What’s Better Than “God with Us”?
In Matthew 1:23, we are told that Jesus would be called Immanuel, which means "God with us."
That was incredible news! The Eternal Son of God being born into this world and taking on an additional nature of humanity is jaw-dropping. It is an act of humility like none other on His part, and an unfathomable gift to the world. We celebrate this at Christmas.
But do you know what is even better than "God with us”?
GOD IN US!
See, Jesus was born into this world to die for our sins as a means to an end.
Forgiveness was not the end goal. Putting His life in you was his end goal. But He had to be "God with us" in order to die for our sins so that He could be "God in us."
God even shared this in the Old Testament through the prophet Ezekiel.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you.”
Ezekiel 36:26-27
See, the end goal was God in you, and forgiveness of sins was the means to accomplish that goal.
Sin had corrupted our hearts, separated us from God, and that separation left us spiritually dead. So God had to get rid of the sin first, but then He also had to give us a new heart. The only way that would happen was through our spirit being in union with the One who is Life itself, God.
So “God with us” is what made it possible to have our sins forgiven, but that doesn’t go far enough.
Imagine a heart surgeon telling you that you need a completely new heart in order to live. He takes you into surgery, cuts you open, takes out your old heart, cleans and preps the area for the new heart, but then sews you back up without ever putting the new heart in you!
You would be like, “What are you doing Doc? This didn’t solve my problem!”
What if he said, “Well, but listen, what if I promise to be with you? What if I stay by your side and never leave you?”
You would say, “Are you crazy? You being with me is not going to solve my problem, I need a new heart!”
See, God didn’t come to be with you. He didn’t come to walk alongside of you or ride in the passenger seat of your car on your journey of life. He came to be in you, live through you, and be your Life.
It was only by Him being in you that your heart would be made new, where you would have His Life-giving DNA running through you.
Even Jesus Himself said this in John 17. Jesus is praying for his disciples and then begins to pray for you and me. In verses 20-21, He says,
“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
John 17:20-21
This is what Immanuel, “God with us” came for.
He came to be with us, so that He could give His Life for us, and ultimately put His Life in us.
As we celebrate Christmas, we do celebrate Immanuel and God being with us because Him being with us 2,000 years ago is what made it possible for Him to be IN US TODAY!
Through Jesus’ virgin birth, His sinless life, His substitutionary atonement for our sins on the cross, His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit, you and I can be made whole again through Jesus being in us.
“God with us” is good.
“GOD IN US” IS BETTER.