will be born in a time of poverty and oppression because the land of Israel will be forsaken. And so after looking now at the context and the content, let's look thirdly at the consequence of this promise. The consequence of this promise. In other words, what is the significance of this promise? What's the big deal for Ahaz and for the audience there? Well, for Ahaz, this prophecy clearly communicated two things. First is that God was judging the Davidic dynasty. God was judging Ahaz and the Davidic dynasty. Because Ahaz refused to trust Yahweh, God's plans were bypassing Ahaz. Emmanuel, God's special child, would have nothing to do with Ahaz. There was judgment on him and on the whole house of Ahaz. You'll notice the context that the promise is verse 14, verse 13 is a rebuke, and then verses 17 through 25 all describe judgment coming by the king of Assyria. The context here is judgment, not comforting promise. And so even though the promise of Emmanuel is wonderful for us and for believers of all time, it was given in the context of judgment to Ahaz. But there's a second thing that it meant to Ahaz and to the Davidic dynasty, and that is that God was not done with David. God was not done with the house of David. Even though Ahaz had failed to trust the Lord, Yahweh would preserve the house of David by bringing about this divine child. He knew this prophecy had to do with the Davidic dynasty, not just with Ahaz. There's some that say, oh, this promise of Immanuel was only to Ahaz. No, this had broader implications than just Ahaz, broader implications than just the 8th century BC. We know this because the house of David is directly addressed. You'll notice, first of all, in verse two, the house of David is interestingly named. It says, when the house of David was told. Not Ahaz, not the king, but the house of David. And then, down in verse 13, it says, when Isaiah speaks and gives this rebuke, he says, hear then, oh house of David. Additionally to this, not only is the address of the house of David, but the English Standard Version here helps us with the footnotes to show that the second person address, when it says you in these verses, it switches between the plural and the singular. And we don't have time to compare all this, I encourage you to look it up later, but he switches between the singular, talking to Ahaz directly, to then the plural talking about the whole house of David. This has more to do than just with Ahaz. Now mysteriously, this child would bring heaven to earth. He would be God with us. He would do what no other human could do. And we see this even in the escalation throughout the Old Testament. These two Old Testament words here, conceive and give birth, you see that in verse 14? The virgin shall conceive and bear a son or conceive and give birth to a son. That combination of words are used in a number of times in the Old Testament and they're used in significant cases. with significant individuals. Eve in Genesis 4, Hagar, Genesis 16, Sarah, Genesis 21, Jochebed, Exodus 2, that's Moses' mother, the mother of Samson, Judges 13, and Hannah, 1 Samuel chapter one, and Ruth 4.10 is also a close parallel. Each one of the sons, get this, each one of the sons born to those mothers were significant men in God's plan. Therefore, I believe, as Abner Chau argues, the birth of Immanuel is an argument from the lesser to the greater. He says this, a virgin birth exceeds any other miraculous births. Consequently, the virgin born son is the most significant individual in redemptive history. He surpasses Isaac, Moses, Samson, or Samuel. In the context of Isaiah 7.14, the birth of this ultimate individual secures the Davidic dynasty and the restoration of the rendement. As mentioned in the sheer Jashub's name in seven verse three, he will be born in exile to end it. Hence, God will use this child in extraordinary ways to fulfill his plan and display his majesty. This child is truly God with us. So this, friends, is the promise of Immanuel revealed. But we need to look secondly at the promise of Immanuel fulfilled. The promise of Immanuel fulfilled, and for this we're gonna turn to Matthew chapter one. So turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter one. This takes us to the birth narrative of Jesus, the Messiah, particularly from the perspective of Joseph. Matthew chapter 1, beginning in verse 18. It reads this, Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Look at verse 23. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. So Matthew here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, declares that Jesus is the one who fulfilled the promise of Isaiah 7.14. By quoting this verse, he's saying that Jesus' birth fulfilled what had been prophesied over 700 years previously. And it's not just that he was born, it's that he was born of a virgin. This text, along with Luke 1 and 2, make it abundantly clear that Mary was a virgin at the time of her conception and at the time of giving birth. Her virginity status did not change until after Jesus' birth. Verse 25, Joseph knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And as an aside, I just say that this scripture, along with others, put to death the erroneous Catholic doctrines of perpetual virginity of Mary, as well as the immaculate conception of Mary. Those are both not taught in the scriptures. Jesus' conception was miraculous, not Mary's. Now how was Mary, as a virgin, able to conceive? Well, it was because it was by the Holy Spirit. That's what it says, and the angel told Joseph in verse 20, that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Likewise, in Luke chapter one, the angel told Mary, she asked, how can this be since I'm a virgin? And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. And so the wonder, friends, of the virgin conception and the virgin birth came about because of the mighty power of God the Holy Spirit. And of course, we know that she did give birth. The famous verse in Luke chapter two, verse seven, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn or guest room, as I believe it's better translated. And so through his birth, Jesus was born. was Immanuel, God with us. But what does this mean? What does it mean that Jesus is Immanuel? What's the significance of that name placed upon Him and the significance for us here this morning? I believe it means this, that Immanuel means He was the perfect Savior for us. It's that simple. Immanuel means God with us, He was the perfect Savior for us. The Apostle John tells us in John chapter one, verse 14, the word became flesh, that's Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus, who is truly God, who dwelt in unapproachable light in the glory with the Father for all eternity past, then in time became flesh and dwelt among us. He came as truly God, fully God. You see, we needed a divine Savior. Humanity could not just get another human Savior. We needed someone from outside of us. Mankind can try to perfect themselves, we can try to make ourselves better, to save ourselves, to try to help rid ourselves of the problems in our world, but the reality is is that the curse cannot be gotten rid of by pure human means. We need something from outside of us, and that is one thing that the virgin birth teaches us, that God had to come and conceive in Mary so that we could have a savior who was not from stained