This may appear to be a Christmas reflection, and that is true in so much as every reflection on Jesus ties to Christmas and Christmas ties to every aspect of life. In the announcement of the coming of the Son of God, both in the Old and New Testaments he was named. And that name is packed with meaning and with promise for you and me: Jesus Christ, Immanuel
Jesus – The Lord Saves
He is the salvation from our sins, from all that we could not rescue ourselves from. He is the way, the truth, and the life–our only hope–no matter the state of our hearts or lives. No matter what we have done or has been done to us, we can turn to Jesus for salvation.
Christ – The Anointed One
He was not a backup plan or a reaction to sin, but the appointed savior from before time began. It was in God’s heart to save through Jesus before the creation of the world. And he was not just appointed, he was anointed. Jesus is king, he rules, all other powers in heaven and on earth are under his feet. He has power to save and to restore with justice and love, and of his kingdom there will be no end. So we have hope in a fallen, broken, chaotic world–hope at a personal level and a global level. Jesus, the Anointed One, rules.
Immanuel – God with us
Jesus does not save from a distance. He set aside his glory and took on a body and a life like ours, to dwell with us and be as we are. But he did not set aside his deity, but rather the fullness of God was pleased to dwell with us–utterly God and completely human. So we have the promise of with–Jesus is with us in every aspect of life from the most joyful to the most painful, the most celebratory to the most lonely. He is the one who saves to the uttermost and the one who understands us without fail. He is God with us.
May we, as his people, rejoice in these realities every time we remember and say his name.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
