Immanuel God with Us

1 Karl D. Lehman, Charlotte Lehman, D. Lehman, Charlotte Lehman, : God With UsManuscript of lecture available on DVD/VHS by the same title,from March 2006 seminar in Bolingbrook, Illinois( Copyright 2005, 2006 Lehman MDiv, New 10/25/2006)As some of you know, our model of healing is based on an integrative understanding of thehuman being that is, we can speak of mind, body, and spirit , as if they are separate parts withinus, but we are actually whole, unified beings, and what affects us in one part affects all theothers. Healing a wound in the mind will change the chemistry of the brain. Caring for the brainand body can strengthen the mind and of this integrative model of healing, we have found it very useful to study the process ofhealing from a number of different starting points. Karl, with his medical and scientific back-ground, has studied research works from neurology and cognitive psychology, as well as otherareas of psychology, and of course, psychiatry.

2 We have also read numerous works coming fromthe spiritual or psychotherapeutic angles. Each of these sources we have tried to evaluate throughthe Christian world view given to us in the Scriptures, and then to pick and choose whatresonates with Truth. And from each of these sources, the Lord has given us significant insightsabout how He designed human beings to work, and how healing , we want to do something which is not unusual in the church generally, but is somewhatunusual for us. We more often start from a clinical or scientific or practical place, and teachabout how we can cooperate with God s working there. Today, however, we want to start fromthe Bible unpack some truth we find there, and then see something of where this particularTruth impacts our healing journeys. We also hope, to illuminate and lift up the role and functionof truth such as might be presented in a sermon, of all things, in moving us toward deep trans-formative will do that by presenting a case study example in which this Biblical truth, which I m aboutto present to you, played a significant part.

3 So let s want to focus in on Immanuel , the name which means God With Us. Given the nature ofwhat we do which is so focused on inviting Jesus presence into the painful places of ourhearts, you can understand why we d have a special interest in this Biblical topic!Really, you can make a good case that the whole Bible is about God with us. It s stories ofGod coming to people, of people living with God, or by contrast, without Him; It s God sinteractions with individuals, families, tribes, and nations. We learn about God with Us from lots of examples in the Old Testament. When God calls toMoses through the burning bush, and summons him to go to Pharaoh to demand the release ofthe Hebrew people, Moses says, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelitesout of Egypt? And God replies before He offers Moses any other help, such as Aaron, or amiraculous transforming rod God says, I will be with (Ex 3:11-12).

4 All Moses reallyneeded to succeed was for God to be with in history, King Jehoshaphat of Judah wins an impossible battle against his enemies, and Immanuel : God With Us (New October 25, 2006)Page 2 of 12 Karl D. Lehman, Charlotte Lehman, army doesn t have to fight at all. As one of the Lord s prophets at that time said to him: Donot fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you. (2 Ch20:17) And there are many more examples of God being with people, and the difference Hispresence made. But don t worry, we re not going to try to survey the entire Bible here s go back to our focus, the name Immanuel , God with me it s as if the Holy spirit is sending up a flare and saying,look here, so you don t miss something really important aboutthe nature of God being with first appearance in the Bible of the name Immanuel is inIsaiah chapter the sake of time, I put some of the text on the screen, but I m not going to read the wholetext here aloud.

5 For your information, and individual study later, I refer you to Isaiah, chapter 7through 8:10. Here s the situation: That Immanuel is a baby boy, whose birth is a sign from God to King Ahazof Judah. It s about 735 had inherited a pretty bad situation, and currently had two other nations Israel, thenorthern kingdom of God s people, and Aram (also sometimes called Syria) threatening himwith their armies. And they weren t just threatening his kingdom generally, which would be badenough, of course, they were threatening him personally. They wanted someone who would goalong with their plan of revolt against Assyria, the big power of the day, who was making thempay heavy had already revealed that the kings of Israel and Aram wanted to depose Ahaz, who wasof the house and lineage of David, and put in someone else s son as this first Immanuel appearance, God gives a very understandably worried government rulerthe reassurance of His presence.

