December 1, 2025
Our Flesh and
Blood God
"Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 'Ask a sign
of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol
or high as heaven.' But Ahaz said, 'I will
not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the
test.' And he said, 'Hear then, O house of
David! Is it too little for you to weary men,
that you weary my God also? Therefore
the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a
son, and shall call his name Immanuel.'"
I S A I A H 7 : 1 0 - 1 4
The name Immanuel comes from two Hebrew words: Immanu
(“with us”) and El (“God”). It means “God with us.” Long before
Jesus was born, God promised to be with his people. He told
Isaac and Jacob, “I am with you” (Gen. 26:24; 28:15), and assured
Moses at the burning bush, “I will be with you” (Exod. 3:12).
But through Isaiah, God foretold a day when he would not be
just spiritually present but physically present, too: “Behold, the
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (v. 14).
It’s one thing for God to be with us as God; it’s another for him
to become human—developing in the womb, learning to walk, going through puberty, and facing crucifixion. That is Jesus: truly
God, truly man.
He is your Immanuel. He knows what it’s like to weep, to
bleed, to be loved and betrayed.
No emotion or pain is foreign
to him. The image-maker became the image; the Creator became
a creature. He is the God who chose to humble himself, entering
the imperfect and fallenness of your home, in order to bring you
home to himself.
As Immanuel, he’s the best-behaved (and yet thoroughly surprising and uninvited) house guest you could ask for. He dwells
with us and yet he also declares our current home is in need of
improvement. And so he gets to work doing just that, through his
word he remakes us and gives us his righteousness.
All this he has the power to do since he reigns with all authority in heaven and on earth—and he exercises that authority for us.
He makes himself at home in our mess and he’s more than aware
of all of our faults: he’s closer than a brother, a friend who never
leaves our side, after all.
Imagine the most powerful person in the world. They have the
influence to make things happen, and happen quickly. Everyone
around them yields to their authority. Now imagine that person is
couch surfing in your home. If you need something, they are there.
If you need a favor, they can act immediately. Even that pales in
comparison to what we have in Jesus. He is the Creator. He is
King. He is Lord. And he dwells with us.
If you ever wonder how far God would go to make you his own
and draw you into the warmth of his hospitality, where he has said
you belong forever, look down into the humble home of the stable
and up at the cross. That’s your answer.
DEAR JESUS,
THANK YOU FOR BEING IMMANUEL AND
COMING DOWN TO US SO THAT WE MIGHT
BE BROUGHT HOME TO YOU.
AMEN.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be
translated in whole or in part into any other language.
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Coming Home for Christmas: Advent in Isaiah © 2025 1517
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