God With Us

Recently, we all celebrated a holiday. This Christmas holiday is well known as a season of Joy, merriment and togetherness but what is the purpose of this season? Where did it all begin? Many Christians will tell you that it began with a little baby in a manger 2,000 years ago and they are absolutely correct, this was the scene of the first Christmas, the scene that we remember and celebrate together. But, I believe the reason for Christmas and the need for it began a long time before that manger; the reason goes back about as far as you can go; to a garden with two inhabitants named Adam and Eve. They fell into the temptation of Satan and sin entered the world. They went from having the ability to commune with God and to walk with him- to hiding from him because they felt naked and exposed in their guilt and transparency of their wrongdoing (Gen 3:8-10). And after this had happened, they were separated from God because of their sins. But even then, in the middle of all that guilt and sorrow that they must have been feeling as they left the garden of Eden, you could see the first hints of a promise: "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." (Gen 3:21) At this point you might be thinking that I chose the wrong verse, after all, there is a much clearer promise in Genesis 3:15 of Christ's victory of Satan. But I chose this verse for a reason, this verse has a very significant promise. Adam and Eve were hiding from God because all of their sins and failures were in plain sight , because they were afraid of what would happen when a Righteous God saw who they had become. They even attempted to clothe themselves to eliminate their shame under their own power (Gen 3:7) but these coverings weren't good enough, they still didn't cover their shame. God still had to dismiss them from the garden but he made his promise by making clothing for them, clothing that was far better than what they had attempted to do on their own, clothing that prevented them from being exposed. He made these clothes out of "skin" to cover Adam and Eve, this meant that he had to take a life, the life of some animal, in order to make sure that Adam and Eve were clothed. This was the promise, but it would take some time before it reached its fulfillment. I can only imagine the loneliness that Adam and Eve felt as they were separated from their creator by their own misdeeds; this loneliness continued throughout the ages. During this time, God gave the people laws so that they could be aware of their own sins and turn to him for deliverance; but instead of turning to God, the people threw their devotion away to idols that they built with their hands, idols that can't even do anything: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." (Rom 1:21-23) but even in the midst of all of this, the same promise, the same hope remained. Isaiah foretold this: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14) Immanuel means: "God with us"; God was promising that we could have a relationship with him, that he would be with us. When you flash forward to that manger, to that first Christmas you see that Christ did come. The Savior that had been promised since the beginning had finally come and the was definitely something to be excited about! This was why the angels sang, the star shone out, the Magi worshiped and the shepherds witnessed to people about what they had seen; this was why Herod was threatened, this was what made faithful people like Ananias and Anna ready to die in peace knowing that they had seen their Salvation. Jesus came to be the sacrifice that covers our guilt and sin, just like that first one in the garden of Eden: "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) Maybe you are a person reading this who had to spend this Christmas alone, or you are a person who has gone through a time of loneliness. As surprising as this may sound, coming from someone like me who has ten siblings, there have been times in the past where I too have felt alone (Not when I'm surrounded by my family but other times); times when even in the midst of a crowd of people I have felt like I was by myself.

Maybe you have felt a loneliness like this or maybe you have felt a longer emptiness, a larger one; a void that cannot be filled with anything, no matter how hard you have tried or what you have tried to fill it with. No matter how hard we try, we simply cannot cover our own sins under our own effort; good works, false gods, and even the old animal sacrifices cannot cover our guilt. The only thing that can is the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf this is how we can have a personal friendship with our creator. The reason that we have Joy at Christmas is that Immanuel came! God can be with us in every aspect of our lives and we never have to be alone again! He will always be with us and nothing can separate us from his love for us! God is with us and with me, this is the reason that I celebrate Christmas! "I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isiah 41:9-10)