Matthew 1:21-23 TPT,
She (Mary) will give birth to a son and you are to name him ‘Savior,’ for he is destined to give his life to save his people from their sins.

This happened to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through his prophet:

“Listen! A virgin will be pregnant,
she will give birth to a Son,
and he will be known as ‘Emmanuel,’
which means in Hebrew,
‘God became one of us.'”

EMMANUEL.. God is with us… God Incarnate.

“Immanuel is the partnership of heaven and earth, God and humanity.” *

Jesus came to dwell with us, to embody His spiritual reality in our physical reality. He is with us even now, through the Holy Spirit. With us through every aspect of our lives.

Emmanuel is…

With us in the joy

With us in the pain and the sorrow

With us at work and in our striving

With us in the noise

With us in the quiet

With us always.

I often find myself romanticizing the idea of “Emmanuel”. Being single and hoping for that person to lay witness to my life, the deep yearning we all have for our lives to be witnessed is often felt more intensely for me during this season of recognizing and honoring God with us.

The beauty is that while we wait, expect, anticipate…

He is with us.

He is walking and working with us, revealing our spiritual reality. The reality that anticipates our eternal home with Him.

And so, in this upside-down faith that simply does not make sense at times, we have the true gift of Emmanuel… as we wait.

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* From the Passion Translation Bible notes for Matthew 1:23