God With Us
“The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father.” John 1:14
When the Communists took over in China in 1949, two missionaries were left behind – Rudolph Bosshardt and Arnolis Hayman. They were arrested and thrown into prison. Days turned into weeks and into months and they soon realized that they would spend Christmas alone and without their families. Forbidden to speak to each other, the two men sat in the cold, unheated prison cell as Christmas day dawned. Shivering from the cold, their thoughts were filled with memories of past Christmases and the warmth of families together.
As they sat there, a feeling of hopelessness seemed to settle over them. Arnolis reached down and began playing with pieces of straw on the prison floor. He began making letters – IMMANUEL.
The two looked at it – ‘IMMANUEL,” one of the names given to Jesus Christ meaning, “God is with us!” And gradually, by their own statement, the reality of what Arnolis had just written began to sink in ‑ GOD IS WITH US. The gloom of the prison was driven back, and the reality of God’s presence sank in.
God understands and cares. This understanding should always give us comfort.
On one occasion, a Christian was sharing his faith with a Hindu who just could not grasp the fact that God became man. As the two were talking, the Christian looked down and noticed an ant crawling on the sidewalk. Stooping over he said, “Suppose that I could compress myself to the size of an ant and could put aside my human strength and could live in the body of an ant. Only then could I really understand an ant’s world, and that is exactly what Jesus did.” “Yes,” replied the Hindu, “to understand, one must be one.” Yes, the Word, Jesus Christ, became flesh and dwelt among us.
He doesn’t just understand and care, He is with us!
“..And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew28:20b.