“Emmanuel”

Advent Hour – December 23, 2011

Revelation 21:1-7/Psalm 46:1-7/ Matthew 1:18-23

Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines, D. D.

As we face this day, as far as the celebration of the Advent Hour is concerned, we may say it is the last which means tomorrow morning, we can sleep later.  I would stand and proclaim before you that it has only began.  Christ has laid the foundation for us.  He has paid the price; He has demonstrated His love and all that He is to us that we no longer need to dwell in the failures, the defeats, and the darkness.  He has brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light.  Christ has given to us a new hope.

During these days, we have found out much about our God.  We found how much He loves us and how much He cares for us.  We found He has given to us everything and He has held back nothing.   As His people, He has set a course and a direction that cannot be changed.

At the beginning of time, when God created man, quite obviously, He was looking for a companion, a relationship.  From the beginning of time, He has been called Father.  He shows and demonstrates to us the image of the Father, the fact that a Father is the source of all things.  He is the provider; He is the protector.  He sets the course throughout all history by so giving everything in the beginning.  He not only gave, but shows us a picture of His hunger, His love, and His commitment for His creation.

We see the picture of God walking together with the first man and woman in the cool of the evening in the garden.  They were in a relationship; they were together.  There was not a separation, but they were one.  We don’t understand the whole picture but yet the Scriptures give us this imagery that we would understand the direction, the purpose, and the life that God had intended for us.

Abraham was a father of the faith.  He was one who set the course and the direction and sets something very powerfully and very strong for society, for mankind to follow.  Then we have Moses and those down the line of history.  Because of sin, God and man had separated as far as their relationship was concerned.   It was very obvious that God’s heart was with man, and that even though there was this separation, He could not give up.  He would not desert.  He would not  allow even the rebellion to take away His commitment, His love, and His compassion for His people.

Man wanted God back.  We see it through history that as man cries out for the Messiah to come, we see it demonstrated to us.  David wanted to build a house for God to come so that He could live among His people. The same thing is shown to us with Moses and the Tabernacle. It is a place where the people could gather with God because that relationship, the plan could not be destroyed. Even though rebellion was there, the Father still loved His children.

Christ is the Desire of the Nations.  Look at our situation in life today. Mankind is crying out for someone to lead them.  Mankind is crying out for someone to protect, to provide for them. We tried it in many different ways, and yet most cases it has failed. That hunger, that desire is within man to be with his Father.  It is to allow that attitude and that imagery of the Father to guide, to lead, to protect, to be there for the strength and the security that we need knowing that if the Father is there, nothing could go wrong.

In the world today, they are doing everything they can to destroy the imagery of the father. They mock him, they put him down. They belittle him. He is destroyed, even in the eyes of his own children, because there is a difference between the male and the female.  Sometimes the mother doesn’t understand the position of the father, so she belittles the father to the children. It has been torn apart.  In tearing it apart, all of society collapses because God set the plan.  The plan can never be changed.  If there is going to be security, the father must be with the family and the children.  He must lead, protect, and provide.

Mankind was in turmoil.  Mankind was torn apart, but God had a plan. In that little town of Bethlehem, the turmoil of the events was taking place.  Mary and Joseph were there.  Mary was to give birth, and as she gave birth, the angels came to that place and they made the proclamation, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come!”  I would challenge us to listen to what the angels proclaimed.  Many people are waiting for the Lord to come, and yet God sent the angels to waken the whole world, “You have been strife and struggle. You have been separated.  You have been confused.  You have been weak, without security.  But now, the Lord has come!  He is returning to you.”

It is a declaration of His name, Emmanuel; God with you.  If there is anything, as a people, that we need to comprehend, it is that God loves His own.  As He spoke to Mary, “You have found favor with God.”   He is willing to overlook the failures, the weaknesses.  He is willing to overlook the rebellion because He is the Father.  He has come to dwell with us.  He has come to be one with us.

God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden.  Perhaps the garden could be interpreted as the world.  In our environment, in our realm, God was with them. How was this?  I don’t understand for it is a mystery, but yet, the Scriptures said this is what God did.

