Passage: Isaiah 7:1-14 Speaker: Pastor Lukus Counterman Series: Emmanuel: God With Us
Speaker: Lukus Counterman - This morning we will spend time reflecting upon Immanuel. The name surfaces in Isaiah 7 as a prophecy, and then again in Matthew 1 being attributed to Jesus. Immanuel simply means “God with us.” Now, Jesus was never called “Immanuel” (Matt. 1:23) as a proper name; instead, the term is a metaphor for the fact that in Jesus, God is present “with” his people in a whole new way. As you fold through the pages of the Bible, there are four stages of God with his people: (1) God is present in his “Shekinah,” or dwelling via the pillar of fire and cloud in the exodus and his throne between the wings of the seraphim above the ark in the Most Holy Place. (2) God is present in his Son, who was in a sense a walking Most Holy Place during his life on this earth. (3) God is present via the Holy Spirit during the church age. (4) God is present physically and in full reality throughout eternity (Rev. 21:1-22:5).