The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him “Immanuel,” which means God with us. Matthew 1:23

Who is Immanuel? What does the Bible mean when it says that Jesus Christ is God with us? Properly understood, Matthew’s statement is utterly offensive in our culture today. The central claim of Christianity is that the same God who made Himself known in the Old Testament has come to us in Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament tells us that there is one God. He cannot be known by reason or philosophy. He cannot be worked out by science or astronomy. But He has made himself known to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. He has made a special covenant with one nation—the Jews—and through them He wants all people to know Him. 

This God is the Creator of all things. He gives life and breath to all people. This means that all people are accountable to Him—whether or not they know Him, believe in Him, or choose to obey Him. This is the teaching of the Old Testament.

All idols are imposters

Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save… There is no God apart from me… Isaiah 44:20-21

As far as the Old Testament is concerned, what we might call the history of religions is really the history of idolatry. Idolatry is when a man or a woman invents a god for him or herself. This can be done by carving wood or stone. It can be done by writing a book or launching a seminar. Idolatry is any kind of teaching that presents God in a way that is different from who He really is.

A great teacher once said that the human mind is a “factory of idols.” We’re always coming up with new ways to think about God. The Old Testament tells us about the nations of the world who worship different gods, mentioning many of them by name: Bel, Nebo, Marduk, Dagon, Baal and Molech.

The Old Testament doesn’t say “Well, these are all really different ways of referring to the same thing.” The Old Testament says “There is one Creator—God. He has made himself known to Moses. All the others are idols. They are no gods at all. They are products of history and culture. They live only in the minds of those who believe in them. They die with the passing of the cultures that produced them.”

The real thing

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him “Immanuel,” which means God with us. Matthew 1:23

Matthew is talking about the God of the Old Testament, the living eternal God, the One and Only God, the God who gives life and breath to all men. All the other gods are imposters. This God came to be with us in the person of a tiny child whose name was Jesus. This claim—God is with us—is at the center of the Christian faith.

If Jesus is not God, then we do not know God, because the central claim of Christianity is that in coming to Jesus Christ you are coming to God. If Jesus is not God, then we cannot be sure of our final salvation. Our hope of salvation rests on the fact that Jesus has been exalted to the highest place in the universe, and that all authority has been given to Him. This is our confidence that He is able to fulfill all His purposes and deliver on all His promises.

If Jesus is not God with us, Christianity makes no sense, and it deserves to be discarded. But the central claim of Christianity is that Jesus is God with us! It would be easier to fit in if we could say, “There are many great teachers in history, and we think Jesus has much to offer. We are all brought up in our traditions, and the important thing is to follow the light you have and live a genuinely good life.”

But we can’t do that. Our calling is to proclaim Him! Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” If you proclaim Christ, the world will call you arrogant, intolerant, narrow-minded, and bigoted. Are you ready to be associated with the offense?

This LifeKey is based on the message (December 28, 2003) called: “God with Us,” by Pastor Colin S. Smith, from the series, “The Heart of the Gospel.”

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