Together - Daily DevotionalSample

IMMANUEL

There are two differing concepts of God. One is His transcendence or “otherness”. He is not just an advanced being but is completely unlike us in terms of purity, knowledge, power and presence. God is distant, afar off and unapproachable. He is independent of, and transcends the material universe and man’s understanding. The other concept is His immanence where God is nearby, close and approachable. He is involved in the material universe and reveals Himself to mankind.

Perhaps these different views are like two sides of the same coin. Even in the Old Testament God is shown to be involved and draws close to mankind. In the New Testament however, we witness the coming of God to earth as a baby – fully divine and fully human. The baby was given a special name – Immanu-el, which literally translated means “With us – God”. 

In Jesus, God shared our humanity by experiencing both our joy and our suffering. Jesus is still “other” without sin and deserves our worship as creator but is also just like us as a flesh and blood person (Heb.2:10-18). Because of Jesus we can now draw close to a distant God and know Him as an intimate Father (Heb.4:14-16).

Prayer: Thank you that ELOHIM the strong faithful creator has become IMMANUEL – God with me