Immanuel: God Stays With You Even in the Silence

Introduction

This Sunday, December 14, Elim Church welcomes the students of Certi College, a program in theology, cross-cultural ministry, worship, and the arts. Pastor Cathy greets the congregation, then hands things over to Pastor Eric and his students for an Advent service that travels through the whole Bible around a single question: does God keep his word?

Between the songs, one passage keeps returning like a thread: "Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14) Immanuel means God with us. Pastor Eric reminds you that this promise was spoken to a people who had gone silent before God, in a context of disobedience, and that it took centuries to be fulfilled.

If today it feels like God has gone quiet, like his promise is taking too long, like you're stuck between two Advents, this service is for you. God has never forgotten a single word he spoke to you.

Article outline

1. The context of Isaiah 7: a promise for a people who had gone silent before God
2. Immanuel: God with us, literally
3. A salvation planned for all nations, not just Israel
4. 400 years of silence, then John the Baptist: God keeps his word
5. What this Advent service says to you today

1. The context of Isaiah 7: a promise for a people who had gone silent before God

Pastor Eric opens with the passage that has become a Christmas classic: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14) He invites you to put this verse back in its context, because we hear it every year without always grasping where it comes from.

In Isaiah's time, the people had disobeyed. They had turned away from God, toward idols, and practiced injustice. The rich and powerful crushed the poor. Widows were robbed. When God offered to give them a sign, the people refused to answer. They kept their distance, as if afraid of another judgment.

It's right there, in that silence, that God takes the initiative: "Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign." (see Isaiah 7:10-14) In other words: even when you no longer dare ask God for anything, he keeps on making you promises.

What God announces here isn't going to happen in the months that follow. He's announcing something that will span centuries. Isaiah is preaching to people who will soon be carried off into exile. The promise of Immanuel arrives at the very moment their whole future is collapsing.

2. Immanuel: God with us, literally

Pastor Eric takes time to walk you through the word. In Hebrew, immanu means with us, and El means God. Immanuel is, quite literally, God with us. Nothing more, nothing less.

When Jewish readers approach this text today, they often interpret it differently than Christians do, which shows just how mysterious the verse's full meaning was when Isaiah first wrote it. No one grasped exactly what God meant. It would take the coming of Jesus to fully reveal the meaning of this promise.

And Pastor Eric builds a bridge here: even Muslims believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. That's a possible topic of conversation with them, a bridge rather than a wall. This detail connects to a story told earlier in the service by Helene, about two little hens named Coxy and Nelly: when one orders a great wall built to get back at her sister, the workers build a bridge instead. Just like the Messiah who is our peace, we're called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).

The promise of Immanuel isn't just a theological label. It's the announcement of a God who comes personally into the middle of whatever weighs you down. A God who chose to enter your story, not just comment on it from far away.

3. A salvation planned for all nations, not just Israel

Before turning to Isaiah 7, JP, one of the students, reads Isaiah 19:19-25 to the congregation, a text you don't often hear preached. In it, God announces that there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, that a highway will connect Egypt, Assyria, and Israel, and that these three peoples together will be a blessing to the whole earth. The text even reaches this astonishing line: "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."

Pastor Eric points out that even in the Old Testament, God is already calling all nations. Today, in a world marked by conflicts in Palestine, Ukraine, and elsewhere, God's people are made up of every nation. Palestinians, Ukrainians, Chinese, Portuguese, Togolese, Congolese, Central Africans, French: the salvation promised in Immanuel was never reserved for one people alone.

That's also what the congregation sang right after the reading: "In his time, in his time, what God does is perfect in his time." God took exactly the time he needed to bring into the open what he had been preparing all along: salvation for everyone.

If you feel on the margins, like an outsider, illegitimate, this text is for you. Your nation, your history, your passport don't disqualify you from being called God's people. Immanuel means God with us, not just God with them.

4. 400 years of silence, then John the Baptist: God keeps his word

After Isaiah, Pastor Eric helps you feel the weight of the silence that followed. Between the end of the Old Testament and the coming of the Messiah, about 400 years pass with no prophet in Israel. No vision. No new revelation. A long stretch of silence.

That silence follows a long exile. God sent his people into the wilderness to test them, to bring them back to himself. Many prophetic texts speak of this love of God that leads into the wilderness to know the heart (see for example Hosea 2:14). The wilderness wasn't abandonment. It was a classroom.

Then John the Baptist appears, the last of the prophets in the line of the Old Testament ones, not in the middle of the public square, but in the wilderness. He preaches: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 3:1-2) He comes as a messenger to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, the Immanuel Isaiah had promised.

Hold on to this: between the promise of Isaiah 7 and the birth of Jesus, several centuries passed. God hadn't forgotten his word. He hadn't given up. He kept his promise, but on his own calendar.

