Immanuel -- God With Us

And a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they will call him "Emmanuel," meaning "God with us" (Is. 7:14).

 

Her role was to receive the whole Word of God for the whole world.  Any sin in her would have blocked her ability to receive the Whole Word.  All of us are able to receive part of what God wants to give us, part of His instruction and direction -- "I have more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.  But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will lead you into all truth" (Jn. 16:23-23).  But a portion of the Word will not save us; only in Christ Jesus do we have the entire word and will of the Father.

 

Jesus said to the Pharisees, "The reason you do not hear my words is that you are not from God.  Those who belong to God hear My words."  To the extent that we are distanced from God, to the extent that we are wrapped in self-will and disobedience, we are unable to receive the Gift that God wants to give us -- the Gift of Himself, of His very Spirit and Truth.  That is why Jesus must be the Center of our lives; He is the only human being who can receive all that God wants to give us -- because He has no will apart from the will of the Father.  In His 40 days in the desert, He laid down His own will, the desires of the flesh (meaning not only the body, but the mind and heart), to embrace the will of the Father on His behalf.  And it is His own Spirit that He bestows on us as a result of His earthly death and resurrection of the "new man, the second Adam."

 

Jesus did not spend only a day in the wilderness; coming to the end of His own (human) will demanded 40 days -- the length of time the human body can continue without food before it begins to consume itself.  And in one day, we too, cannot learn obedience and openness to the will of God.  For us, it takes a lifetime of transformation through the continuous renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2) and opening our lives to the word and plan of God for us:  But we all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.  As we behold the face of Jesus working in us through the Holy Spirit, He makes us over to reflect what we see in Him.  We cannot do it of ourselves.

 

Mary conceived in her flesh the Whole Living and Active Word of God, Who is Jesus Christ.  And His life in our flesh is not static, but ... living and active, more powerful than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12).  God's plan for us is to make us over again into His Image and Likeness -- Jesus Christ.  And to the extent that we can allow Jesus to live in us and act in us, He will do what His Father has sent Him to do -- make us a "new creation," one that is able to receive the Gift of God and to dwell with Him in a new heaven and a new earth. 

 

Today, I need to receive what I can of the Whole, Living, and Active Word of God and submit to His action in my life.  And I need to trust that what I am able to give Him of my will, He will transform into the will of God on my behalf.