(This is an excerpt from Charles Spurgeon’s sermon on Isaiah 7:14-15, “The Birth of Christ,” preached December 24, 1854. I read this excerpt at our Christmas Eve service. You can read the entire sermon at this link.)

The Virgin Mary called her son Immanuel, that there might be a meaning in his name, “God with us.” My soul, ring these words again, “God with us.” Oh! it is one of the bells of heaven, let us strike it yet again: “God with us.” Oh! it is a stray note from the sonnets of paradise: “God with us.” Oh! it is the lisping of a seraph: “God with us.” Oh! it is one of the notes of the singing of Jehovah, when he rejoices over his Church with singing: “God with us.” Tell it, tell it, tell it; this is the name of him who is born to-day. . . .

This is his name, “God with us,”—God with us, by his incarnation, for the august Creator of the world did walk upon this globe; he who made ten thousand orbs, each of them more mighty and more vast than this earth, became the inhabitant of this tiny atom. He, who was from everlasting to everlasting, came to this world of time, and stood upon the narrow neck of land betwixt the two unbounded seas. “God with us”: he has not lost that name – Jesus had that name on earth, and he has it now in heaven. He is now “God with us.” Believer, he is God with thee, to protect thee; thou art not alone, because the Saviour is with thee. Put me in the desert, where vegetation grows not; I can still say, “God with us.” Put me on the wild ocean, and let my ship dance madly on the waves; I would still say, “Immanuel, God with us.” Mount me on the sunbeam, and let me fly beyond the western sea; still I would say, “God with us.” Let my body dive down into the depths of the ocean, and let me hide in its caverns; still I could, as a child of God, say, “God with us.” Ay, and in the grave, sleeping there in corruption, still I can see the footmarks of Jesus; he trod the path of all his people, and still his name is “God with us.”

But would you know this name most sweetly, you must know it by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Has God been with us? . . . What is the use of coming to chapel, if God is not there? . . . Unless the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ, and applies them to our heart, it is not “God with us.” Otherwise, God is a consuming fire. It is “God with us” that I love. . . .

Now ask yourselves, do you know what “God with us” means? Has it been God with you in your tribulations, by the Holy Ghost’s comforting influence? Has it been God with you in searching the Scriptures? Has the Holy Spirit shone upon the Word? Has it been God with you in conviction, bringing you to Sinai? Has it been God with you in comforting you, by bringing you again to Calvary? Do you know the full meaning of that name Immanuel, “God with us”? No; he who knows it best knows little of it. Alas, he who knows it not at all is ignorant indeed; so ignorant that his ignorance is not bliss, but will be his damnation. Oh! may God teach you the meaning of that name Immanuel, “God with us”! . . .

“Immanuel.” It is wisdom’s mystery, “God with us.” Sages look at it, and wonder; angels desire to see it; the plumb-line of reason cannot reach half-way into its depths. . . . “God with us.” It is hell’s terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it; . . . the black-winged dragon of the pit quails before it. Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, “God with us,” back he falls, confounded and confused. Satan trembles when he hears that name, “God with us.”

It is the labourer’s strength; how could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, . . . if that one word were taken away? “God with us.” ‘Tis the sufferer’s comfort, ’tis the balm of his woe, ’tis the alleviation of his misery, ’tis the sleep which God giveth to his beloved, ’tis their rest after exertion and toil. Ah! and to finish, “God with us,”—’tis eternity’s sonnet, ’tis heaven’s hallelujah, ’tis the shout of the glorified, ’tis the song of the redeemed, ’tis the chorus of angels, ’tis the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. “God with us.”

Now, a happy Christmas to you all; and it will be a happy Christmas if you have God with you. . . . Go your way, rejoice to-morrow; but, in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem; let him have first place in your hearts. (me) All glory be to HIM – Immanuel, God with us.