Devotion:
Read Isaiah 7:13-17.
After Solomon was king of a united Israel, the kingdom split. Many years later, King Ahaz was ruling over the southern kingdom of Judah. In chapter seven of Isaiah, we find the king very worried. Two other kings have united and are planning an attack on Jerusalem. But God sends the prophet Isaiah to reassure him that they will not be successful and he should stand firm in his faith. Isaiah lets him know that God is giving him a sign. He acknowledges this pregnant woman among them and says she is going to give birth to a son that will be named “Immanuel.” He says that by the time this child is eating curds and honey (food for newly weaned infants), those two kings will be gone.
When Matthew was writing his Gospel book about the life and ministry of Jesus, he remembered this sign given by Isaiah and saw it as a foretelling of this baby who would also have the name “Emmanuel” because this really was “God with us.”
Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, the king and all his people are scared. Will they survive this attack from their enemies? Is life as they know it going to change dramatically? So God sends them a message of hope and reassurance. Hundreds of years later, God sends another message of hope and reassurance to all the world through his Son.
There are times when we all face situations that scare us and cause to wonder if life as we know it is going to change. We wonder what will happen to us and whether we will be able to handle what comes our way. God continues to send us a message of hope and reassurance through a baby, a message that says God is with us and will see us through whatever comes our way.
Personal Worship Option:
Offer a prayer of thanksgiving and celebration to God for the hope that is given to everyone through a baby named “God with us.”
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