Daily Devotions

The prophet Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be called “Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14) which means “God with us”.

This summarises the purpose of God in sending Jesus to this earth. Through him, God came to be with us and through Jesus, God doesn’t stand apart from humanity. He became one with us.

There was an obvious “oneness” with humanity at Jesus’ birth.

The greatest union between God and humanity, though, happened at the cross where God, in Christ, took upon himself the sin of the world, in order to save all who trust in him.

In the name of Jesus, ‘Immanuel’ or ‘God is with us’, we can look at everything he does, and everything that happens to him with these words echoing like a chorus or featured like a backdrop behind him. Because of him we are all Immanuel; God is with us still in a special way because he was in Jesus in a special way. We could look this day at everyone we meet and say ‘Immanuel’.

On his deathbed, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, spoke and repeated these final words, "The best of all is, God is with us.” Andrew E Pratt, born 1948, took Wesley’s last words and wrote this hymn.

1 Best of all is God is with us,
God will hold and never fail.
Keep that truth when storms are raging,
God remains though faith is frail.

2 Best of all is God is with us,
life goes on and needs are met,
God is strongest in our weakness.
Love renews, will not forget.

3 Best of all is God is with us,
hearts are challenged, strangely warmed,
faith is deepened, courage strengthened,
grace received and hope reformed.

4 Best of all is God is with us,
in our joy and through our pain,
till that final acclamation:
‘life is Christ, but death is gain’.

5 Best of all is God is with us
as we scale eternal heights,
love grows stronger, undiminished;
earth grows dim by heaven’s lights.

Holly Sprink, in her book Faith Postures: Cultivating Christian Mindfulness, writes, “God simply told us to think of Jesus as Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’ How amazing that one of the main ways God wants us to think about the person of Jesus is as ‘a sharing, an embrace of life by Life, a total identification of God with the object of his love.”

Immanuel, God is with us! Amen