Thursday: Immanuel, God With Us
Daily Lesson for Thursday 9th of April 2026
If you were looking to share with a non-Christian a description from the Bible about God’s character, where would you turn?
The best answer, of course, would be to Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus not only reflects God but reveals God. There are many Bible passages that explain this, but the one that does so most simply is John 14:9. Here, Jesus says, “ ‘He who has seen Me has seen the Father’ ” (NKJV). In order to know more about what God the Father is like, we should look to Jesus—His words, His actions, His manner, and His great love toward humanity as desplayed in His death and resurrection.
The love and care of the Father is most clearly expressed in His Son, Jesus. The beauty of the Bible is that God has given us four rich perspectives on the life of Jesus so that we can have a fuller picture of who He is. In Matthew (written by a Jew, for Jews), we see Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah who fulfilled what was promised. In Mark, we see Jesus living an active life of service and sacrifice. He was always thinking of others and always responsive to the will of His Father. In Luke, we can read about how Jesus felt, with His humanity and compassion, and we can read this account to have assurance that what we read is true (Luke 1:3-4). In John, we see the incarnate Son of God and are invited to believe that Jesus is who He says He is, so that our spiritual lives can be revived. Although all four Gospels explore the same ground, “they do not represent things in just the same style. Each writer has an experience of his own, and this diversity broadens and deepens the knowledge that is brought out to meet the necessities of varied minds.”—Ellen G. White, Manuscript 105, 1900. Which Gospel have you read most recently?
In Matthew 1:23, a specific name is given to Jesus. Why is this so significant in understanding God’s character? Read Matthew 28:20, focusing on the last part of the verse. Compare these two verses. What do you notice?
Image © Jeff Preston at Goodsalt.com
We’ve touched only the surface of this huge topic, the character of God. God is greater and more incredible than we can fathom, and we will forever be learning about Him into eternity.
God deserves our praise for who He is and what He has done and is doing in our lives. Take some time now to offer up a prayer of praise to God for who He is. Be specific about what the Bible tells you about God. (For example, “Thank You, God, for being _____, as You tell me in _____.”)
Immanuel is essentially a Hebrew phrase: IM – NU – EL that translates literally as “with us God” or as we conventionally say it, “God with us” Isaiah was the first to use this in the Bible:
… and the idea was taken up and applied to Jesus by Matthew in the New Testament.
Matthew adds a little note to translate the meaning of the Hebrew to common Greek.
“God with us” is a powerful concept and is an important factor in the Gospel story. I find it particularly encouraging that when God chose to be with us in Jesus, he chose ordinary people as his friends. Typically, when a representative from a foreign government comes to another country, they seek out the captains and the kings to present their credentials. You don’t find them in fishing villages amd little country schools associating with ordinary people and playing games with their kids. They are much to important for that sort of interaction. Yet that is precisely what Jesus, Immanuel, did. God was friends with ordinary people. Our God want to be with ordinary people
In our modern non-believing world, the only “God with us” experience that many people are going to have is when the interact with Christians like you and me. That gives us a heavy but hopefully joyful responsibility.
(Here is something I did not know. Most of us know the Christmas Carol, “The First Noel” I knew that the Noel had French orgins but I did not know that it is really just a shortened version of Emmanuel – the Noel coming from the ending -nuel. You can keep that one for your next trivia night!)
Maurice your comment about Jesus choosing ordinary people for His friends made me think of a story I heard about Abraham Lincoln. He had spoken at a convocation and afterward overheard a woman remark, “He looks so common and ordinary.” To which President Lincoln turned to the woman and said, “Madam, God loves the common man. That’s why He made so many of them.”
There are many….many mysteries revealed in the Bible. One of those mysteries is that God became (incarnated) into a human and dwelt among humans. How God took the form of a created being and yet remained the Creator at the same time is a story which can only be believed by faith. We understand that God became human in order to save us. The all-wise God had no other option to save us but to become one of us. This mystery has so much to reveal about our God and teaches us several key spiritual lessons.
1. Our God is not distant and abstract. He understands us and has our experience. This gives us comfort when we pray because we know He understands our shortcomings, pain, joy, and limitations.
2. Christ (God) humbled himself and took the human form, which strongly tells us that humility is part of the divine nature of God. Christ emptied Himself to become human (Philippians 2:7). We have been called to humble ourselves to inherit the earth made new. “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth” (Matthew 5:5, NLT).
3. Every human life should be valued because God died for all mankind. It is a strong reminder that we should treat all human beings with dignity and respect.
4. God came down to meet us where we. God will always come down to meet us in our circumstances and conditions. Likewise, we should go out and meet people where they are and tell them that God loves them.
5. God expressed His love by making a priceless sacrifice. Love can only be expressed by action. Likewise, let us express our love to our fellow human beings through acts of sacrifice – money, time, fellowship, food, clothing and companionship. We cannot love by mere words.
6. God becoming Emmanuel demonstrates that God participated in our suffering. Likewise, we should participate in the suffering of our fellow human beings. We have been called to follow Jesus’s example. We cannot be aloof when our neighbours are suffering. If we cannot be there physically, a call can reach them, our pocket can reach them, our prayer can reach heaven. Definitely, we must not be indifferent.
The whole of Christianity is embodied in God becoming Emmanuel. Without Emmanuel, we have no hope for eternal life.
“…God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:6 Also “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up.” verse 10
The prophet said, “The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought.” Steps To Christ.[Moderator note: Please do not use abbreviations for book names. not everyone is familiar with them.] I believe Christ 1st fought this battle; the temptation to call 10,000 angels, which He had the power to do. We/I fight this battle daily in our relationships, in our marriage, work and on this Sabbath School Forum.