with sin, not from the stained line of Adam. And yet, not only do we need a divine Savior, we also needed a human Savior. It wouldn't be enough for just God to show up in His great resplendent glory. We needed Him to identify with us. We needed Him to be truly human. And so as verse, as John 1, 14 says, he became flesh and dwelt among us. He came to identify with you and with me, friends. He came to take on our humanity. He was one of us. Jesus was not just an angel, just an apparition. He was human, and he was God. He took on human life here. He lived it as a normal human. He felt the pains and the sorrows of life on earth. Even though he had no sin in himself, he felt the pains of living in a fallen world. He felt the weight of this world that groans under the curse of sin. And so he knows and he understands what we experience. The pains of sorrows, he knows and he felt himself. But more than this, he came to this earth in order to bear the sin of man upon himself and to die. Jesus himself said that he came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He came to die. You remember John the Baptist when he saw Jesus for the first time, what did he say? Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the one who takes away sin. That is why He came. Hebrews 9 verse 26 tells us that He appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And the Apostle Peter tells us that he put away the sin when he died on the cross. 1 Peter 2 verse 24, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that is on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. Friends, this is the mission of why Jesus came. This is why he was born. This is the significance of the child born in the manger, the fact that He's Emmanuel, God with us, to identify with us, so that He might die for us. So that He might take our place. So that He might receive the just punishment for sin that we deserve. That is the amazing reality of Emmanuel. He is the perfect savior for us. There is no one else that could stand in that place that could both identify with us and yet be separate from us and receive all of the wrath of God. We all deserve for our sin to be placed upon him and to crush him and for him to survive and to rise again in new life and in victory and then give life. There's no one else, only Emmanuel, only Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of this promise. And so because he is the only one, therefore, it brings us to the third and final aspects of this promise that we need to see this morning, and that is the promise of Emmanuel believed. We've seen the promise of Emmanuel revealed, fulfilled, and thirdly believed. It's nice and comforting that Jesus came as Emmanuel, but we cannot simply look at the babe in the manger and pass on and say, oh, that's nice. When we see God in human flesh, when we see that God had to come and take on our nature, had to become as a humble baby, yes, that baby that we see in the crash, that we see in those nativity scenes, we should look upon that baby and realize why is it that God Almighty in His greatness and His glory and majesty and purity had to stoop this low. Why is He even here? It's because of our problem. It's because we need to be rescued. Because of the sin problem that pervades each and every one of us, the Bible says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And that the wages of our sin is death. This is the fundamental corruption that pervades all of humanity and is the reason why Jesus had to be born, why Jesus had to even come and enter our world. It's why he needed to dwell among us, why he needed to live the perfect life that we can never live, why he needed to bear our sin upon himself and then be crushed under the wrath of God. It's why we needed him to rise again to new life so that death would be conquered once and for all. And this is a realization that each and every one of us must come to, that this is the Savior that we need. So for many of us, we need to be reminded this Christmas season that that sweet Jesus boy laying in the manger shows us that we needed rescuing. His arrival is only good news because of the bad news. And there may be others of you this morning that need to come to this realization for the first time. You've maybe never actually admitted or realized that you need rescuing. That you, on your own, stand condemned under the wrath of God. But that you, there's hope for you. That condemnation is not the end of the story. You are alive today, your heart is beating, your lungs are breathing, and you can still hear the good news that Jesus has come, that this is God's answer, that this is God's substitute for you, that if you would put your faith and trust in him, you can escape the wrath that is to come. You can find salvation. You can be rescued. The good news is found in Jesus, our Emmanuel. He has come to save us. He's come to forgive. He's come to cleanse. He's come to renew. He is God with us to make us His own and to never let us go. And so each one of us must believe in Emmanuel. We must trust in Him completely. It's not enough that we just know about Him. It's not enough that we are just acquainted with Him and with the stories about Him. It's not enough that we like Him. We must trust him. We must trust him with our lives. We must trust him with our sin and our guilt. We must trust him with our brokenness. We must trust him with our fears. We must trust him, friends, with our eternity. If you are here this morning and you've never repented and trusted in Jesus, I exhort you to do so today. Not by my authority, but by the authority of the word of God. God is calling all people everywhere to repent and to receive his son as the gift of salvation. He's offering life to all who will do so. And so, please, come talk to me or someone after the service. We'd love to help you to know that Emmanuel is the Savior for you. We must place our hope in Jesus, for there is hope. Hope found in no one else. He is Emmanuel, God with us. And so as we close this morning, we rejoice that there is no other Emmanuel, that Jesus Christ is our Emmanuel, amen? He is the one that Isaiah foretold and he was the one that was born on that first Christmas 2,000 years ago. And I want us to close our time together this morning by singing a cappella, the third verse of Hark the Herald Angels Sing. This verse helps us to rejoice in Emmanuel, who was born of a virgin. It helps us to rejoice in Christ, who is our Savior. He is not just a curious interest to find at Christmastime. He is the very core of our life and the very core of our salvation, amen? Let's stand together and let's sing. Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold him come, offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity! ♪ Pleased as man with men to dwell ♪ ♪ Jesus our Emmanuel ♪ ♪ Hark the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Glory to the newborn King ♪ Let's bow together in prayer. Oh Jesus, our Emmanuel. We do rejoice that you came for us, that you were given for us, and that you lived the life that we could never live, that you paid the penalty that our sins deserved, and now we celebrate the life that we have in you, the relationship that we have with you, and that we will have forevermore. Father, may we treasure that today, through this Christmas season, and forevermore. It's in your name we pray. Amen.