Advent Devotional | PEACE
This Christmas we wanted to bring you messages of Hope, Love, Joy and Peace from some of our artist partners!
Jesse Reeves of KingsPorch closes out our Advent Devotional series with a message on the meaning of Emmanuel and the theme of peace this season.
KingsPorch
This Is Emmanuel
Honestly, it was hard to choose which advent word would be the best fit for the song “This is Emmanuel.” The very name, Emmanuel means “God with us!”
How can you have hope in a time of hopelessness? Emmanuel.
How do you feel loved in the midst of loneliness or depression?
Emmanuel.
How can you have joy if the world around you seems to be falling apart?
Emmanuel!
Ultimately, I landed on the word “peace.” The context of Matthew 1 is incredible. Mary and Joseph are engaged to be married, and Joseph finds out that she is pregnant! Can you imagine how that would have rocked his world? The stress, the anxiety, the depression, and the chaos that would come would be overwhelming.
It’s into that chaos that the angel appears to Joseph and says in verse 20, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”
…(which means, God with us).
The prophet that the angel is referring to is Isaiah, and the prophesy that is quoted was written 700 years before the birth of Jesus!
That is the God that we worship!
The angel is reminding Joseph, right in the middle of the chaos, that God is in control.
God is with us!
He doesn’t always calm the storm. He doesn’t always change the circumstances… but, He is ALWAYS with us!
If you are entering this season, and your world seems to be spinning out of control, I have good news for you…
This is Emmanuel! Jesus is with us.
