Our Situation:
Have you ever had a situation when you were not there in person, but had to give instructions to someone else on how to do something? How did it go?
Living overseas, we have had to rely on family members in the USA to take care of some financial things for us. When a vendor mails a bill, it goes to our permanent address, and not our overseas address. So, a number of years ago, we decided to set my parents up with a scanner so when those bills come, they can scan them and send it to us by email. But, trying to give them instructions on how to use the scanner while not being there in person, proved too difficult. It was just not effective. So, we had to abandon it until we could be there in person to show them how to do it.
The Passage: Matthew 1:18-25
- When you read the words of the prophet Isaiah, “God with us” what does that mean to you?
- If Jesus was going to be God’s spoken and written words, lived out in the flesh, how do you picture that happening?
- Giving instruction from a distance is not effective, it’s much more effective to be there in person to show them, how does that apply to what God says Jesus was going to do?
- Read John 17:21, 23 and compare what Jesus says about us, with this idea of Jesus being God with us.
The Purpose:
In the early chapters of the gospels, God is laying the foundation for what Jesus is going to do. We saw in John that Jesus was going to be the light to reveal what has been hidden. To reveal the unseen God and to make Him seen, to make visible what had been invisible. Jesus was going to be the physical, visible display of God’s written and spoken Word. The Word, becoming flesh.
Now, Matthew refers to an old prophecy (Is 7:14) that declared that the coming one, the Messiah, would be called, “Immanuel,” which means God with us.
God was not content just to give us His spoken Word. He wasn’t content even to have all the prophets write those words down so that we have a record that is unchanging. He loved us so much, He wanted to display those words in person. So, He sent Jesus to be His physical hands and feet. Jesus was going to be God’s mouth, speaking God’s Word in person! But, God wasn’t going to just be in heaven telling Jesus what to do, God Himself was going to be indwelling Jesus. Jesus was going to be God Himself in the flesh. John 17:21, 23. Jesus was going to be, fully and completely, God Himself dwelling among us!
The Plan:
God’s plan for Jesus was to be God’s Words walking around in the flesh. God Himself, through the hands, feet and mouth of Jesus, walking, talking and doing God’s work. God, no longer just telling what He is like, but SHOWING us what God is like.
When Jesus prays for us in John 17, Jesus prays that we will be the same, through Him. God Himself was in Jesus, living, walking, talking and doing. Jesus prays for us in John 17:21 that just as the Father is in Him, Jesus says He will be in us. And Jesus will be in us SO THAT the world may believe.
Just like God was going to SHOW the world what He is like through Jesus, this is now our mission also. God wants to SHOW the world what He is like through Jesus living, walking, talking and doing through our lives!
As you live, and walk and talk, how much is Jesus seen through your life? Does your life SHOW, through your actions, attitudes and words, God’s Word, living in the flesh? That’s my prayer for you today.