6 There is a lot of debate as to exactly who this child is. Ofcourse, you may be thinking, We all know that that text is a messianic prophesy it refers toJesus. And while I would agree with that, and we ll get to that later, this prophesy, like many,appears to have both an immediate meaning, in the life and times of those to whom it wasoriginally spoken, and a future , looking at the immediate context of what this word from the Lord might have meant to Isaiahand Ahaz, many scholars agree that Immanuel here is probably Ahaz s own child a royalchild, born to Ahaz s own young wife in his household. And by the time the child Immanuel isborn and is old enough to eat curds and honey, God says, the kings of Israel and Aram will bedead, and the threat from them what about this Immanuel , God With Us?He is only a baby, but he is an evidence of God s faithful presence with the house of David. Godhad promised to establish David s house and his kingdom forever you can read all about that inthe books of 1st and 2nd Samuel.

7 But it sure wasn t looking good for Ahaz and the house of David Immanuel : God With Us (New October 25, 2006)Page 3 of 12 Karl D. Lehman, Charlotte Lehman, that point. However, God himself chooses this sign, and tells Ahaz that He is still there, stillfaithful. Though Ahaz doesn t see the big picture, if he could really receive this sign ofImmanuel, he could rest in the knowledge that God is there, and His plans will ultimately becarried course, Ahaz might have liked it better if God s sign was a great deliverer to arise out of theeast, whose name shall be called He who blows your enemies to smithereens and makes younumber one in the popularity polls. After all, though history showed the prophesy was trueabout the threat from Israel and Aram disappearing, Judah still suffered chapter 8, interestingly, there is a further prophesy mentioning Immanuel . Isaiah reports thatGod addresses Immanuel , telling how the nation of Assyria would eventually devastate Judahbecause they rejoiced not in the Lord but in the power of other nations and yet, God alsoreveals that Judah s enemies plans would ultimately why?

8 Because God is with us. And that phrase God is with us, there in Isaiah 8:10, isthe Hebrew Immanuel , but not as a proper name, just as the phrase we see a picture of God reaching out with His presence to Judah to the house of David trying to help them understand the situation in which they found themselves, or have gottenthemselves stuck in, and assuring them that His presence also guarantees His faithfulness tofulfill His promises. But, by the time of the next Immanuel appearance, we might call it, therewas no king of the house of David who was ruling Judah or Israel or next (and only other) appearance of the name Immanuel in the Bible is recorded byMatthew. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Imman-uel which means, God with us. (Matt 1:23)Here Matthew is essentially quoting from Isaiah 7:14. Matthew knows of the account of the signof Immanuel which God gave to Ahaz and the house of David through the prophet Isaiah, and herecognizes in it a further prophetic meaning.

9 The young woman Isaiah prophesied about fore-shadowed not just any young woman, but the virgin Mary, who would conceive a child, and thatchild would be called Immanuel because he really was God, With so when it looked like the first Immanuel reassurance of God s faithfulness to David andall that that meant, of establishing a Kingdom which glorified God had lost its power, like anexpired warrantee, it emerges in a new form, quietly, seen only by a few at first, but becomesmuch bigger and ever so much better and broader and more all-encompassing than Ahaz orIsaiah or even old David himself could ever have himself takes on human form, and Joseph and Mary, both of the house of David, witnessHis beginning as a little baby. So much more than a sign this time God didn t send a messengerwith wise counsel, or even one who could accurately foretell coming political events. He describes it in his letter to the church at Philippi, saying that Jesus, being in very nature God,did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,but made himself nothing,taking the very nature of a servant, Immanuel : God With Us (New October 25, 2006)Page 4 of 12 Karl D.

10 Lehman, Charlotte Lehman, made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:6-7)And we all know the story of this Immanuel appearance the familiar Christmas story Godincarnate, God in the flesh, shook up Mary and Joseph s plans. They said Yes to God havingreally no idea where it would all lead, and I think that very same attitude of the onethat is listening for God, knows that God is both love and truth, and therefore is willing tosurrender to God, guaranteed that in the end, they would say It was all worth it. I can imagine them thinking, towards the end of their lives: We had no idea what was going tohappen of the heights of glory, and the depths of grief we would experience but it was allworth it. How blessed are we that God drew us in to his plan at the time of his walking this veryEarth. After all, He didn t have to come. But our Jesus, our Immanuel , chose to go where we hadto go.