Great Themes of the Bible
Emmanuel a a days-man fit to lay his hand upon them both, since He partakes of the nature of both. Behold in this the deepest mystery and the richest mercy that ever was.
By the light of nature we see God as a God above us. By the light of law we see Him as a God against us. But by the light of the Gospel we see Him Emmanuel, God with us, in our own nature, and, which is more, in our interests. Herein the Redeemer commended His love. With Christ's name, Emmanuel, we may compare the name given to the Gospel Church (Ezek. xlvili. 35), fehovah-Shammah, 'the Lord is there'', "the Lord of hosts is with us". Nor is it improper to say that the prophecy which foretold that He should be called Emmanuel was fulfilled, in the design and intention of it, when He was called Jesus. For if He had not been Emmanuel, ''God with us'', He could not have been Jesus, "'a Saviour''. Herein consists the salvation He wrought out in the "bringing of God and man together'"'. This is what He designed, to bring God to be with us, which is our great happiness, and to bring us to be with God, which is our great duty.
5. THE MEANING OF THE PROMISE We must now look at the fact of the Incarnation a little more closely. St. John expresses it in the statement that "the Word was made flesh" (Fohn 2). 'That is Emmanuel, "God with us"'. By His divine presence He always was in the world, and by His prophets He came to His own. But now the fullness of time was come, He was sent forth after another manner, "made of a woman"? (Gal. iv. 4), God manifested in the flesh, according to the faith and hope of holy Job (Job xix. 26), "'yet in my flesh shall I see God"'.
''Forasmuch as the children"', who were to become the sons of God, '"'were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same"' (Heb. ii. 4). The Socinians agree that Christ is both God and man; but they say He was man and was made God, as Moses (Exod. vii. 1). This is directly contrary to John here, who says, 'He was God"', but "He was made flesh" (cf. John i. 1 with this). This speaks that He was not only really and truly man, but that He subjected Himself to the miseries and calamities of the human nature. He was made flesh, the meanest part of man. Flesh is man's weakness, and He was crucified through weakness (2 Cor. xiii. 4). Flesh involves man's mortality and death (Ps. xxviii. 39), and Christ was put to death in the flesh (1 Pet. iii. 18). Nay, flesh implies man tainted with sin (Gen. vi. 3); and Christ, though He was perfectly holy and harmless, yet appeared "'in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom. viii. 3), and '"'was made sin for us" (2 Cor. vi. 6).
When Adam sinned God said to him, '' Dust thou art'', not only because he was made out of dust but because by sin he was sunk into dust. His fall turned him, as it were, all into body, made him earthy. Therefore He that was made a curse for us was made flesh and condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. viii. 3). Wonder at this, that the eternal Word should be made flesh, when flesh was come into such an ill name—that He who made all things should Himself be made flesh, one of the meanest things, and submit to that from which He was at the greatest distance. The voice that ushered in the Gospel cried, ''All flesh is grass'' (Isa. xl. 6), to make the Redeemer's love the more wonderful, who to redeem and save us was made flesh, and withered as grass. But the Word of the Lord, who was made flesh, endured for ever. When He was made flesh He ceased not to be the word of God.
He "dwelt among us"', here in this lower world. Having taken upon Him the nature of man, He put Himself into the place and condition of other men. The Word might have been made flesh and dwelt among the angels. But having taken a body of the same mould with us, in it He came and resided in the same world with us. He "dwelt among us"', us worms of the earth; us, that He had no need of; us,-that He got nothing by; us, that were corrupt, and depraved, and revolted from God. The Lord God came and dwelt even among the rebellious (Ps. Ixviii.
18). He that had dwelt among angels, those noble and excellent beings, came and dwelt among us, that area generation of vipers— us sinners—which was worse to Him than David's dwelling in Mesech and Kedar, or Ezekiel's dwelling among scorpions, or the Church of Pergamos dwelling where Satan's seat is.
He "dwelt among us". He was in the world, not as a wayfaring man who tarries but for a night. He "dwelt among us" — made a long residence. The original word means that He dwelt "as in a tabernacle"', which suggests that He dwelt here in very mean circumstances, as shepherds that dwell in tents. He did not dwell among us as in a palace, but as in a tent. For He had not where to lay His head, and was always on the move. This word also suggests that His state here was a military state.
Evil a
Soldiers dwell in tents. He had long since proclaimed war with the seed of the serpent, and now He takes the field in person; sets up His standard, and pitches His tent to prosecute this war. This word also suggests that His stay among us was not to be perpetual. He dwelt here as in a tent, not as at home. The patriarchs by dwelling in tabernacles "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth"' and sought the better country. So did Christ, leaving us an example (Heb. xiii. 13, 14). Finally, this word suggests that as of old God dwelt in the tabernacle of Moses, by the Shechinah between the cherubim, so now, He dwells in the human nature of Christ. That is now the true Shechinah, the symbol of God's peculiar presence. "The Word made Flesh" is Emmanuel—''God with us"'.
SERMON OUTLINE
EMMANUEL
I. THE SIGN OF THE PROMISE (Isa. vil) (a) A Sign of God's Favour to His People (b) A Sign that He would not Cast Him Off (c) A Sign of the Birth of the Messiah
II. THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROMISE (Matt. i) (a) The Miracle of the Virgin Birth (i) Jesus the Child of Mary (ii) Jesus the Son of God (b) The Mystery of the Incarnation (i) By the light of Nature we see God as a God above us (ii) By the light of the Law we see God as a God against us (iii) By the light of the Gospel we see God as a God with us
III. 'THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PROMISE (John i) (a) The Word made Flesh (i) He took man's nature upon Him (ii) He ceased not to be the Word of God (6) The Word 'Tabernacling Among Us (i) As a shepherd (ii) As a soldier (iii) As a wayfarer (iv) As the Shechinah Glory