Sin separated this relationship, but God called His creation back through Christ.  He brought His presence back to us.  He became one with us.  The angels made the declaration, that proclamation to us. God showed His own heart, His own feelings and emotions. He desired to be with His people as much as His people desired to be with Him, only in a much greater intensity.

Man was seeking the father image.  He was placed within us.  He was created within us.  He was looking for that and God came to fulfill that which He put within us.  There is security there.  The home is strong when the father is there, in a proper position and manifestation of his character.

In Matthew 1, the prophets spoke through an angel and said to Mary, “His name shall be Emmanuel; God with you.”  As a people, perhaps, we have forgotten.  1Corinthians 2:9 says, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard.”  They don’t understand that which has entered the heart of man. All of that God has prepared for those who love Him.  Do we comprehend and have an understanding today that God is with us?  His presence is constantly with us.

Revelation 21 says that the tabernacle of God is with men.  His place of dwelling is among us.  Revelation is not just talking about what is going to happen at the end of time.  Revelation is a capsule of the whole plan and purpose of God that takes place in the past, in the present, and in the future.  We must understand that it is talking about a complete picture, not just an ending of a purpose and a goal.  “Behold, I am making all things new.”

In our lives, do we understand that God is at work among us even now?  Do we comprehend that He is making things new in our lives?  2Corinthians 5:17, “Behold, any man in Christ is a new creation.  The old things have passed away, and behold, all things are becoming new.”  The work has already begun because Christ came.  He came to fulfill the purpose and the will, the imagery of the father to us.

Roman 6:4 says, “So that we might walk in newness of life.” It is opposed to death; opposed to non-existence.  We are now given the ability, if God is with us, to walk in newness of life. This is a qualitative different life.  We don’t have to succumb to the old. God has given us the ability to bring forth the new life.  Colossians says, “Circumcision or non-circumcision is nothing, but it is a new creation.”  We have been made a new creation in Him.  We have been given the privilege of walking with Him, even in this life.

Every time we meet, whoever is the Celebrant or the presider is, he says to us, “The Lord is with you.”  He is not speaking to hear himself say something; he is not looking for something to introduce what he is going to do, but he wants us to recognize and realize that he is making an announcement and a declaration:  the Lord is with us.  God’s presence is among us.  He has come to dwell in His tabernacle, His dwelling place among us.  That He can fulfill His position as Father to us.  He can bring the security into our lives which He intends to bring.  That security says, “If I am with you, nobody can be against you.”   When He promises that He has given to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, do we believe? Are we believers or are we those who question and doubt rather than putting our faith in Him?

His presence is with us!    The reason for the yellow alb that I wear today instead of a white one is because we must realize, as all of the names of God had been shared before us, the purpose of the coming of Christ.  It is for us.   We are looking for Christ in our hearts.  Christ came to change us; He came to take us out of the bondage, the slavery, and the darkness. He came to bring new life to us.   He is Emmanuel in us and within us.

We see the picture of Mary, the Church.  I believe that it is a symbol of the Church.  She was given birth by the Holy Spirit – the fetus, the conception of Christ within her.  She yielded herself to bring forth Christ to the world, God with us.  In like manner, God has implanted within our spirit His being.  All that He is, His seed is within us.  Our task, like that of Mary, is to bring Christ into the world wherever we are.

This is what Advent is all about.  It is not just waiting for Christ to come, but that waiting for Him to be alive in us, awakened in us that we can be a witness to the world around us.  Christ is with us. He is in the Altar.  When the Eucharist is place on the Table, His presence and very being is among us.

The picture in Revelation of the throne of God, the Altar, is His throne where He meets with us and shares Himself with us.  Revelation 6 shares the picture of the throne, how that they are all gathered around the throne.  Revelation 21 shares how that they are there surrounding the throne – living creatures, the elders, myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands – where the whole world is looking for this.  It has come!  They are no longer intimidated, no longer threatened but so fulfilled and so confident that they proclaim it with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.”  It is a proclamation of salvation; of God’s love and His commitment to us, as His people.  So thrilled, so filled with understanding that they bring forth in fullness shouting with a loud voice, not with a weak voice. Look at the principle of this action.  It is a total commitment of all that we are and all that we have.  It is bringing forth this glory to Him as they gather around the throne.