5. What this Advent service says to you today

Pastor Eric closes by singing Emmanuel, God Is With Us, an adaptation he prepared from the biblical text. The congregation then reads Psalm 136 together, verse by verse, with the refrain hammering home: "For his loving kindness endures forever." Praise the God of gods, the one who cut the Sea of Reeds in two, who delivered Israel, who remembers us when we are brought low. Yes, his loving kindness endures forever.

Here's what this December 14 service leaves you with.

The promise is made to you even when you've gone silent before God

Like the people in Isaiah 7, you may be afraid to ask God for anything: afraid of judgment, afraid of disappointment, afraid of hearing no. God, for his part, takes the initiative. He gives a sign even when you don't dare ask for one. Your spiritual poverty is never an obstacle to his faithfulness.

Immanuel isn't a decorative title

God with you. Not God far off, not God as a concept, not God on condition. God with you, in the wilderness of silence, in the waiting room, in the 400 years that may still separate you from the answer you're hoping for. This name Immanuel promises you a presence, not an explanation.

Your place among God's people doesn't depend on your passport

Isaiah 19 announces that Egypt would be called my people. This Sunday's service, with its students from several countries, is a small picture of that. None of your identity markers exclude you from the promise. You're invited to be a blessing to the whole earth.

Silence isn't forgetting

If God stayed silent for 400 years before John the Baptist without ever forgetting Isaiah 7, he hasn't forgotten you either. God's silence doesn't cancel his promise. Sometimes it's simply his in his time. Your season of waiting isn't wasted on him.

Build bridges, the way Immanuel does

Like the builders in the story of Coxy and Nelly, your calling as a Christian is to build bridges, not walls. The Messiah is our peace. He tore down the wall separating you from God, and the wall separating you from those who aren't like you. This Advent, who could you extend a bridge to instead of putting up a wall?

Key takeaways

• Isaiah 7:14 was spoken in a context of disobedience. God gives a sign to a people who have gone silent before him: his faithfulness never depends on yours.
• Immanuel means "God with us." It's a presence, not a doctrine. God comes into the middle of your life, not above it.
• Salvation is for all nations. Isaiah 19 announces Egypt and Assyria called God's people. Your origin never excludes you.
• God keeps his word even after a long silence. Between Isaiah and John the Baptist, 400 years without a prophet. Then the Messiah comes, exactly as promised.
• Be a peacemaker. Build bridges between you and God, between you and your neighbor. Your small obedience becomes a blessing to the earth.

Personal application

1. Is there a request you no longer dare bring to God, out of fear of disappointment or judgment? Bring it to him today: the one who speaks first in Isaiah 7 is God himself.
2. What "wilderness of silence" are you in right now? How does the name Immanuel, God with you, change the way you walk through this season?
3. Do you ever feel out of place in church because of your background, your past, your culture? What does Isaiah 19 say about your place among God's people?
4. Is there a bridge that needs rebuilding in your family, your church, your neighborhood this Advent week? Who could you take a step toward?
5. What "in his time" of God are you being called to trust right now? Write it down, plainly, and hand it back to him.

Verses cited

• Isaiah 7:14 · behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel
• Isaiah 7:10-14 · the Lord gives a sign even though the people refuse to ask for one
• Isaiah 19:19-25 · Egypt, Assyria, and Israel, a blessing to the whole earth
• Isaiah 9:6 · for a child is born to us, a son is given to us
• Matthew 1:22-23 · the fulfillment of the promise of Immanuel in Jesus
• Matthew 3:1-2 · John the Baptist preaches in the wilderness
• Matthew 5:9 · blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God
• John 10:11 · I am the good shepherd
• Hosea 2:14 · I will lead her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her
• Psalm 136 · for his loving kindness endures forever

FAQ

Why is Isaiah 7:14 read at Christmas when it was spoken seven centuries before Jesus?

Because it's this very promise that the angel reminds Joseph of in Matthew 1:22-23: "Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,' which is, being interpreted, 'God with us.'" Matthew presents Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah's promise. Christmas, then, is not just the celebration of a birthday: it's the celebration of a promise kept.

Why did God wait 400 years after the last prophet before sending Jesus?

Scripture doesn't hand us a complete theological calendar, but Pastor Eric points to a powerful image: God led his people into the wilderness not to forget them, but to know their hearts and prepare them. Those centuries of silence were also a time when God let the waiting deepen a real longing, when the Pharisees and others were trying to restore faithfulness to the Torah, and when the ground was being prepared so John the Baptist could open the way for the Messiah. God's silence was never a pause in his faithfulness.

How do I live through Advent when it feels like God has gone silent in my life?

By remembering what the name Immanuel means: God with you. Silence doesn't mean absence. Take hold of a promise from God that speaks to you personally and bring it back before him. Dare to make the request you no longer dare to make, as in Isaiah 7. Sing a song that lets you say "in his time, what God does is perfect in his time." And let the refrain of Psalm 136 hold your prayer when you have no more words: "For his loving kindness endures forever."