Emmanuel

April 15

Emmanuel
Emmanouel

Emmanuel is a word with no Classical Greek background because it wasn’t really Greek at all. Emmanouēl (G1694) is actually a direct transliteration of the Hebrew Immēnu’ēl (H6005).

It appears only once in the NT (Mat_1:23), where it’s also translated for us: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

What a wonderful word! It’s rooted in two OT references.

First, there’s Isa_7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Here, of course, is a clear prophecy of the coming Messiah, who would be incarnate God in human flesh. This was to be the fulfillment of the promise God made in Gen_3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” When Messiah came, God would, indeed, be with His people “in the flesh.”

Mat_1:23, then, records the angel of God telling Joseph that his still virgin wife Mary is carrying that very promised Messiah, conceived by the Holy Spirit (see tomorrow for an examination of the word virgin).

Interestingly, the name Emmanuel is not applied to Christ elsewhere in the NT. Here is a single, unique statement of who Emmanuel would be.

Second, we read in Isa_8:8, “And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel” (cf. Isa_8:10). As one Hebrew authority tells us, this is “a cry to God Himself to be with Israel when the Assyrians threatened to destroy them.”

All this is instructive to the NT Christian. We each had a personal experience with the Emmanuel, who came to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luk_19:10).

Further, we now have an ongoing relationship with that Emmanuel, Who is, indeed, always “with us” through His Spirit (Joh_14:16).

Scriptures for Study: Read Heb_13:5 (cf. 1Ki_8:57), Psa_46:7, and 2Ch_32:8. What further realities do we have besides God being with us?

 
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