Immanuel: God with us, God for us, God on our side.

We often ask the question, “What is life all about?” And many of us long for information that can give us final answers to that question. Happily, we have such information given to us in the greatest Book in all of the world, the Bible.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Therefore, it is impossible to look into the pages of the Word of God without deriving tremendous benefit for our own hearts, and for our own lives. During these days we’ve been looking at the marvelous revelation of God given to us by the Prophet Isaiah. The book of Isaiah has already, I’m sure, been a great encouragement and blessing to your heart.

Vision of the Throne of God (Isaiah 6:1-8)

In Isaiah Chapter 6, we have an account that is given to us, that has always touched my heart. I pray that it may touch yours as well. In Chapter 6, we have that great experience that Isaiah had, that was to make the eternal difference to him. Isaiah said:

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw. . . the Lord” (Isaiah 6:1).

Now Isaiah was a friend of King Uzziah. You can be very sure that they depended on one another. Isaiah, as a loyal member of the nation, looked to the king and depended upon him, and trusted his words, and followed his leadership. Uzziah was a great king of the nation of Judah. But the day came, as it is with all men, that King Uzziah died, and there was no king. Now in many lands, people would say, “What shall we do? We are without leadership. These are desperate times, and it’s so troubling now.” But Isaiah reports:

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw. . . the Lord” (Isaiah 6:1).

Now Isaiah doesn’t just give us this testimony and leave it at that. He takes the time to expand on it just a bit, and what he says is bound to make a difference to each one of us. The Scripture says:

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim” (Isaiah 6:1-2).

He tells about these angels gathered about God at the time of the death of King Uzziah. And then, after he saw this vision of God upon the throne of the universe, he said:

“Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).

Then he tells about the seraphim flying in one direction or another. One came toward him with a red-hot coal from the altar. This angelic being said:

“Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged” (Isaiah 6:7).

Then God speaks to Isaiah, Isaiah reports on this and says:

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” (Isaiah 6:8).

Here at this moment, King Uzziah having been taken away by God, Isaiah now says:

“Then said I, Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

You know something of the story of what happened in Isaiah’s life as a result of that decision. He was used of God to be perhaps the greatest prophet in the Old Testament. He was used of God to voice realities that were to echo down through the pages of history.

Well, of course, the response of God was marvelous. God said, “I will send you, and I will use you to carry out My will, My vision, to the ends of the earth. I’m going to send you to touch a world with the marvelous story that delineates the purpose of God to all mankind.”

One of the greatest moments in the history of the world, was when God spoke to a man many years ago. His name was Abraham. God said to him, “Get up out of your land, Ur of the Chaldees, and come to a place where I have prepared you and your people to live.” The place was what we now call the nation of Israel, the city of Jerusalem. God made Abraham a promise. He said, “I will make of you a great nation, and you will be a blessing to every nation in all of the world. You will be the father of multitudes of people.”

Abraham never forgot that. He remembered the promise of the blessing of God on his life, and did become the father of a great nation. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were those original fathers, as it were, of the nation of Israel. And out from there, they became what you see in Israel today. It is a tremendous experience to look at what God has done with that blessed land. Israel is a special nation that is unlike any other nation in the world. Unlike, because God has made it so. God said, “I will make you to be that nation that carries a sense of destiny for the whole world.”

Then Abraham was spoken to by the Lord. God said that this great nation would be used to accomplish many things. And that promise of that set of accomplishments, and that final consummation of what Israel was to be, is found in the Word of God. The Bible tells us about what God said Israel would be. And you and I, having read the Word of God, should expect the grand fulfillment of that marvelous set of promises.

Prophecy of the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7)

There are two great promises found in the Word of God, that God said were to apply to this nation, Israel. Listen to the Word:

“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

“Immanuel” means “God with us, God for us, God on our side.” “Immanuel” means the Lord has come to be with us, in a very special way that’s unknown to anybody else, or any other nation, in the whole world.

“Immanuel.” That word applies to the Messiah of the nation of Israel, and points up the great destiny that this nation has before it.

