Emmanuel: God With Us

Emmanuel (or Immanuel) is Hebrew for “God with us” (Immanu El). This name appears in the prophet Isaiah and is applied to Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, becoming one of Christianity’s most profound theological claims: in the incarnation, God Himself came to dwell among humanity. What was promised through the prophets—God’s presence with His people—finds ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

The name is more than a title; it’s a declaration about God’s nature and His relationship with humanity. The God who created the universe is not distant or detached but chooses to be “with us”—present, involved, caring. For Christians, the incarnation represents the most radical expression of this presence: God doesn’t merely visit or observe; He becomes one of us, taking on human flesh, experiencing human life, suffering, and death.

Matthew’s Gospel begins and ends with this theme. It opens with the declaration that Jesus is “Emmanuel, God with us” (Matthew 1:23) and concludes with Jesus’ promise: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Between these bookends lies the story of how God came to be with us and how He remains with us still.

The Isaiah Prophecy

Historical Context: Ahaz and the Syro-Ephraimite War

Isaiah 7 takes place during a crisis in Judah’s history. Around 735 BCE, King Ahaz of Judah faced invasion from a coalition of Israel (the northern kingdom, also called Ephraim) and Syria (Aram). These nations wanted to force Judah to join their alliance against the rising Assyrian Empire. When Ahaz refused, they threatened to depose him and install their own puppet king.

Ahaz was terrified. Isaiah the prophet came to him with a message from God: “Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid…It will not take place, it will not happen” (Isaiah 7:4, 7). God would protect Judah; the invasion would fail. Then God offered Ahaz a sign—any sign, from heaven or earth—to confirm this promise.

Ahaz, feigning piety, refused: “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test” (Isaiah 7:12). But his refusal was actually unbelief disguised as humility. Rather than trusting God’s word, Ahaz was planning to seek help from Assyria (which would ultimately prove disastrous, as Assyria would later oppress Judah).

The Sign: “The Virgin Will Conceive”

Frustrated with Ahaz’s unbelief, Isaiah declared that God would give a sign anyway: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

The interpretation of this verse has been intensely debated:

The Hebrew word almah: This word means “young woman” or “maiden,” typically understood to indicate virginity in ancient Israelite culture but not explicitly requiring it. The Greek translation (Septuagint) uses parthenos, which more explicitly means “virgin.” Matthew’s Gospel quotes the Septuagint version.

Immediate historical fulfillment: Many scholars believe the prophecy had an immediate fulfillment in Isaiah’s time—perhaps referring to Isaiah’s own wife (called “the prophetess” in Isaiah 8:3) or to Ahaz’s wife who would bear a son (possibly Hezekiah, Ahaz’s son and successor). The name “Immanuel” would serve as a sign to Ahaz that God was with Judah despite the crisis.

Isaiah 7:15-16 adds: “Before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.” This suggests a near-term fulfillment—the threat would be eliminated before a child born at that time reached the age of moral discernment (perhaps 2-3 years old). Historically, the Syro-Ephraimite threat did indeed collapse quickly.

Future messianic fulfillment: However, prophecy often has multiple layers of fulfillment. The immediate situation points beyond itself to a greater fulfillment. Matthew sees in Jesus the ultimate “Immanuel”—not just God metaphorically “with” His people through protection and providence, but God literally “with” humanity through incarnation.

Immanuel in Isaiah 8

The name “Immanuel” appears twice more in Isaiah 8. In verse 8, Isaiah prophesies Assyria’s invasion spreading across Judah “reaching up to the neck” (i.e., threatening Jerusalem but not destroying it), and he addresses the land as “Immanuel!”—asserting that it belongs to God who is with His people.

In verse 10, Isaiah warns Judah’s enemies: “Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us [Immanu El].” The name becomes a war cry, a declaration that because God is with His people, their enemies cannot ultimately prevail.

These uses reinforce that “Immanuel” is not just a personal name but a theological statement: God is present with and protective of His people. Yet the question remains: how present? In what way “with us”? Christianity claims that Jesus provides the ultimate answer.

Matthew’s Application to Jesus

The Angelic Announcement

Matthew’s Gospel begins with Jesus’ genealogy, then recounts the circumstances of His birth. Mary, engaged to Joseph, is found to be pregnant before they had come together. Joseph, “being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her publicly,” plans to divorce her quietly (Matthew 1:19).

But an angel appears to Joseph in a dream: “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).

