“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “GOD WITH US.”
Matthew 1:23 (NKJV)
God with us. It is wisdom’s mystery. God with us. Sages look at it and wonder. Angels desire to see it. The plumb line of reason cannot reach halfway into its depths. The eagle wings of science cannot fly so high. The piercing eye of the vulture of research cannot see it.
God with us. It is hell’s terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it. Let Satan come to you suddenly and do you but whisper the word, “God with us” and back he falls, confounded and confused. Satan trembles when he hears that name.
God with us. It is the labourer’s strength. How could we preach the gospel? How could we bend our knees in prayer? How could the missionaries go into foreign lands? How could the martyrs stand at the stake? How could man labour if that one word were taken away?
God with us. It is the sufferer’s comfort. It is the balm of his woe. It is the sleep that God gives to His beloved. It is the rest after exertion and toil.
God with us. It is eternity’s sonnet. It is heaven’s hallelujah. It is the shout of the glorified. It is the song of the redeemed. It is the chorus of angels. It is the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. God with us! God with us!
You’ve just read an excerpt from Charles Spurgeon’s Christmas Eve sermon in 1854. This is the meaning of Christmas!
- Senior Pastor Lawrence Khong