GOD IN CHRISTMAS?

Like Jesus, Christians believe God is spirit (John 4:24). The fact that God is spirit means that God the Father has no visible form. To say that God is spirit is to say that God the Father is invisible . The Bible affirms the invisibility of God. In the New Testament, the original Greek word used is variously translated as “invisible” or “unseen.” It describes something that has no visible form.

Philosophically, God must be a spirit in order to be infinite, or not limited by time and space.  Also, if God were limited to a physical body, He could not be omnipresent (in all places at once). In essence, God the Father is not limited to the dimensional restrictions of created things but can exist in all places at one time.

Although God is invisible and infinite, He can be known. He has revealed Himself. Some visible appearances of God are called theophanies. These are not allusions or dreams, but rather visible manifestations that communicate the character and presence of God. Well-known theophanies include Moses’ encounters with God at the burning bush (Exodus 3) and at the provision of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19).

In Bible narratives, God often appears as the protagonist or central character. Paul contends that “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). Peter further argues that     “… no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). There is no doubt that God is directing the composition and transmission of the text. For this reason, the writer to Hebrews could say, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

It is from these Scriptures we learn that whereas God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets… now He speaks to us through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). In referring to this Son, Paul stated, “This Son is the image of the invisible God…” (Colossians 1:15). Even before His birth, it was predicted that “the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

An alternate spelling of the name Immanuel is Emmanuel, which comes from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Immanuel, spelled with an I, is the translation of the original Hebrew name into English, whereas Emmanuel, spelled with an E, is a translation of a translation (from Hebrew to Greek to English).

Immanuel is a masculine Hebrew name meaning “God with us” or “God is with us.” The name Immanuel appears in the Bible three times, twice in the Old Testament book of Isaiah (7:14 and 8:8), and once in the Gospel of Matthew (1:23).

Seven hundred years after the prophet Isaiah spoke about Immanuel, a virgin from Nazareth named Mary was engaged to Joseph. Before they were married, an angel visited Joseph to confirm that Mary had conceived a child through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20-21). When the child was born, they were to name Him Jesus.

Matthew, understanding the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, delivers this inspired revelation: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)” (Matthew 1:22-23).

Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy because He was literally “God with us”; He was fully human yet still fully God. Matthew recognized Jesus as Immanuel, the living expression of the Incarnation—the miracle of the Son of God becoming a human and making His home among us so that He could reveal God to us. Jesus was God with us, manifested in human flesh (1 Timothy 3:16).

The Gospel of John beautifully describes the Incarnation: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:14-18).

In Jesus Christ, God walked with us and talked with us. His arrival showed all humanity that God is faithful to fulfill His promises. Jesus was not just a sign of God with us, Jesus was God with us in Person. Jesus is Immanuel. He is not a partial revelation of God with us; Jesus is God with us in all His fullness: “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body” (Colossians 2:9). That is the true message of Christmas – Jesus was Immanuel, God with us in Person.