Then Matthew adds his interpretive commentary: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)” (Matthew 1:22-23).

Fulfillment, Not Replacement

Matthew doesn’t claim Jesus is literally named “Immanuel” (His name is Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, meaning “The LORD saves”). Rather, Matthew identifies Jesus as the fulfillment of what “Immanuel” promised—God’s presence with His people. The name Jesus describes what He does (saves); the name Immanuel describes who He is (God with us).

This is typological fulfillment: the original situation and prophecy point forward to and find their ultimate meaning in Christ. The child born in Isaiah’s time was a sign of God’s temporary deliverance and presence with Judah. The child born to Mary is the reality of God’s permanent, personal presence with humanity.

For Matthew, writing to a primarily Jewish-Christian audience, demonstrating that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy was crucial. The virgin birth, the divine conception, the name “God with us”—all point to Jesus’ unique identity as divine and human, God incarnate.

The Incarnation: God Truly “With Us”

John’s Gospel expresses the same reality with different language: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). The eternal Word, who was God and was with God from the beginning, became human. He “tabernacled” among us—the Greek verb skenoo means “to tent” or “to dwell,” recalling the Tabernacle where God’s presence dwelt among Israel in the wilderness.

This is the radical claim of Christianity: Immanuel is not metaphorical. God didn’t send a representative or manifest as a theophany (temporary appearance). The Second Person of the Trinity took on human nature permanently. Jesus is “God with us” in the most literal sense possible—God became one of us.

Philippians 2:6-7 describes this: Christ Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” The Son of God emptied Himself (though not of deity) to become truly human, to be genuinely “with us” in our human condition.

Theological Significance

God’s Desire for Relationship

The incarnation reveals that God is not content to remain transcendent and distant. He desires relationship with His creation. The entire biblical narrative can be read as God’s persistent effort to be “with” His people:

• Walking with Adam and Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:8)
• Dwelling among Israel in the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:8: “Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them”)
• Filling the Temple with His glory (1 Kings 8:10-11)
• Promising through the prophets to dwell with His people (Ezekiel 37:27: “My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people”)

The incarnation is the climax of this story. God doesn’t merely dwell among His people in a tent or temple; He becomes one of them. He doesn’t just communicate through prophets; He speaks directly as a human. He doesn’t observe human suffering from a distance; He experiences it personally.

Solidarity in Suffering

Because Jesus is “God with us,” God understands human experience from the inside. Hebrews emphasizes this: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus experienced hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, grief, and death. He knows what it means to be human, not merely by omniscient observation but by personal experience. When we suffer, we don’t pray to a distant God who cannot understand; we pray to Immanuel, God who has been with us in our suffering and remains with us still.

This provides profound comfort. In times of pain, doubt, or despair, believers can know that God is not aloof. He has walked where we walk, felt what we feel, endured what we endure. The cross demonstrates the extent of His solidarity—God with us even in death.

Access to God

The incarnation means humans have access to God through a human mediator. 1 Timothy 2:5 states: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” Because Jesus is fully God and fully human, He can bridge the gap between humanity and divinity.

When we approach God through Christ, we come through one who understands both sides perfectly—who is both God and human, who can represent us to God and represent God to us. This is what “Immanuel” makes possible: not just God’s presence with us but our access to God through Him.

Promise of Permanent Presence

Jesus’ final words in Matthew’s Gospel connect back to the opening declaration: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Immanuel didn’t cease to be “God with us” at His ascension. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ remains present with His people.

Paul echoes this: “For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people’” (2 Corinthians 6:16). The church becomes the dwelling place of God through the Spirit.

Revelation’s vision of the new creation completes the story: “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). What began in Eden, what was promised through the prophets, what became reality in Jesus, finds eternal consummation in the new heaven and new earth—God dwelling permanently with His people.

Jewish Interpretation

Rejection of Christian Application

Jewish interpretation rejects the Christian application of Isaiah 7:14 to Jesus for several reasons:

1. The Hebrew word almah: Jews argue almah means “young woman,” not necessarily “virgin.” If Isaiah intended to emphasize virginity, he would have used betulah, the more specific term. The Septuagint’s translation as parthenos (“virgin”) is seen as Greek translators’ error or interpretation, not the original Hebrew meaning.

2. Immediate historical context: The prophecy was given to Ahaz as a sign concerning his immediate crisis. It must have had a fulfillment in his lifetime to be meaningful to him. A prophecy about someone born 700 years later wouldn’t serve as a “sign” to Ahaz in his situation.

