OUR LORD:  EMMANUEL - GOD WITH US.

In the very beginning, God was with us. In the cool of the day, the Lord would visit Adam in the garden of Eden and they would walk together communing over the events of the day. 

When Adam and Eve subscribed to the kingdom of darkness,  they were no longer able to commune with God as they did before because of the rift that had formed between mankind and our creator.

The Lord God, in his mercy, set a plan in motion to redeem man from his rebellion so that people could voluntarily chose to live in harmony with God rather than be in a state of rebellion against Him.

For the plan to work, our Lord first had to be born as a man to qualify as the one who could redeem us to God  and it is at His birth as a human child that the angels revealed  that He would be named Emmanuel which mean God with us. The passage in Mathew 1 verse 18 - 25 goes like this;

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 

And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “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.”  

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.”

The plan of God's redemption of mankind culminated in Jesus our Lord dying on a cross  to pay for our sins and redeem us from the kingdom of darkness.

In doing so, the Lord made a way for us to return to right standing with God through faith in Him.

Our  relationship with God could then be restored and we could again walk with Him as Adam did.

Once again, God would be with us.

Blessed be the name of Jesus our Lord.

Amen.