Matthew introduces Jesus to his readers with the words, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us” (Mt. 1.22-23). Matthew’s citation of the verse, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel,” is a direct quote from Isaiah 7.14. Immanuel is a compound Hebrew name (the Hebrew name is spelled with an “I” while the Greek version uses an “E”). The prefix Imanu, meaning “with us,” added to El, the shortened form of Elohim, one of the Hebrew names for God, literally translates “With-us God.” Since “With-us God” is awkward linguistically, most translations opt for its equivalent, “God with us.” While nearly all the names attributed to Jesus are left untranslated, Matthew is intentional about supplying the meaning of this Messianic name. Matthew not only introduces Jesus as our God-with us, Immanuel, but also concludes his gospel with comparable words from Jesus, “And remember, I am with you always, even to the close of the age” (Mt. 28.20). If the first thing we read about Jesus equates to the last thing he tells his disciples, it must have been critically important to Jesus’ first disciples. From beginning to end in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is God with us. I’m reminded of something John Wesley said on the last day of his life in 1791. He raised his arms and summoned all his remaining strength to declare, “The best of all, God is with us.”
We come to the last Great Antiphon from church history, O Emmanuel. “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” was the way John Mason Neale chose to begin his beloved Christmas carol that utilizes the seven titles given to Jesus from a ninth century collection of antiphons. Come, O Emmanuel. The best of all, God is with us. We join in praying: