As
I heard in a sermon on Christmas Eve, the book of Matthew begins and ends with
the promise that God is with us. The promise comes first in Matthew 1:23:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
The promise is
repeated in Jesus’ final words before his ascension, in the very last verse of
the book (Matthew 28:20):
“And
behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I
quoted these verses from the English Standard Version, which spells Emmanuel
with an I rather than an E, but I prefer the spelling in the King James Version.
That’s partly because of its association with another E word.
E
also stands for ‘evergreen.” The evergreen trees that we use at Christmas
remind us that Christians have everlasting life with Christ. Yes, He is with us.
My
wish for you as we head into 2019 is that you may be aware of His presence
throughout the coming year.
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