Immanuel

Years ago, at Department store in St. Louis, MO. (I was about 8 years old) I found myself lost.  My mom was gone.  The big store engulfed me with its stuff, and I was all-alone. Somehow I had wandered into another area without anyone noticing.  My thoughts went into panic mode.  I just knew they had left the store, and I would be on my own forever.  What I didn’t know was my mom and the rest of the family was looking for me too with the same tenacity.  When we saw each other, peace and joy came back into my heart.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden they caused God’s presence to flee which caused the lost condition of man.  The gospel is all about a Father who knows His kids have lost their way, and He is creating a way of brining them back into His arms.  Hopeless and helpless are the words that describe what a lost person experiences...This person feels like everyone and everything has abandoned them…that no one is looking for them, and they will never get out of the current demise.  That’s what makes the story, NO; the REALITY of what Jesus did so powerful!  Romans 5:8 “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  But, before He died, He Broke through time and into our world which sin had kept Him from entering.  While the lost wander, Jesus is breaking into their world in pursuit after their soul.

What a fantastic and exhilarating feeling upon finding out that someone was looking for you…This is why Matthew 1:22,23 is so precious…

 “…All this happened to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet—‘Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’. (“Immanuel” means “God with us.”)…” Matthew 1:22,23 J.B. Phillips New Testament

He came to us, God, Himself dwelt among us!!!

Jesus did not simply come into the earth…he BROKE through every obstacle imaginable in order to reach His lost people. 

Peace and Good will are what is spoken concerning His coming.  Luke 2:14 says ““Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” 

Wow, what a feeling of Peace when my mom came around the corner that day I was lost in the store.  However, that is no comparison to Jesus BREAKING into my world and finding me, AND YOU!!!