Immanuel Means God With ME

[whatisthis]

This week my son, who is a pilot, passed thru here with his girlfriend. They were flying in a little plane, and how precious the visit was to me is impossible to express! But I think you can glimpse a little of how I feel because you have loved too!

My life is actually all topsy turvy right now, and my son promised me a car so I could get my life together. I'm not wanting to take a car from my son, but with the thought of being enabled by it to live a life that will give him joy and pride in me, I accept the car. My brother-in-law actually enters into this gift with my son, because he took a loan out and my son will pay that loan for me. But was I excited about seeing my son this weekend because of that gift?

No no! I'm so excited about seeing my son because He is my son! I know he loves me, and because of our mutual love everything is alright with me when he's here. I have been looking forward to the car, yes, but wayyyyy more than that I'm looking forward to seeing my son again and seeing that he is pleased about how that car he gave has helped me put my life together!

And you know, it's dawned on me that is how it is with Jesus and me too!

2Co 1:18-21 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yes and no. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us; by me and Silas and Timothy; was not yes and no, but in Him was, yes! For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God by us. But He confirming us and anointing us with you in Christ is God.

The Son of God--Jesus Christ--is the yes!!! to my salvation from loneliness and death and fear and topsy turvy! (He's the one who confirms promises even better than cars!) The best promise is about His return!

All the promises of God get their "yes!!!" in Christ Jesus. And, (in Him) all the promises become "Amen!" we are blessed! It's Jesus that confirms me, (and because of Christ, God anoints both apostles and people. Just like because of my son, my brother-in-law goes ahead and gives me the car.) Jesus the Son of God, and God the Father of Jesus are one in the focus in their work for us. Now there's one more verse:

2Co 1:22 And He has sealed us and having given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

That's like the car. The thing is a done deal. You could call that sealed.

Who has sealed us? Now, here's the capper spiritually for me--way back in the time of Jesus--(not in some mysterious time to come or time we are entering,) He, Jesus who gives us the promises of God with a big yes, has sealed me. Once I am sealed into this faith in Jesus, the earnest (little taste of) of heaven is the Spirit!

I know that the Spirit is God and is of God and with God just like Jesus, but also, the Spirit is like that car. It's the looking forward to of all those good plans for a new un-topsy-turvy life for me. And is a gift I get, looking forward to the pleasure of an ongoing gift. (In this spiritual gift case the gift will take me Home to a life of forever and never-topsy-turvy again.)

2Co 1:20-22 For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God by us. But He confirming us and anointing us with you in Christ is God. And He has sealed us and having given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

It's just like the song says, "I've never said a prayer He couldn't answer, I've never shed a tear He couldn't dry, and when the waves of life are so high you can't mount them, He will row you over the tide!"

Joh 14:16, 17 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you.

How does the Comforter come? Because Jesus prays for Him to come, and we ask for Him. Let's expand that verse a little on both sides:

Joh 14:14-18 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

Who is coming to me? Jesus! My son is a pilot and he came to see me! But my beloved pilot flew away, and as I stood there longingly looking after him, as the clouds finally seemed to stand where he was, I realized he was still there and as real as when I could see the speck of the plane a moment before. That's when I thought of how my loving Jesus is just as real and still here!

I'm trying to live so my son will be proud of me--and on another level "unto us a Son is given!" As I reach out for Him, (as I keep His commandments in love,) He doesn't leave me an orphan. The world no longer sees Him, because He's disappeared like an airplane flown by a beloved pilot into the clouds where my longing eyes can't see Him for now, but He's still there-- I'm still in touch, (I have His phone number!) His voice is in me, even. And He prays to the Father for me and He sends another Comforter.

Joh 14:19-29 "Yet a little while and the world does not see Me any more. But you see Me. Because I live, you shall live also. At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him."

Someone standing near who later became an apostle interrupted that with a question:

"Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?"

"Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My Words, and the Word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. I have spoken these things to you, being present with you. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard how I said to you, I go away and I am coming to you again. If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I go to the Father, for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens you might believe."

Joh 15:26, 27 "And when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me. And you also shall bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

This is our Son! He has been "God with us" Immanuel from the beginning!

Joh 16:4-11 "But I have told you these things so that when the hour shall come you may remember that I told you of them. And I did not say these things to you at the beginning because I was with you. But now I go to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, Where do You go? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when that One comes, He will convict the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe on Me; concerning righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged."

Okay, so who is judged? "The ruler of this world is judged." (As we'll see in some verses I'll show, the ruler of this world is Satan. The judgment is not to terrify us, but Satan.) What are the lost people of this world to be convicted of? That not believing on Jesus is sin. That Jesus being in heaven where we don't see Him brings righteousness. That Jesus death judges Satan.

That's what the Comforter convicts sad lonely hearts in the world of. His conviction frees those hearts as they look with comforted hearts to Jesus (beyond our human sight)--where Jesus is working for us with the Father! This Comforter message is good news because it's a message about Jesus victory over Satan!

Joh 16:12-14 "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever He hears, He shall speak. And He will announce to you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will announce it to you."

The Comforter and the Father will glorify Jesus because of His gift. God will receive of Jesus victory and announce it to us. And Jesus has the authority to give that victory to me!

Joh 16:15 "All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and will announce it to you."

Psa 23:3,4 "He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."

As Jesus walks through the valley of the shadow of death right to Golgotha for me, I fear no evil. In His hand is Comfort for me. His Holy Spirit is His rod that He reaches out to me with to pull me from the snares I fell into!

Psa 23:5 "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over."

The table is His body, broken for me! The cup that runs over is His blood shed for me!

