22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
Greek mythology provided a rich pool of images for the ancient world. There was one problem with these gods. They were always a glorified image of man, with all our foibles and follies. The worst excesses of human beings were glorified in the actions of the gods. Sprinkled among these myths were stories of the gods coming and interacting with humans. But Jesus’ interactions with human beings is very different. Matthew quotes from Isaiah the prophet of the Old Testament. This promise of a child signaled to the people of Isaiah’s day that God was present with them in the middle of their struggle and strife. They needed to know that God had not abandoned them. Isaiah is giving them a timeframe for their suffering to end. Your deliverance will be soon. Isaiah places the timing of their deliverance next to the growth of a child. Before the child is fully weaned and before he knows right and wrong, deliverance will come. As with some other prophecies in the Old Testament there was a double message. The first message spoke directly to that generation, the first hearers of the prophecy, and it brought them hope. The second and ultimate fulfillment was in Jesus. So Matthew sees the fulfillment and points out and emphasizes the fact that in Jesus, God is with us. Unlike the gods of ancient mythology, our God is perfect and holy. He is not caught up in the sins of humankind. We see this in the life of Jesus. His life was a life of holiness and moral perfection. Unlike those gods He stands as a shining example of humanity lived to the fullest. That is because Jesus was God in the flesh, God with us. So as you begin to hear the words of the Christmas carols, listen closely to their words. The traditional carols all proclaim this truth. Jesus is God. He came to rescue us from our sins and the inevitable penalty prescribed by the Lord. “Fall on your knees and hear the angel voices.”
The Arnold Journey 