Immanuel

 

 

Therefore

The Lord himself shall give you a sign;

Behold,

A virgin shall conceive,

And bear a son,

And shall call his name

Immanuel.

 

A prophecy from Isaiah

Fulfilled in the Christ,

Jesus, the anointed One

Does suffice.

 

Yes, he is sufficient

For both you and me

And his once for all sufficiency

Was shown at Calvary.

 

A figure of ridicule

Rejected by his own

Mocked and scorned by Jews

And there died alone.

 

True there were others

But for their crime they died,

But Immanuel, the God-Man,

For us there abide.

 

None was good enough

To pay sin’s ransom,

Only Jesus, the Christ could-

God’s only Son.

 

So, at this festive time

We call the Christmas tide,

As we celebrate his nativity

Note he also died.

 

From a cradle at Bethlehem

To a cross at Calvary,

God in his humanity paid

Sin’s price for you and me.

 

 

Once and for all!

There can be no repeat,

For he triumphed over the grave

And sits in his heavenly seat.

 

Given a name

That is above all names,

The born-again can now say

Our Messiah reigns.

 

On that Christmas morn

When the heavens did ring,

Listen, as the herald angels sang

Glory to the new born king.

 

So, we celebrate a cradle,

A cross and a crown

And thank our Heavenly Father

That Jesus came down…

 

From heaven to earth

That first Christmas morn

And the impossible is possible,

A man can be reborn.

 

 

 

In fact, rebirth is a must

As Jesus told Nicodemus

And this can only be accomplished

Because of Jesus.

 

For God so loved,

That He gave Jesus, His Son,

That the penitent sinner

To Him can come.

 

Come to Him today

At this Christmas tide,

For the promise is to you and me!

In us He will abide.

 

God with us

Says his name, Immanuel,

With Jesus as our Saviour,

All is well.

 

Stewart Russell © December 15, 2023

The Sign of All the Ages

 

 

Behold a virgin shall conceive

And behold, it was so!

“Twas the sign of all the ages

This we all should know.

 

The single most important event

In all of earth’s history,

This sign given by the prophet Isaiah

Of the Messiah’s nativity.

 

For had Jesus not come

There would have been no crucifixion,

And, by extension I dare say,

No resurrection or ascension.

 

Behold!

A virgin shall be with child

According to the Gospel of Matthew,

Quoting from Isaiah the prophet

As the event came into view.

 

The sign of all the ages

As God came to live among men

Never mind as the narrative showed,

He was rejected by most of them.

 

A virgin shall bring forth a son

A male child, if you please,

And this is especially significant as well

Given today’s gender dis-ease.

 

 

Some are not happy being male

And some frown on being female,

Transgenderism is rife as a consequent

Thus, making for a sorry tale.

 

This tale of human degradation,

An affront to the Creator, God

Who created humans in his own image

As is acknowledge before the fall.

 

For, ‘twas this fall that started

The degradation of man

And God in His flawless foreknowledge

Initiated the redemption plan.

 

Paradise lost then paradise regain!

Banished, then reinstated!

God with man is now residing,

Emmanuel thus being interpreted.

 

 

And they shall call his name,

Emmanuel!

The greatest sign of all the ages!

God dwells among His people.

 

We treat to it as though it’s passed

But it continues even today,

Jesus makes his abode with them

That has found him as the way.

 

The way, the truth and the life:

The promise he has made to all

If only they accept this great salvation

In response to his clarion call.

 

The sign of all the ages

Conceptualized in eternity,

A virgin shall conceive and bear a child

As established in history.

  

Isaiah prophesied the event,

While Matthew walked with the Lord,

John with clarity announced

He came to save the world.

 

 

For God so loved that He sent…

It’s the one text that most know,

The greatest sign of all the ages

Please, I beg you, let it show

 

Today marks the 1^st of December,

We are in the Christmas tide,

‘Tis the season of goodwill endeavor

As we remember the Holy Child.

 

Stewart Russell © December 1, 2022

God with Man

 

 

Yonder in cattle stall

Lay a baby most fair,

God with man has come to dwell

Among the cattle there.

 

The shepherds as invited

Kneel before his bed,

A crude manger for his body

And dried hay for his head.

 

The animals low in tandem

Sometimes in unison too,

No harmony could be detected

But they never knew.

 

Wise men would visit later

But for now only shepherds came,

Having been told by the angels

In a glorious refrain.

 

 

Glory to God in the highest

And on earth, peace!

Meanwhile the wise men were noting

A peculiar star in the east.

 

When they finally saw him

The baby Jesus, I mean,

He was then resting in a house

This was not the manger scene.

 

I wonder what it was really like

To have been present at his birth,

What a wonder that must have been!

“God has come to earth.”

 

Today I remind my readers

It can be a dream come true,

For the Holy Spirit has come to dwell

In persons like me and you.

 

 

No, not in a manger stall

But in temples as we are,

So we can be near and dear to him

Just like the wise men that came from afar.

 

What a privilege for the highest

And the lowest of all the earth!

We can be one in Christ Jesus

On account of the “new birth”.

 

To be “born again”, as Jesus said,

In his discourse with Nicodemus,

Today that can be you and me

By simply accepting Jesus.

 

There is room for the simple shepherd

And for kings and wise men too,

God’s great gift was sent to all

And if you are a skeptic, even you.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019