Daily Devotional

-December 11, 2020-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-The Birth Of Immanuel Through The Virgin Mary-

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

(Isaiah 7:14).

Today’s verse is called the Immanuel Prophecy and predicts the virgin birth of Christ. It was the most blessed and miraculous birth in the history of the world. Two of greatest miracles in the Bible are the virgin birth and the resurrection of Christ. Many down through the years have sought to disprove them, only to come fail miserably and come to believe them and receive Christ.

There are three wonderful statements in our verse: the Lord Himself gives the sign, the virgin conceives and bears a Son, and His name shall be called Immanuel. Christmas is quickly approaching, in fact it is two weeks away. For us as believers we should never lose the sense of wonder in God becoming man in order to save man.

• The Lord Himself will give you a sign – The Lord had asked King Ahaz to ask for a sign but he refused to do it. God Himself then gives a sign that pointed to Bethlehem hundreds of years later. Throughout Scripture, God gave signs to Israel through the prophets, in dreams, and visions. For every sign there was a purpose from God.

In Jesus’ day, the Jews demanded a sign to authenticate His authority, but He gave them the sign of the prophet Jonah, who was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, just as He would die and be buried and rise again the third day.

• The virgin shall conceive and bear a Son – The birth of a child through a virgin is impossible humanly speaking, but nothing is impossible with God. The Holy Spirit worked this miracle apart from sinful man. When Mary gave birth to Jesus it was the fulfillment of this prophecy and the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary and separately to Joseph. God is not limited by man or his thinking or by anything else.

• And shall call His name Immanuel – The name Immanuel is significant since it means God with us. Our Savior’s name is Jesus, meaning Savior as given by the angel. The name Immanuel is one of His names and titles. It is so precious because it means, “God with us.”

When the angel spoke to Joseph in a dream, he quoted this verse to him. Matthew 1:23 says, “ Behold the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, ‘God with us.’” God sent His Son down to this world to be with us, to show us the Father’s love, and to die on the cross for our sins.

For us, it is so encouraging that He is with us. Jesus promised to be with us even to the end of the age. Fast forward to the book of Revelation, “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God’” (Revelation 21:3).

Let us rejoice this Christmas that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, coming as Immanuel into this world to save sinners. He is with us spiritually but one day we shall see Him face to face and be with Him forever.

Have a blessed day and Christmas. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean