# Be Ready - Sunday, 2025.12.07 ## What does "God with us" mean? In today's passage, we look at Matthew 1.22-23. Matthew quoted Isaiah 7.14 and added the parenthetical comment, "which means, 'God with us.'” What does "God with us" mean? To the best of my knowledge, there is little written in the Bible to fully explain this phrase. - There are only two occurrences of "Immanuel" in the Old Testament, the one Matthew quoted and another one, Isaiah 8.8. - This is the only occurrence of "Immanuel" in the New Testament. However, there are a few other somewhat related passages that may shed some light on Matthew's comment. As Jesus was wrapping up His time with His disciples, Philip made a statement. Jesus' reply provided some insight into His relationship with the Father. Summarizing John 14.8-11 - Philip said, "show us the Father" - Jesus replied: - if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father - I am in the Father and the Father is in Me - The words I speak are the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works In the opening few verses,the author of Hebrews provided another glimpse into this conundrum. Summarizing Hebrews 1.1-3: - God has spoken to us by His Son - The Son is the radiance of God's glory - The Son is the exact representation of His nature Paul also had some things to say on the subject . Summarizing Colossians 1.15-20: - The Son is the image of the invisible God - The Son is the firstborn over all creation - All things were created in, through and for the Son - The Son is before all things - In the Son, all things hold together - The Son is the head of the body, the church - The Son has preeminence in all things - God has all His fullness dwell in the Son - Through the Son, all things are reconciled to God Although I summarized the three passages to keep this post at a reasonable length, I encourage you to read the actual passages as well as the context around them. These passages may or may not have helped you understand what Matthew meant with "God with us." For that matter, they may have generated even more questions. I'll leave you with one such question: Is Jesus God? ### Passage All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”). {Matthew 1.22-23 (BSB)}