Jesus Our Immanuel

{I’m very excited to share today’s guest post with you! I had the pleasure of meeting Jenni Keller recently at a Hello Mornings Leadership Retreat (she’s the Bible Study Director and I serve as a Leadership Manager). I was really excited to get a copy of her latest Bible study and so I asked her if she would do a guest post for DND to tell you all more about it. I know you’ll love her heart for Jesus just as much as I do! – Ali} 

God has always been Immanuel. We see this name for God used in the Old Testament in Isaiah 8:8 (ESV), “…and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

As believers, sometimes our language becomes common. Words lose their rich flavor. Perhaps that’s why when the angel appears to Joseph in a dream, announcing, “they shall call his name Immanuel” (Matt 1:23 (ESV)) and Matthew retells it, he makes sure to add the extra detail: Immanuel means “God with us.”

Matthew wants to make sure we don’t miss what he is saying. God is here. He is with us. Breathing the same air, walking the same ground.

John 1:14 in The Message says, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”

Christmas is a time when we celebrate his nearness. We marvel at how by sending His son and involving humanity in His story, we not only experience nearness, but learn how to draw near ourselves, to God and each other.

This Advent season, I invite you to walk slowly through the Christmas story and marvel with fresh eyes at how love came near 2000 years ago, and every day since.

He is God with us. Our Immanuel.

{If you’re interested in any of Jenni’s studies beside [amazon_link id=”151876665X” target=”_blank” ]Love Comes Near: An Advent Bible Study[/amazon_link], check out [amazon_link id=”1514195445″ target=”_blank” ]Establish Your Heart: A Six-week Study of James[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”1508825408″ target=”_blank” ]Complete in Christ: Illuminating the Pure Truth of Jesus[/amazon_link], available through Amazon.}

[amazon_link id=”151876665X” target=”_blank” ]“Love Comes Near”[/amazon_link] is a 25-day personal Bible study, designed to walk slowly through the Christmas story through the Advent season and look closely at how Love comes near to us in each passage. The Bible study includes an optional Family Advent Calendar, so you can take your kids on the same journey with you. You’ll walk through the Christmas story, told in both Matthew and Luke, as well as look through Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah. Available on Amazon or jennikeller.me.