3. Jesus wasn’t called “Immanuel”: The prophecy says the child will be called Immanuel, but Jesus was called Jesus. Christians respond that “Immanuel” describes His identity rather than being His given name, but Jews find this interpretation strained.

4. No virgin birth in Jewish theology: The concept of divine conception through a virgin is foreign to Jewish theology and resembles pagan myths. God doesn’t procreate, doesn’t have a son in a physical sense, and doesn’t become incarnate.

Jewish Understanding of the Passage

Many Jewish interpreters understand Isaiah 7:14 as referring to either:

• Isaiah’s own son: The next chapter records Isaiah’s son being born and named Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (Isaiah 8:3-4), though this identification has difficulties since the name is different.

• Hezekiah: Ahaz’s son who would become a righteous king, though chronological difficulties exist with this interpretation.

• A symbolic child: Representing the faithful remnant or the nation of Judah that would survive the crisis.

In all these interpretations, “Immanuel” is a theophoric name (containing God’s name) expressing faith that God is present with and protective of His people, not a claim about divine incarnation.

The Continuing Debate

The disagreement over Isaiah 7:14’s interpretation remains one of the key dividing points between Judaism and Christianity. For Christians, it’s a clear prophecy of the virgin birth and incarnation. For Jews, it’s a misapplication of a text about Isaiah’s own time, taken out of context and mistranslated from Hebrew.

This interpretive divide reflects deeper theological differences about the nature of the Messiah, the possibility of incarnation, and the relationship between Old and New Testaments.

In Christian Worship and Practice

Advent and Christmas

“Emmanuel” features prominently in Advent and Christmas celebrations. The carol “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” expresses longing for the Messiah’s coming:

“O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.”

This hymn, based on medieval Latin antiphons, captures the dual nature of Christian anticipation—historically remembering Jesus’ first coming at Christmas while longing for His second coming.

Assurance in Prayer and Suffering

The promise “God with us” provides assurance in prayer. Christians don’t approach an unknowable, distant deity but speak to Immanuel, who understands human weakness and suffering. This makes prayer intimate and personal, not merely formal or ritualistic.

In times of suffering, the name “Emmanuel” reminds believers that God is present even in darkness. He has not abandoned them; He is “with” them, as He promised. The cross demonstrates that being “with us” doesn’t mean removing all suffering but rather enduring it with us and ultimately redeeming it.

The Incarnation as Foundation

“Emmanuel” is shorthand for the incarnation, which is foundational to Christian theology. Without the incarnation, there is no true atonement (only God-become-human could bear humanity’s sin). Without the incarnation, there is no perfect example (only a sinless human could show us how to live). Without the incarnation, there is no mediator (only one who is both God and human can bridge the gap).

“God with us” is not peripheral to Christian faith but central. It distinguishes Christianity from deism (God distant) and from other religions’ concepts of divine-human interaction. Christianity claims that God didn’t just speak from heaven or send messengers; He came Himself, personally, incarnate.

Significance

“Emmanuel—God with us” addresses humanity’s deepest longings and fears. We long for connection, for presence, for someone who understands. We fear abandonment, isolation, meaninglessness. The incarnation answers both the longing and the fear.

God is not distant, uncaring, or unknowable. He is “with us”—present in history (the incarnation), present in the church (through the Spirit), present in each believer’s life (Christ in you), and promising to be present forever (the new creation where God dwells with humanity).

This changes how we view suffering. It’s not meaningless—God entered into it. It’s not faced alone—God is with us in it. It doesn’t have the final word—God has redeemed it.

This changes how we view ourselves. We are not abandoned creatures in an indifferent universe. We are known, loved, and accompanied by the God who became one of us. Our humanity is not despised but honored—God took on human nature and retains it forever.

This changes how we view God. He is not the distant Unmoved Mover of philosophy or the impersonal Force of mysticism. He is personal, relational, involved. He cares enough to come. He loves enough to suffer. He is committed enough to remain. He is Emmanuel—God with us.

The promise rings from Genesis to Revelation, from creation to new creation: “I will be with you.” In Jesus, that promise becomes reality. In the age to come, it will be consummated forever. Until then, the church proclaims and experiences the presence of Immanuel, God with us, who promised, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

He is not absent. He is not distant. He is with us. Emmanuel.