December 25

His name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. - Matthew 1:23.

NAMES are designed to distinguish and characterize; but names do not always well express and indicate the attributes of the bearer. But where God gives a name we may be assured that the thing or person will correspond with it; and what was the name which was to be descriptive of him whose coming we this day commemorate? Oh, it is a name as wonderful as it is delightful: “His name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” And the more we examine the records God has given of his Son, the more we shall find him worthy of this appellation.

The Saviour had often appeared in our world before his incarnation: “His goings forth were from of old, from everlasting, and he delighted in the habitable parts of the earth, and his delight was with the sons of men.” What the body was which he assumed on these occasions it is impossible for us to determine. But in reference to these appearances of the Son of God,it can never be said that he dwelt with man in a bodily appearance, for he soon disappeared from the view of those to whom he manifested himself. But now in the incarnation of the Saviour, God is manifested in the flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made; and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among its;”-in the very same world, in the same nature, exposed to the same wants and sufferings with ourselves, answering to his name.

This is what Paul calls a “mystery,” “a great mystery,” “without controversy, a great mystery of godliness;” and there is no real godliness separate from it. It is in this that we are so deeply concerned; it is the very medium of salvation. As Paul says, “We have boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh,”

He was three and thirty years treading our earth, and going in and out before men. By the assumption of our nature he stood in a peculiar relation to us and became our near kinsman, with whom was the right of redemption. The very nature that sinned must suffer, and therefore, because “the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death”-through suffering death- “he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

Thus he became our example, and goes before us in flesh and blood in the way of obedience and suffering. Thus he gains our confidence; thus he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and is “able to succour them that are tempted;” thus he hath “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” “My Father worketh hitherto,” says he, “and I work; I and my Father are one;” “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” So that in this incarnation of the Saviour, “God in very deed dwells with man upon the earth.”

This day brings to us glad tidings that unto us “is born a Saviour,” a great Saviour, a mighty Saviour, a willing Saviour, a present Saviour, “and his name is called Immanuel, God with us; and “his name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.”