Human history is intertwined with memories of people pursuing money and ambition, and of others devising measures to address poverty. In these endeavors, humanity has been shaped by war, prostitution, class divisions, empires, and slavery, a long and often tragic story of mankind trying to find something other than God to make him happy. Beneath these desires, human happiness has become elusive; the joy we experience comes and goes, constantly affected by pain and disappointment. Humanity longs for something more permanent a lasting joy. As Scripture reminds us, God “has set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Yet there remains an absence of fulfillment. This elusiveness is deep-seated, and the awareness of lack, the realization of incompleteness, continues to manifest itself in a tantalizing but fleeting flood of human euphoria.
God responded to human rebellion and our stubborn insistence on searching for solutions everywhere except in Him by entering our world and becoming one of us. The gospel declares that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). He came to experience our weakness, to know our temptations and sorrows, and to share in our limitations. He entered our world to fulfill human potential and to live the good and righteous life we should have lived. He took upon Himself the terror of our collective greed, pride, lust, and self-obsession. He bore our sins on the cross so that they might receive the just judgment of God. He took our place to enable us to take His place.
Immanuel entered our world to create a bridge through which we can be restored to the source of all life—fulfilling the promise that “they will call him Immanuel” which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). God is with us in our loneliness. God is with us in our sorrow and grief. God is with us in the midst of our worst fears. God is with us in the darkness; even if we cannot see or feel Him, He is there. God is with us in moments of fierce temptation. God is with us in our worst moments of sin and failure. God is with us when everyone else abandons us. God is with us when the world seems to be spiraling out of control. God is with us when the storms rage and the waves crash over our heads. God is with us when the thick darkness of depression descends on our souls. God is with us in the mind-numbing monotony of our daily routines. God is with us when the world promises happiness but delivers misery.
It is my prayer the Holy Spirit will open our hearts and minds to recognize the need to know God so that we don’t miss out on the blessings of knowing Him.
Sometimes our idea of who God really is can be disturbed by some of the very songs and phrases that we hear. One such phrase is God sits high and look low. The other is from a popular song that is entitled
” From a distance”. Most of the lyrics implied that God is watching us from a distance.
I am so inspired from the word of God . That he is not distance. He is Immanuel God with us. As one of choruses said, Reach out and touch the Lord as he passes by. You find him not too busy to hear your heat cries. He passing by this moment your needs to supply. Reach out and touch the Lord as he passes by.
I love how God combines His all-powerful strength with gentle kindness. He has the power to create worlds, yet He chooses to care for the brokenhearted.
Because God is both mighty and gentle, I can trust Him completely.
He is strong enough to handle any problem.
He is tender enough to care about my personal pain.
He uses His power to save and heal, not to dominate.
This mix of strength and love makes me feel safe. It shows me that true greatness is humble and loving. It deepens my trust because I know the One who controls everything also loves me deeply.
“Immanuel, God with us”! When talking with a non-Christian, do we start the conversation with statements supporting Christian theology, or do we convey the practical aspects of Jesus’ life showing the Father?
I really appreciate Ellen G. White’s comment included in this lesson speaking to the “rich perspectives” of Jesus’ Life. Jesus death was the culmination of the acts done by spiritually ‘blind’ men – they could not comprehend what they were doing – Jude 1:12-13. Anyone who asks can be helped to understand when ‘hearing’ the Truth that Jesus represents the Father by His Life of Love for mankind.
I find the best way to help an interested person understand our ‘God’ is by ‘showing’ Jesus as His living Image. God is strictly a personal God, revealing Himself to each person individually. With and within Emanual, heaven offered its Light to lead man to live/implement spiritual Truth with understanding – Prov.3:5-6; Prov.4:7.
Emanuel lived His life for the purpose of expressing the Father’s Love for mankind through showing kindness, compassion, wisdom, giving admonishments and guidance to all who feel lost in the sea of confusion covering this world – 2 Cor.4:3-4; James 3:14-16; 2 Tim.1:7; .
In Daniel chapter 2, the wisemen, astrologers, and magicians are ordered to tell the king his dream and it’s interpretation. They tried stalling but finally had to admit that they couldn’t do it.
Daniel 2:10,11 “The astrologers answered the king, “No one on earth can do what the king requests! No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer. 11What the king requests is so difficult that no one can tell it to him except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”
The pagan deities were aloof and distant, not interacting with the people. Yet Daniel and the Hebrews God was involved in the affairs of man. Even pagan kings like Nebuchanezzar. He gave the dream and it’s interpretation to Daniel to give to the king. He shows up in the midst of the fiery furnace to deliver His faithful servants. He sends an angel to shut the lions mouth when Daniel is thrown in the lions den.
Our God is different, he shows up and wants to dwell with us, and communicate with us. So much so that God took on flesh and dwelt with His creation. What did mankind do for him? They crucified him. Yet he was willing to come and suffer and die so that one day we could be reunited in person, with face to face communion instead of wireless. What a Great God He is!
When we speak of God, we tend to imagine a Being on a higher level, who would not subject Himself to being with mere sinful humans. However, the God who is holy, loving, and creative also breaks paradigms: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son, and they shall call His name EMMANUEL, which translated means: God with us” Matthew 1:23. He became flesh and sin to fulfill His promise made at the moment of our fall, and where we fell, today there is a bridge that connects us to redemption. And for those who are more worried, this companionship (Emmanuel) has no limit; God gives countless proofs and speaks directly with each one of us: “And behold, I am with you every day until the end of the age” Matthew 28:20. May we live with this certainty in our hearts: God is with us. Glory to God!
God is amazing! I owe everything to Him! He is the only one to receive praise, because He is the donor of life itself. Without understanding Who God really is, we cannot understand eternity.
My personal definition of holiness is having a relationship with God and letting that relationship influence my life and my interaction with others.