Thought for Today
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
Jeremiah 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Matthew 1:23 "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
“Although the specifics of this differ, the idea that God comes into the world in Christ is part of the faith we share across denominations.” (These Days, December 20, 2025)
That Cumberland Presbyterian minister who wrote the devotional in These Days hit the nail squarely on the head. And the sound of the impact of that hammer on that nail has echoed through the ages and is still heard today. In the event we remember during Advent, God came into the world; God entered into God’s own Creation.
I believe that the significance of that reveals the very nature of God. The Incarnation of Jesus, the Christ, demonstrates the fundamental nature of Creation itself. More than black holes, quarks, photons or any of the other phenomena of astrophysics, the birth of that tiny infant, tells humanity everything we need to know about our Creator God. The basic building block of Creation is not atoms composed of electrons, protons and neutrons. The basic building of Creation is succinctly stated in John 3:16. Creation is built of love.
Of course, as I thought about that this morning, I thought of those verses above from Isaiah and Matthew. I’m not sure why the name is spelled differently in Isaiah than in Matthew. The Greek translators of the Septuagint translated the Hebrew of Isaiah using the word Ἐμμανουήλ (Emmanuel), That is the same word used in the Greek of Matthew. Just to make sure we understand, Matthew’s gospel adds, “which means, ‘God is with us.’"
Dating books of the Bible is always a bit of a guessing game. Even when we have names, dates and places, it is very difficult to correlate them with sources outside the Bible. It is commonly thought that Isaiah lived from about 750 BCE to 700BCE. Jeremiah lived from about 627 BCE to some time after 586 BCE. Irrespective of the specific accuracy of their prophecies, those words were written long ago. Yet, Christians believe those words truly prophetic and applicable to the Incarnation of Jesus.
Isaiah’s words will be read and sung countless times each Advent. They are echoed in Matthew. In both, Christians find evidence of the faithfulness of God. God promised; God delivered. God’s faithfulness is second in my mind only to God’s love as a basic element of Creation itself.
I find Jeremiah’s words equally applicable to the Incarnation. And, they are equally a testament to God’s faithfulness. For me, those words took on special significance as I studied in seminary. “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” seemed and still seems to me to be the explanation for the Incarnation. How better for God to accomplish the purpose of “I will be their God, and they shall be my people” than by coming among us as one of us?
What does it mean to be God’s people? Should we view being God’s people from the perspective of special privilege, power and position? Or, should we view being God’s people from the perspective of responsibility? How did God write on our hearts? What did God write on our hearts?
Jesus, the Christ, the babe in the manger, is the perfect representation of what it all means. God’s love, God’s faithfulness, our special privilege of responsibility all demonstrated for us in the person of Jesus. Jesus even put it all into simple words we can all understand and comprehend, "Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." Simple? Easy to understand? Yes!
Hopefully, this Advent, this Christmas we will all find our hearts full of love and compassion. Sadly, for some, that love and compassion will dissipate all too quickly. Jesus did not restrict that love of which he spoke to a single season or day. Jesus merely told us we are to love, implicitly continually love God and each other. God is love. Creation is love.
Stay safe, love, trust God,
Pastor Ray