WORSHIP NOTES
Volume 10, No. 11 (November 2015)
God is the almighty Creator of the universe; the Bible calls Him “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:15-16).
And yet – wonder of wonders! – this infinite God has condescended to be with us.
“God with us” – in the Hebrew “Emmanuel” – what a world of meaning is contained in that phrase! For in those words are summarized all that God has desired and planned for humanity:
- He has created us for communion with Himself
- He wants our fellowship
- He has always desired to be with us.
But we left Him – the Bible tells us that “all we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).
Yet God in His love has still sought to restore us and to be with us again. And so:
- God has pursued man.
- Deity has sought out humanity.
- Absolute holiness has reached out to sinful people.
- Almighty power has stooped in love to lift up helpless men and women.
The climax of this process occurred when all that God is fused with all that man was meant to be, in a single Person who Himself embodies “God with us,” and who therefore bears the name “EMMANUEL”: Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, when we wonder each year anew at the advent of God in human flesh.
Christmas is Emmanuel’s story – the story of “God with us.”
O COME, LET US ADORE HIM!