God Isn’t Distant or Indifferent – He’s Immanuel

Over the years many people have labored to express their perceptions about God. One common view is that even if He did set the entire universe in motion, He’s now like an absentee landlord. That God is far-removed in the distant cosmos, either totally disinterested in what’s happening on earth or passively observing without any desire for getting directly involved.

 

That perception – or misconception, because that’s what it is – finds no support in the Bible, the Word of God. In one of the numerous Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah, we’re told, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). The meaning of this is clarified in one of the accounts of Jesus’ birth: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘…they will call Him Immanuel,’ which means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23).

In the person of Jesus Christ, God took on human flesh to experience what we all experience, to teach and serve as an example of how to live, to die on the cross for our sins, and to rise from the dead to demonstrate victory over death so we can be assured of eternal life. But even after Jesus’ ascension, the Lord didn’t remove Himself from involvement in our everyday lives.

 

His last recorded words before ascending to heaven, He declared, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). How could this be possible? As Jesus explained to His disciples, He was giving them – and us – the Holy Spirit, whom theologians term the third Person of the Trinity.

 

He said, “And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth…He lives in you and will be with you” (John 14:16-17). Then Jesus added, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).

 

Among the many distinctions between Christianity and every other religion, one that stands out in particular is that God is not a far-off, uninvolved, detached deity. From the first book of the Bible to the last, we find the Lord very much engaged in the goings-on of His creation. 

 

He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden before their sin of disobedience. God instructed and guided Noah in the building of the ark. He assured childless Abram and Sarai that even in their old age they would have a son, fulfilling that promise after they had obeyed Him in leaving their former home. 

 

The Lord interacted directly with Jacob, renaming him Israel and making him the progenitor of the children of Israel. He gave the 10 commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai after delivering the enslaved Israelites from Egypt, and appointed Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land.

 

Scanning the Scriptures, there has never been a time when God has not been with us. As King David wrote so exquisitely, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there…. When I awake, I am still with You” (Psalm 139:7-18).

 

God spoke through prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea and Micah, and then came the glorious moment when the prophecy was fulfilled: “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

 

The human mind struggles to comprehend how an eternal, infinite God can also be omnipresent – everywhere. And yet by faith we can believe and know this is true. Someone once asked the eminent American astronomer Henry Norris Russell, “How is it possible for such a great and infinite God to have time for me?” Russell replied, “An infinite God can dispatch the affairs of this universe in the twinkling of an eye, thus giving Him plenty of time for you.”

 

The magnitude of God taking on human flesh, as a baby and then as a man, is greater than any of us can fully grasp. But knowing that it includes the assurance that God is with us – always has been and always will be – should fill us with joy during another season of celebrating Christ’s birth.