The essence of Emmanuel
Last Sunday our guest speaker, Ardi, shared the meaning of the name Emmanuel. It derives from three Hebrew particles; “Emm” = With, “anu” = us, “el” = God. The literal translation is “With us God”.
This name is repeated three times in the Bible; twice by the prophet Isaiah (7:14; 8:8) who foretold this name to be the calling of King Jesus and once again cited in Matthew (1:22-23), at Jesus’ birth. Jesus is given many titles including the Messiah (Matthew 16:16), a Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6) as well as Emmanuel. The Hebrew derivative of Jesus is Yeshua, which means “the Lord is salvation”. These titles serve to describe who He is and what He does, rather than serve as multiple given first names.
“The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
Emmanuel reminds believers today of the infinite hope found in Jesus, who never leaves nor forsakes those whose hope in Him (Deuteronomy 31:6). Knowing this, can the Christian ever find themselves in hopelessness? No. The Christian is never truly without hope, as long as their hope is placed solely in Jesus’ name. God’s presence has dwelled with humanity since Genesis, where God walked with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8), and continues to manifest within us today through the Holy Spirit.
In the parable of the Vine and the Branches (John 15), Jesus speaks about cutting away fruitless branches, and pruning the fruitful to increase their fruitfulness. The relevance of this parable to believers today may seem obscure, but what the parable tries to affirm is God’s presence with His people. God “prunes” and sanctifies his people, namely through the trials and troughs of life. Sanctification in essence means to cleanse, or renew and in the Christian journey, is necessary to bear much fruit.
P R A Y E R
Dear Lord Jesus,
We thank you for always being with us, wherever we go and in whatever we do. We thank you for the infinite hope that is found in you alone. We pray that you would prune your children, to bear much fruit and glorify you.
In Your mighty and powerful name we pray,
Amen