The Entire Story of Scripture
Part 12: Emmanuel
Pastor Nate shares the entire story of scripture in 18 parts.

Oct 22, 2023

Throughout history, God has been trying to form a relationship with God’s people.  God was always looking for humans to carry forward God’s ways of compassion and mercy and justice.  But the cycle kept repeating.  God’s people would be faithful and then forgetful.  God was looking for a group of people to bring forth the message of God to all people, but so often God’s people turned inward and focused only on their own prosperity.  God had been looking for people to do this work and so finally, to change the story and break the cycle, God became a person.

God became human in the person of Jesus and this event, was not just the breaking of the cycle of faithfulness and forgetfulness; it was also the embodiment of so many of God’s promises.

Jesus was born in a lowly stable, to unwed parents, in a small, unassuming town called Bethlehem because humility and vulnerability are the ways of God.  God became human in the person of Jesus because God wanted us all to understand that relationship with God can be deeply personal.  God became a fragile human being so that we would know that there is no part of our human existence that is not connected to the presence of God.

When Jesus was born and God became human for our sake, some used the title “Emmanuel” which means, “God is with us”.  God is with us when we are faithful, God is with us when we are forgetful, God is with us during every moment of our fragile human existence.

Peace,
Pastor Nate