Luk 22:17-20 "And He took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And He took bread and gave thanks, and He broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of Me. In the same way He took the cup, after having dined, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is being poured out for you."

And the oil? Well, here is where I first see the symbolism of oil in the Bible, it's in a story about a young man who had messed up and been exiled from his father's house. He lay down the first night away with only a stone for a pillow, completely brokenhearted:

Gen 28:12-18 "And he dreamed. And behold! A ladder was set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven! And behold! The angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold! Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac! The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your seed. And your seed shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in you and in your Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in every place where you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you. And Jacob awakened from his sleep. And he said, Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I did not know. And he was afraid, and said, How fearful is this place! This is nothing but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven! And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put at his head, and set it as a memorial pillar, and poured oil on the top of it."

Jacob has seen Jesus, the ladder between earth and heaven, and recognized the presence of Jehovah in the place of his loneliness. He puts oil on the memorial pillar which had been his pillow, and he declares that place to be the house of God!

That is exactly what the Spirit of God will do for us. The Comforter will show us Jesus, stretching between earth and heaven and opening a way to God in our lonely need right when we have irreparably messed up! He will show us the presence and the house of God right in the stony pillow of the place where we thought we were exiled! Hallelujah!

Gen 28:20, 21 "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, and I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall Jehovah be my God."

As that anointing oil is poured on that rocky pillow, Jacob speaks without knowing it about the white raiment we are instructed to "buy of Me" in Revelation! Jesus is our bread to eat and our clothing to put on so that we can come again to our Father's house in peace! So then Jehovah shall be our God!

The next place oil is seen in the Bible is in the symbolism of the Sanctuary.

Exo 25:6 "oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense"

Exo 27:20, 21 "And you shall command the sons of Israel that they bring you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always in the tabernacle of the congregation . ." .Exo 29:2 "and unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened mixed with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil. You shall make them of wheat flour."Exo 29:6, 7 "And you shall put the miter upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the miter. Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour on his head, and anoint him."

The spicy oil brings us light and mingles in the incense of prayer, it anoints our hearts with the Comfort of hope in Jesus! It is seen mingled in nearly everything in the Sanctuary, from the light that illuminates the place to the bread, and the incense, and even upon the crown that crowns the High Priest!

Who is crowned with glory and authority for me?

Rev_14:14 "And I looked, and behold, a white cloud. And on the cloud sat one like the Son of man, having a golden crown on His head, and a sharp sickle in His hand."

The Holy Spirit is the anointing of the crown of the Son of Man!

Let's look again at that anointing:

Exo 29:5-8 "And you shall take the garments, and clothe Aaron with the tunic, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breast-pocket, and bind it to him with the band of the ephod. And you shall put the miter upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the miter. Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour on his head, and anoint him. And you shall bring his sons and clothe them with tunics."

We shall be sons too, and be clothed in tunics of righteousness--but let's stay on this topic of the One who is crowned.

What else in the Sanctuary service symbolism is crowned?

Exo 30:1-3 "And you shall make an altar to burn incense upon. You shall make it of acacia-wood. A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square. And two cubits shall be the height of it, its horns from itself. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, and its sides all around, and its horns. And you shall make to it a crown of gold all around."

The altar of prayer is crowned. Jesus is the ladder between earth and heaven, and He is the altar of prayer.

Exo 37:1, 2 "And Bezaleel made the ark of acacia-wood: two cubits and a half long, and a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and out, and made a crown of gold around it."

So the ark containing the commandments is crowned. That's Jesus too! He contains in His life the commandments in living form, made possible for us!

Lev 21:10-12 "And the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes. Neither shall he come near to any dead person, nor defile himself for his father nor for his mother. Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am Jehovah."

This foreshadows our perfect Christ:

Heb 9:11, 12 "But when Christ had become a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building nor by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered once for all into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

So, like the high priest who was not to defile himself in any way, Jesus could say on the night of his offering up:

Joh 14:30, 31 "I shall no longer speak many things with you, for the ruler of this world comes, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father has given Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go away from here."

Earlier that weekend the Father Himself signified this:

Joh 12:28-32 "Father, glorify Your name! Then there came a voice from the heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Then the crowd who stood by and heard said that it thundered. Others said, An angel spoke to Him. Jesus answered and said, This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to Myself."

Yes! That's the good news! Satan is judged! That's the message the Holy Spirit Comforter sustains us with! Jesus! Jesus is lifted up! (Satan is judged.)

Now, I'm not implying that there's no sealing time and no judgment hour. I am sure that Jesus stands as the I AM in the center of time, sufficient for the past, the present, and the future of salvation. I am sure that Paul talked about sealing in the present tense, back in His time. I am sure that the judgment of Satan was sealed at the cross. I am thankful that it is Satan that is judged in the judgment and that as I open my heart to Jesus, He searches my heart and tries it to reveal the wicked things in me and get rid of them, because I don't want any issues that will hurt other people and I have figured out that is what sin is.

Sin is stuff that hurts others, which I don't want to do! (It also hurts me, and so the painful process of rooting it out that seems to hurt me so badly really heals me!) I'm glad God wants me to get my act together in every way. And I'm glad He loves me while I'm doing it! And I'm so glad that my son's visit brought all these things clearer in my heart and mind and soul. So, since I know that as this planet closes there has to be a special winding up time to close it down which could in a special way be called the sealing time and the judgment hour, any thoughts you want to share on how this special time affects us will be welcome to me, as I want to be ready when Jesus comes! I WANT my act together! And I'm not perfect or completely wise, so may you bear with me gently!

God bless!