God with us

Jesus is God with us in every way. If you want to get to know the names of Jesus, just get to know the names of God, because Jesus is the fulfillment of every name of God. And He has come as Immanuel, “God with us,” in order to reveal God to us. Should you ever become confused about who God is and what He is like, all you have to do is remember Immanuel.

Why did God send Immanuel to us, rather than just reveal Himself as He is? God is transcendent in nature. He sits outside our realm. He is infinitely distinct from His creation—in another zone. And yet, God wanted to be with us. He desired to dwell among us. And this could only occur through the hypostatic union, through the merging of two natures into one person (Jesus) that remain unmixed forever. Jesus is both divine and human, which is why Jesus can be called both the Son of God and the Son of Man.

Hebrews 10:5‑7 gives insight into the purpose and plan of Immanuel.

When Christ came into the world, He said, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God’” (NIV).

First, Jesus said, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire… with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased”—though they were offered in accordance with the Law. Second, He said, “Here I am… I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.

The incarnation came to be in order that the Father’s will would be carried out. A perfect sacrifice was made for the sins of humanity. And in the midst of that incarnational gift, we discover that God placed Himself into a context where we could come to know Him in a more personal, intimate way.

He is “God with us.” He is God with you.

From the beginning of the world to its end, there is no place you can look and not see God revealed through Jesus. He is everywhere. Colossians 1:17 summarizes the breadth and magnitude of Him better than any other verse: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”