In the prophecy of Isaiah we find a distinct promise that God would manifest himself to humanity through His own idea as revealed to mankind, and that his name was to be Immanuel. In the first chapter of Matthew's gospel we find the fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of Jesus, and we read that the angel who announced his appearing said that his name should be Immanuel, or "God with us." No one who accepts the teachings of the Bible would deny God's ever presence, and that throughout all the ages He is the same, which to the Christian Scientist would mean that He is never less than unchanging Life, Truth, and Love. At the same time we are compelled to admit that according to mortal estimates there have been dark ages when God was well-nigh forgotten and His law almost wholly trampled under foot.
As we read human history and pause aghast before its terrible record of crime and misery, we may well ask what has stood between the race and complete annihilation, for there is no denying that sin is so destructive in its tendency that were it not for the ameliorating influence of good, even as humanly recognized, there would "no flesh be saved," to use the gospel language. Those who study deeply the Scriptures find that there were many periods of illumination when the darkness was in some measure dispelled through the consciousness of some one who sought after God and found Him, and thus became a luminary in the darkness of mortal belief. On page 333 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says: "The Christ is without beginning of years or end of days. Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea, —the reflection of God,—has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love."
When we take into account the density of mortal belief and its resistance to divine Truth, we may well marvel at that which was accomplished by these holy men of olden time, rather than wonder why they did not accomplish more; and we should never forget that the illumination which they brought to the world left with mankind a demand for obedience to divine law which can never be set aside. The law of God as expressed through the Ten Commandments did not come into existence with Moses, the great Hebrew leader. It had existed from all eternity and was to some extent recognized in all times as the only basis of security for the race, but until the law was brought within the range of human apprehension and the absolute necessity for obedience thereto made known through Moses' teachings and demonstrations, the world was, so far as we can tell, in total darkness as far as spiritual things were concerned. Again and again did the light shine forth—always with the promise of a fuller day and a more complete revelation of the divine nature—and this is wonderfully expressed in Isaiah's vision of Immanuel, or "God with us."
