Who is Jesus? Immanuel

Immanuel

            After the fall of man, God made a promise to Eve in the garden that all was not lost. There would indeed be consequences for what they had done, but God was going to send a Savior to save man from his sins. The payment for what they had done was high. It would cost the life on One to be exchanged for the souls of many. Genesis 3:13 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (NIV) There would not only be a dislike for the snake and man in the natural, but there would be animosity between the devil, who is a poisonous serpent, and mankind in the spirit realm forever. Revelation 12:9 The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (NIV) In Genesis, God told the serpent that “He,” speaking of the coming Savior, would crush his head and the devil would strike his heel. The devil’s strike would not be strong enough to defeat God, but the crushing of the enemy’s head would be the ultimate defeat once and for all.

            Adam and Eve must have thought that they would see this take place during their lifetime. It would be a long time, however, before the completion of that promise would take place. God had great plans that would take time to come into fruition as man had to wait for the arrival of the Savior, but He was coming. Isaiah 7:14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (NIV) There had to be a sacrifice, so that man would not be eternally lost. The greatest sacrifice would be God’s own son, Immanuel.

            Immanuel would come to earth with the sole mission to teach people the ways of his Father and to redeem man from his sins.  For without this sacrifice, man would have been doomed to go to an eternal hell. Hebrews 9:22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (NIV) The ordinances of the sacrifices began with Moses and Aaron, but the shedding of animals’ blood could not permanently replace the Sacrifice of God’s son. Hebrews 10: 3-4 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (NIV) Sin was such a poison to mankind, that even the death of animals could not wash it permanently away.

            Immanuel was willing to leave His royal place in Heaven in order to take on the debt of mankind’s iniquity by offering himself as a sacrificial Lamb. Hebrews 10:5-7 ⁽⁵⁾Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; ⁽⁶⁾with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. ⁽⁷⁾Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, O God.’ ” (NIV) Immanuel offered His life in exchange for ours. He gave everything that He had in order that we may have life. He came in the form of a baby, who lived amongst sinners, to set the example for us to follow and taught us to be subservient to His father just as He was. Immanuel was both God and man who was and forever will be with us. Matthew 1:22-23 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has said through the prophet. “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us.” (NIV)