A Christmas Promise Fulfilled

Oh, how I've loved the revelation of Emmanuel. God with us. God WITH us.

I've pondered and meditated over it, holding it closely, gazing at this truth with soft eyes and a soft heart. The magnificent tenderness, a loving and welcome invasion into a world of death and destruction and violent darkness, yet hope promises that He is with us. Emmanuel speaks of One who walks with us, who laughs and mourns with us, who understands and loves us. He is the One who participates in our lives.

But the promise only begins there. Emmanuel is only the beginning. The grand finale of this whole story is God IN us. It is where our story finally combines with His. God as Emmanuel was introduced to us at Christmas. But God who lives in us was only ours to claim after the violence and blood of the Cross, His descent into hell, resurrection and finally an ascension of total victory into Heaven.

 Finally, the goal of God since the beginning of time became accessible to all. God in us, "the hope of Glory." God with us became "greater is He that is in You, then He that is in the world" which means that the only power the devil has over us is what we give him. Finally it's not just that He has all power and authority, but we do too, "the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you." "But you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you." The Holy  Spirit, comforter, counselor, teacher, helper, the agent of power which filled Jesus, enabled Him to bring the Kingdom of God to earth, and united Him with the voice of His Father. This Holy Spirit, God in us, is now ours. It's no longer a matter of what God is capable of, but what we are now capable of... everything. We are no longer limited to waiting on God to act or intervene, but have all the resources of Heaven at our disposal to change our world. Because He lives in us, God is multiplied. We are all Christs walking this broken earth. Everything He did we have the same authority and power to do. We have the ability to live a life of miracles small and large from the power to forgive to the power to resurrect the dead.

Perhaps instead of asking the question, "where is/was God?" we should begin to challenge ourselves by asking, "with the God of the universe residing in me, where was I?"  No longer are "we sheep for the slaughter," waiting to be rescued. We are now armed and trained ready to meet the darkness head on. "The kingdom of God suffers violence" by evil, yet we can now do violence to that evil, fighting against it without mercy, knowing that the battle has already been won.We are overcomers, more than conquerors.

So thank God that He is with us. But let's not stop there. Let us claim the rest of that promise. Let us reach the grand finale of this story and finish it well. Let us bring Heaven to earth and live it out. Let us remember Who it is that lives within us and start believing it, allowing it to change our lives and our world.