The Promise of Immanuel
One of the more well-known passages of Scripture, particularly during the Christmas season, is Isaiah’s sweet promise of Immanuel: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). The name Immanuel in Hebrew means “God is with us,” and Isaiah’s promise signals that the presence of God will bring salvation to His people. But curiously, in the next chapter, Isaiah describes a great judgment in the presence of this Immanuel, a watery judgment of torrential floods that sweep through the land and devastate abiding sinners (Isa. 8:8–10). Who is this Immanuel, and how can Isaiah describe “God is with us” in two very different ways?
Immanuel: “God with Us”
To answer this question, we need to turn back in the Old Testament to the opening chapters of the book of Exodus. After fleeing from Egypt, Moses spent much of his life in the wilderness tending sheep while the Israelites were suffering at the hands of their Egyptian taskmasters. When God told Moses to go back to Egypt to deliver His people, Moses asked:
If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them? (Ex. 3:13)
In response, God provided Moses with the first historical occurrence of His name: “‘I am who I am.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “I am has sent me to you”’” (Ex. 3:14).
When God gave this name to Moses, He did so for at least two reasons. First, God intended to provide a simple description of His own nature to Moses. “I am who I am” means that God is the immutable One who has being within Himself, the One who alone gives life, movement, and being to all creatures (Acts 17:28). Second, because God is immutable in nature, He is therefore immutable in His promise to “be with Moses” (Ex. 3:12; 4:12, 15). God’s immutable “I am” nature grounds His immutable “I am with you” promises.
God’s “I am with you” promise is not restricted to Moses. In fact, when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt through Moses to the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses explained that the reason God did this was to dwell with His people in the tabernacle (Ex. 25:8; 29:45; Lev. 26:11–12; see also Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 2:10; Hag. 1–2). The tabernacle, or the “tent of meeting” (Ex. 27:21; 28:43; 40:32; Num. 8:24), was the place where the holy “I am” met with His unholy people. But this presence of God was a place of both salvation and judgment. For those who approached the holy “I am with you” in faith, the result was mercy and grace for sin (Lev. 1–6). For those who approached the holy “I am with you” in disobedience wrought by unbelief, the result was judgment and destruction (Lev. 10:1–10; Heb. 3:19).
The “I am with you” of the Old Testament tabernacle was a foreshadow of the greater tabernacle embodied by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus identified Himself as the “I am” of Exodus 3:14 (John 8:58; see also Isa. 43:10–13). Matthew clarifies that Isaiah’s promise of “Immanuel” was foretelling the birth of our Savior (Matt. 1:23). In fact, Jesus—the God who made everything—took on human flesh and “tabernacled” among us, being the incarnate dwelling place of God (John 1:1–3, 14; 2:19; Col. 1:19) and the very embodiment of “God with us” (Matt. 1:23).
Judgment and Salvation in Immanuel’s Presence
Much like the presence of the holy “I am” in the Old Testament, the presence of the holy “I am” in the New Testament results in both judgment and salvation. For those who do not receive Him, rejecting Him in unbelief, the presence of the tabernacling Immanuel is not good news; it is terrifying news (John 1:11). Jesus described it this way:
I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! . . . Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. (Luke 12:49, 51)
For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. (John 9:39)
To the hard-hearted, the presence of the holy God incarnate results in the fiery floods of judgment, both now (John 3:18) and in the final judgment (Matt. 12:36–37). Even if the very rocks cry out the truth, the hard-hearted will not listen (Luke 19:40).
But to as many as do receive this Immanuel, to them is given the right to be children of God, because for them He came not to judge but to save (John 1:12; 3:17). For believers, “God with us” does not move us to terror, but to an awe-filled joy and praise before the Holy One, accompanied by peace on earth and goodwill to others (Luke 2:14). By looking to Immanuel, we who believe see the invisible God (Col. 1:15) and obtain every promise that He has made to us (Eph. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:20). Because Immanuel took our judgment for us, we have full access to His holy presence (Rom. 5:2; Heb. 4:16), where in the final consummation of these promises, He ushers us into the heavenly dwelling place that He is preparing for us (John 14:3; Heb. 9:1–14; 2 Peter 3:10–13). There, we will be with the triune God—and God with us—face to face for all eternity (1 Cor. 13:12).
Ligonier Ministries