So Israel started to keep in mind the fact that God would send a deliverer, Immanuel. Then Isaiah continues to expand on this prophecy of the child of promise God had told him about:

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

What an astonishing promise! God spoke at that time and said, “Now Israel will become a great nation. And the sign is that a child shall be born in the nation of Israel that ultimately will become the Master of history.”

That’s the story of Jesus Christ. Think about that for a moment. The name of the Messiah of Israel, will be “Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” There’s no way of interpreting this verse except to say that God Himself was going to come and live in the midst of the people of Israel. And God Himself would endue this nation with heaven’s capability.

That was promised in the Old Testament. Did it come to pass? Yes, it did. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, about 2000 years ago. Jesus Christ gave Himself to the people of Israel. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God, brought to them that great package of divine destiny which came to them from the Lord.

Isaiah takes the time to describe this, and you and I should make ourselves familiar with that prophecy. But also, you and I should keep an eye on what happened as a consequence. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, predicted in the prophecy of the Old Testament. He gave Himself to be the help and the blessing that Israel sorely needed by that time. And sadly, He was ultimately crucified. But the Scripture says He was resurrected, and He’s coming again, and He will be the great Messiah of the nation of Israel, the leader of all of their future.

You and I, knowing this, should take the time to say, “Dear God, I pray for the people of Israel.” The Bible says:

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love you” (Psalm 122:6).

Israel’s Regathering (Isaiah 10:20-22)

One of the most interesting experiences, one of the greatest in all of life, is to take the time to think of how God has worked in history, and how especially He has worked with the nation of Israel. Israel was called of God to be a great testimony as to the reality of God, and the necessity of faith in Him. Now sadly, Israel did not carry out that commission it got from God. Rather than truly obey Him, Israel became disobedient to the God who presides above history. Israel, the Bible says, even joined in rebellion against God. It is a sad but true story. The Prophet Ezekiel talked about this, along with the Prophet Isaiah and others. They would be scattered across the world into perhaps a hundred different nations. Israel would be scattered, and therefore appear to cease to be as a nation.

“What happened, then, to the nation of Israel?” Other nations have been scattered and they disappeared, never to be seen again. But Israel found a way, with the help of God, to keep in touch with one another. So there were pockets of Israeli people in one place and another like the United States and England and Russia and the Low Countries and many places across the world. Many of them diligently read the Word of God. They came across what Isaiah said, and Ezekiel said, and many others. What Isaiah said was:

“The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the Mighty God” (Isaiah 10:21).

Do you know what will happen with the nation of Israel even yet? The Bible teaches that Israel, having been scattered, would appear to be finished. But the Bible then says that there would come a time at the end of the age when Israel would be gathered together again.

Quickly, let me remind us that a terrible thing happened to the nation of Israel, but that brought this regathering to pass. During the days of World War II, Hitler declared against the nation of Israel, and put millions of these helpless and dear people to death. But now Hitler is gone, and as a consequence of all that happened during those days of the war, Israel said, “We’ll never let this happen again.” They began to return to the land of Palestine, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, so that now, there are millions of Israelis who live in this place called Israel. And living there, they have become once again a very notorious and powerful nation in the world. Living there, they have become an example of God working in history. But, living there is a miracle. Israel had rebelled against God when they said, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14), speaking of Jesus Christ. “We will not follow the tutelage of God.” But out of these experiences, God has produced a knowledge of the reality of God in the hearts and minds of the people of Israel. So the regathering has been seen as a marvelous miracle, done by God for His people. They are back in the land today, in fulfillment of what the Bible teaches.

Now what will be the future of the nation of Israel? The Bible says that Jesus Christ is going to return as the Messiah of Israel. He will set up His kingdom, so that the world may look upon what happens as a consequence of His rulership. Jesus will reign in what we call the Millennial Reign of Christ. From across the world, the Israelis and others will come to see Jesus Christ, to worship the Lord. During those days, the people of Israel will be so impressed, so moved, by what God is doing on their behalf, that they will believe in Him, and their belief in Him by the millions will make of Israel a tremendous nation once again. Regathered by virtue of their knowledge of God and their identification with Christ the Messiah, Israel comes back to the land, leads the world in spiritual reality, and becomes a great nation that will last forever.

From the writings of Dave Breese