This is a picture of the Church, where the Church is coming around the Eucharist and Christ, in His presence, and bringing forth the very imagery of the recognition that God is with us and that we are not alone. His presence with us is so precious today that we come and worship Him with a loud voice with all that we have. We hold back nothing.  We set aside our pride and our arrogance and we bring to Him all that He deserves.

Revelation says that elders came with their harps, with their incense and the angels; and all of them together were around the throne and worshipping Him.  The elders fell down before Him.   “Fell down” in the Greek is prostrate.  Oh, we are so dignified today.  We cannot see ourselves with such emotions, feelings, and thanksgiving.  We think that if we just nod our heads a little, or blink our eyes, it is a recognition Him.  It came to a point man would go a little further and genuflect.  We are not losing our control, all that we are so that we have to do things with dignity.

When the elders recognized and realized all that God was, they couldn’t stand, couldn’t bow their heads, and genuflect. They literally fell before God and prostrated themselves in respect and in honor to the presence of God in their midst.  It was a total separation from the pride of self, acknowledging that all that we have has come from the Altar.  All that we will ever be is from the Altar.  Our security, our serenity, our strength and our wisdom, our power, our authority is all in the Altar.

What is our respect for Him?  What are our gifts toward Him?  Do we give Him our all?  This is basically talking about the principle of giving of our all, forgetting ourselves!  “I don’t care what people think about me.  What I care about is what He thinks about me.  He sees my respect for Him.  He sees my thanksgiving for Him and I give my all.”   It is a loud voice, if you please, not with a weak, “Thank you, Jesus,” not wanting anybody to hear us because we might be embarrassed because we are so self-consumed with our own thoughts we can’t recognize Him, whatever it may be.

God is with us now!  He is not coming; He is already here, in the Altar.  We might say, “But I don’t see Him.”  Meditate on these questions: if He was really here, would you see Him?  Is He not spirit?  Wasn’t the reason that Christ had to become flesh was because otherwise we might not have seen God among us?  God is with us!

As His people, it should cause us to rise to a new level of confidence and security.  No longer intimidated and threatened with the things around us because we know that God is with us.  When we come to His presence, we have awe, praise, and we have glory to give to Him.  We have respect and thanksgiving because of all that He has done for us.

God is waiting for the Church to recognize Him.  He is waiting for you and I to bring the praise that is due unto Him.  May we not fail Him.  Awesome that God is with you, with us.  He is here today.  How do we handle this?  How do we respond to this?  With dignity or with total sacrifice of pride?   He is worthy.  Emmanuel, God with us!

It should cause us to have such joy in our hearts and thanksgiving unto Him.  It doesn’t matter what the other things are.  God is with us.  He will never fail and never forsake.  As we come to the end of Advent Hour, it is the beginning of recognition, all the He is to us, that we can with exuberance serve our lives before Him with confidence and with that thanksgiving because He has given us all.

Can you see the fullness of the Kingdom?  We have been told about the Wisdom of God by a serious Bishop.  Then we were shared the Lord of Might from an emotional priest. We had sharing with us the Branch of Jesse’s Tree David by a wacky priest.  We had an intellectual Bishop to give us the Key of David.  We had an eccentric priest to share the Dayspring on High.  For the Desire of Nations, an elated priest.  All of them, within the kingdom of God to show the vastness of the kingdom.  I am talking about the different characters that we are and yet, through them all, God brings us into a unity, and to a hope, and to a provision.

As we come to this point, may we recognize all that we have has come from Him. It has not come from our universities, from our businesses and our financial position or from politicians and all the other organizations. They are going to fail and fall apart.  He will be the only thing that will survive and He has provided all for us.

May we bring honor, glory and respect to Him!