As we enter the holiday season, we will spend the next eight days considering the name “Immanuel” before we head into our Advent series. We begin with Isaiah 7:14: “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
This prophetic word written down in the Old Testament by the prophet Isaiah foretells of Jesus’ coming as a sign to the people. The virgin birth, a miracle we now understand to have happened through Mary, was talked about for hundreds of years before there was no room in the Bethlehem inns. God presented Jesus as a miracle baby for many reasons, but here we see his intent to prove himself as the one true God.
Here’s your freedom for today: God crosses all natural boundaries to be with us.
Laws of physics, natural order, and human expectation are not limits to God. He will cross every line to show himself, to dwell with humanity, because it is his nature to love his creation. These ideas require faith, because they exist in the supernatural and mysterious space that none of us can fully quantify. This Christmas, do you believe in God’s presence in your life? Do you believe he would do miracles to dwell with you?