What’s In a Name?  Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

Encapsulated in the name Immanuel is God’s clarion intention for the life and mission of Jesus of Nazareth.  We are initially introduced to the name Immanuel in Isaiah 7:14.  Later on when Matthew is reporting on the birth of Jesus, he states rather emphatically that the events surrounding Mary’s conception, and the birth of Jesus all transpired to fulfill Isaiah’s predictions.  A great deal of meaning is contained in the name Immanuel for the followers of Christ.  Each time we say the name Immanuel, we are announcing that God is with us in the person of Jesus Christ, and confessing the belief that Jesus’ birth fulfilled Old Testament prophecy.  Moreover, we are affirming that Jesus’ very name tells us something about God’s purposes concerning us, and assures us of God’s presence with us forevermore.

Promise Fulfilled. The New Testament teaches that Mary, a virgin, conceived a child by the power of the Holy Spirit.  In characterizing Mary as a virgin, Evangelist Matthew characterizes Mary as a young woman of a marriageable age who had no prior sexual experience with a man, and thus the child within her was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit.  This story forms the basis of the Christian belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

This belief is itself pregnant with possibilities because it contains the idea that God is able to bring about life, including human life where none existed before.  Do we believe in the Creator God, who is able to speak the world, and all that is in it into existence?  Do we believe this or not?  And if not, then what on earth are we singing and gathering for at Christmas? Who on earth (no pun intended) are we worshiping if it is not ‘God With Us’?

If we believe that the earth and all that is within it is a result of God’s will and creative power, then it requires no great leap of faith to also believe that Mary was a virgin who conceived the Christ child by the power of the Holy Spirit.  If we believe that Jesus is “God With Us” then the belief that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin is not such a radical concept at all.

What is alarming is the idea of an Immanuel absent of any power to perform miracles.  The Immanuel of Isaiah, of Mary, and of Matthew is capable of performing miracles, of doing the impossible, and of performing the will of God simply because God wills it.  The Immanuel of Christmas was the fulfillment of ancient prophecy and the embodiment of God Almighty.  Do we believe this?  Of course, we have every right to believe in a person named Immanuel that was not conceived of the Holy Spirit, or born of a virgin, and who has no power to do the miraculous.  But that would not be the same Immanuel that Isaiah promised, or that Matthew wrote about.  Instead, that would be an Immanuel of our own creation, a figment of our imagining.

Merry Christmas!  The Birth of Jesus Christ, who is Immanuel, is a promised fulfilled.