God With Us

Matthew 1:23

23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).


My home congregation, growing up, was called Immanuel.  Sort of.

The original leaders thought 'Shiloh' would be a good name for the church, the place where God's people gathered (Joshua 18).  The German pronunciation was more like 'Silo' than 'Shiloh,' and this named seemed appropriate for a small church in a farming community.  But the official name is Immanuel.

Matthew said that the baby Savior should be called Immanuel (God with us) as well as Jesus (The Lord Saves).  Since no one in the Gospels ever called Jesus by the name 'Immanuel,' it seems that name holds more purpose in meaning than identification.  The miracle of the incarnation is that God came to us - the God of the universe became a helpless baby; the Word became flesh.

The "im" is the preposition "with."  "manu," the substance of the word, is an elongated pronoun meaning "us."  "El" is short of Elohiem or the Hebrew word for 'god,' here specifically referring the one and only God.  With-us-God = Immanuel.

This Christmas season the word struck me differently than before since I noticed the lack of a verb. God-with-us is not really a complete thought, but it implies the verb "is" making the sentence "God is with us."  Implied words happen often in other languages, and even in English nearly every imperative sentence, every command that is given, is missing a subject.  "Pick up your room."  is a complete sentence and implies the subject 'You' at the beginning - "You, pick up your room."  The one word sentence "Listen." does the same - "You, listen."  Since there is no verb in Immanuel, we can imply the verb 'is.'

But since there is no explicit verb written, you might find that this Christmas you are better served by implying the past tense of the verb - was. God was with people when he was born in Bethlehem.  God was with us, this year.  There were some interesting times, some difficult challenges, some hard decisions, but God was indeed with us through them.

Maybe the same could be said about your future as you look ahead at the unknown.  Our country is in a war with the threat of other wars, in financial troubles, and falling behind as a world power, but God will be with us.  Families and jobs may look different in the coming year, but God will be with us.

However, at any given moment you must live in the present.  You can learn from the past and prepare for the future, but you must live in the present.  Therefore, maybe the most appropriate implied verb is the present form - God is with us.  God came down from heaven on Christmas and was with people here on earth for a time, and he will return to judge the world and take us to heaven in the future, but right now you need to know that God is with you.

Immanuel.