Bjcorbin's Blog

Throughout the Christmas season I repeatedly find myself drawn to the phrase, “Emmanuel, God with us”.  For me, it is amazing to ponder the reality of God, the Creator of the Universe, coming to earth and living as a man amongst His creation.  The heralding of the name “Emmanuel” reveals His motivation for coming; which was to be “with us”.  As joyous as that news was on the day of Christ’s birth, relatively few people actually experienced the reality of those words in His lifetime.  But ultimately, God didn’t just come to be “with us” for the thirty-three years of Jesus’ life.  In the scripture He says, “lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” and through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, He is “with us” even today.  There are some who seem to feel as though those followers, who walked with Jesus during His time on earth, had some distinct advantage over the rest of us; but scripture would seem to indicate otherwise.  During the years of Jesus’ ministry, the disciples often seemed confused and unsure of themselves.  It wasn’t until the day of Pentecost that they began to step into consistent truth and power.  Arguably the disciples accomplished more on that day, than in all of their days with Jesus.  Christ Himself told them that it would be better for them that He go, so that the Holy Spirit could come.  This is the same Holy Spirit that powered Jesus’ ministry and the same Spirit that is available to us today.

Before the manifestation of Jesus on the earth, those believing in Jehovah God could only look to the sky; hoping that He was up there and that He was pleased with them.  They clung to their lineages, their traditions and to the stories of what God had done for their ancestors.  It wasn’t a personal relationship, because they had no way of access to Him; and they largely looked upon their circumstances for evidence of how He viewed them.  The coming of the Messiah changed all of that.  Through His perfect sacrifice and by the gift of the Holy Spirit, Gods people need never live that way again; but sadly, many of us continue to exist in much the same way those ancient believers did.  We often live as though we lack some essential ingredient for the victorious life that Jesus attained for us; looking toward the sky and praying that He will send something more, when the very power of God dwells within us.  Just as it was then, we allow our sense of well-being to be dictated by our circumstances, instead of by the Word of God and/or the witness of His Spirit.  Now more than ever, it would seem that we are in desperate need of a greater revelation of “Emmanuel”, the God who is “with us”. 

For those who apprehend the truth of “Emmanuel”, the contrast is startling.  In the 3^rd chapter of the book of Acts, Peter seemed to understand that while he didn’t have money to give the crippled man at the temple gate, what he did have was even better.  When that man was miraculously healed, Peter made it clear that it wasn’t him, but the power of God that dwelled within in him.  When difficult times came (e.g. disciples imprisoned, shipwrecked, snake bit, stoned…), the early believers often appealed to their Heavenly Advocate, who often responded with miraculous intervention.  The power of God was tangible to many of them and through those followers it became tangible to the world.  Those same resources have now been placed upon our door step, though many of us step over them on an almost daily basis; forsaking them for more tangible and less viable tools.  Maybe in this Christmas season, instead of organizing yet another boycott over the use of the phrase “Happy Holidays”, we’d be better served pursuing a fresh revelation of the phrase, “Emmanuel, God with us”.  After all, unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain.