WEEK TWO

December 4 - December 10
The Names of Christ
Various sources indicate that biblical scholars have identified over 700 different names for Christ in scripture. This rich panoply of titles however impressive, still cannot adequately convey the fullness of Christ. We need all 700 descriptors to help us begin to glimpse something of the complex character qualities that together form a picture of who Jesus is. We start the week meditating on the moniker “Immanuel,” the title for Christ most often associated with his birth. The three days immediately following reflect titles that reference Christ’s deity, while the remaining three days focus on names for Christ that tend to reflect His identification with us as human beings. The Catechism on the Name of God states, “A name expresses a person’s essence and identity and the meaning of this person’s life. . . . To disclose one’s name is to make oneself known to others; in a way it is to hand oneself over by becoming accessible, capable of being known more intimately and addressed personally.”

IMMANUEL
Scripture: Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (God with us).

The Disarming Child
by Charlie Lowell

Helpless and human
Diety in the dirt,
Spirit married with flesh
We couldn’t make it to you,
But you come to us.

You always come to us.
In our stubbornness and desire,
Entitlement and shame
Remind us that we need you,
Merge your untamed Spirit with our flesh.

We try to forget those
Years of wandering.
Shackles and masters,
An eternity of doubting
And still, you come to us.

A divine intrusion
Through our scheming and chaos-
Coats of armor, angels and armies.
Do some wrecking here,
And gently come to us.

Disturb us this day
Through sorrow and through dancing,
The bliss of joy and sting of death
Past hands that would threaten and tear,
You come to us extravagantly.

From your manger lowly,
Mighty and mysterious
You come to us, Seed of Heaven
Spirit wed with flesh,
These broken hearts to mend.

GOD WITH US
One of the most important—if not the most important—question anyone can ask is: “How does God relate to the world?” If you were to ask that question to a random group of people, say at a mall or a public gathering of some kind, you would get all kinds of answers.

Some would say that God created the world, then withdrew—and isn’t all that interested in what’s going on. Others would say that God may have been powerful enough to make everything, but He certainly isn’t strong and good enough to stop all the suffering and evil in the world. Still others would say that the question is irrelevant, because there’s really no God anyway—although it’s okay to believe in some sort of “cosmic power” if it helps you sleep at night.

If by chance there was someone in the crowd who really understood what the Bible says about God, here is the answer you would hear: Jesus Christ.

Jesus is both the Christian answer and also the Christmas answer to the question, “How does God relate to the world?” because Jesus is God in human form. He is “the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). The technical term for the process of God taking on human form is incarnation, which comes from a Latin word meaning “taking” or “being flesh.” In the Bible the concept of the incarnation is best expressed in John 1:14: “So the Word became human and made his home among us.”

This verse, where Jesus is referred to as the living Word of God, also conveys the idea that God became a human so He could come to earth and live among us. That’s the essence of the name given to Jesus by the prophet Isaiah: Immanuel, which means “God with us.” What powerful words! John MacArthur has said, “If we condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words.”

Today think about the Creator of the universe taking on human form—the form of a baby—so that He could be with us! It’s not that we’re all that great to be around. As humans, we can be an unsavory bunch, yet the all-powerful, all-knowing, completely holy and faithful Creator of the universe willingly came in the form of a frail baby to hang out with us and show us a better way to live.

Because of Jesus, we have someone we can relate to personally who can identify with our weaknesses. We don’t have to worry that God is detached from our world, not caring about us. He knows what we are going through, and He is able to help us in our distress.

Because of Jesus, we know that God is with us. We know that God loves us and that God is for us. Even more, because Jesus is God, we have someone who can save us—because He lived a perfect life and became the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Prayer
Immanuel, purify our hearts that they may be worthy to become your dwelling place. Let us never fail to find room for you. Come and abide with us that we may also abide with you. We praise and thank you for identifying with us in every way and for your great gift of salvation. We long for the day when we will see you face to face and be with you forever.
Amen.

Stan Jantz
Member of the Board of Trustees, Biola University
Executive Director of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA)