Immanuel, God Is With Us

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

December 23, 2025

in Spritual Growth

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December 21, 2025
Readings: Isaiah 7: 10-17
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25

4th Sunday of Advent – Abp.Hines

God keeps His Word for His people. He never fails. We are the ones who fail, who forget. We have in some cases, committed treason. But God is a God of love. In the Psalm reading today, it says that the Lord is good and upright. He instructs sinners in the way. Sad to say, we read the Scriptures and treat them as mere stories. We need to begin to learn the full meaning.

During the time of Isaiah, there were two kings trying to invade Israel. Rezin of Syria and Pekah from the northern part who led a coalition to invade Judah, aiming to depose King Ahaz and conquer Jerusalem. Ahaz was afraid although God had told him that these kings would die. God further offered Ahaz a sign to prove it, which Ahaz refused; so God gave a sign anyway: a young woman (or virgin) would conceive and name her son Immanuel (“God with us”), and before the child was old enough to know good from evil, the enemies’ lands would be desolate, but this would be followed by judgment on Judah by Assyria. This meant that God was about to turn the world to the Gentiles. We have somehow misinterpreted the Word of God. We need to understand that in God’s plan, there is a journey. He was literally saying that because Israel had failed, He would choose someone else. It was prophesied that the Child who would be born will be eating curds. God was showing us a lesson of simplicity. Christ was not born inside a palace. He came to identify with us, as a man. He went through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and eventually as a grown up just like everyone else. God was telling us, “I am your life, I am your hope.” We think our substance is our own making, but it is really God behind us all. It’s like Him saying, “Don’t worry about Judah, don’t worry about what’s going to happen, I will redeem the world.”

Christ came to give His life on the cross to redeem us. He gave us holiness and righteousness, so nothing is of our own doing. Christmas should be to us, more than just an event. It should be that this should give us joy and peace. God has said that He would forgive us. Christmas is a proclamation that we have been given new life. King Ahaz did not use his faith. We as Christians should have faith. We should believe. God has forgiven us no matter what we have done. We should not be anxious and listen to the world telling us what to do to succeed. God wants us to pay attention to Him. All the signs such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are making man fearful.

Christ was declared with power from God. There are two kingdoms at war with each other; life and death. Sad to say, we have chosen the path of death. God, however, has said that those who are in Christ, even when we die, we shall live, because to be absent from the body is to be with the Lord.

Mary was around 16 when she was betrothed to Joseph, who was a much older man. When he found out that she was with child, he was about to get rid of her when an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, explaining that Mary’s pregnancy was by the Holy Spirit and that the child would be named Jesus, who would save his people. It should be that the Christmas season should remind us that it is for our redemption and salvation. Romans 1:5 “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of His name.” It is time for us to wake up. Christmas is not just about celebrations and parties. It is about God giving us life. It is about responsibility. The enemy has been trying his best to take away our ability and minds from the things of God. We are to use the faith God had given us because of our new life. May God be in our minds at all times even as we put our faith in Him.