In the New Testament we read of a prophecy that was made at the time of Isaiah and was currently being fulfilled. In his Gospel, Matthew words the prophecy thus (1:23): "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."
With what expectancy men and women must have awaited the coming of a Saviour who should be called by the name Emmanuel, or Immanuel! Indeed, in the centuries after this prophecy was made, the Israelites caught glimpses of what this coming would mean to the world. But since they believed salvation to be a future rather than a present possibility, the full experience of "God with us" was, for them, postponed.
Many people have looked back reverently to the occasion described in the opening chapter of Matthew and to the glorious years that followed. Yet to the extent that they have believed that the personal Jesus, rather than the Christ, Truth, which he represented, was the complete fulfillment of the prophecy and the means by which marvelous works were accomplished, the practical import of "God with us" has been obscured.
