Dr. Dan Hayden •
How special do you think it would be if God suddenly appeared in the room with you? Wow! What an experience that would be!
In Isaiah 7:14 it says,
“Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bear a son; and shall call his name Immanuel.”
It’s the name Immanuel I want you to think about today. It’s one of those put-together words. You know – several words “put together” to make a bigger word. In the Hebrew language the word for “with” is “im” Then, if a pronoun like him, or her, or us, or them is used with it, that pronoun becomes a suffix added on to the end of “im” (or with). Now the pronoun “us” is the suffix “nu,” so the combination “with us” becomes “immanu.” That’s what “immanu” means – “with us.”
Also, whenever one of the names of God is used in a compound sense with another word, its shortened form is used. So the name Elohim becomes “El.” For example, my name is really Daniel, but people usually call me Dan. Well, in like fashion, El is Elohim. Now when you put “El” with “immanu” (with us), you end up with “Immanu-el” or Immanuel (Elohim with us). That’s why in Matthew 1:23, where Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 at the birth of Jesus, he adds, “And they shall call His name Immanuel – which translated means ‘God with us’.” You see, Jesus really is “God with us.” He is Immanuel.
Say – If Jesus lives in your heart as your Savior, then God is in the room with you. Think about that!