Few can express truth and insight more eloquently than the great preacher of the 1800s, Charles Spurgeon.
Here he contemplates the implications of what it means that Christ is our Immanuel:
“Immanuel, God with us.”
It is hell’s terror.
Satan trembles at the sound of it . . .
Let him come to you suddenly,
and do you but whisper that word,
“God with us,”
back he falls,
confounded and confused . . .
“God with us”
is the laborer’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,
how could the confessor own his Master,
how could men labor if that one word were taken away? . . .
“God with us”
is eternity’s sonnet,
heaven’s hallelujah,
the shout of the glorified,
the song of the redeemed,
the chorus of the angels,
the everlasting oratorio
of the great orchestra of the sky.
–Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of the Old Testament, III:430.
Hallelujah and amen!
Merry Christmas to you all!
Image credit: publicdomainpictures.net
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From the Inside Out 
Merry Christmas, Nancy!
Thank you, Martha. We did have the merriest of Christmases with the whole family gathered at our house. One son and his wife are still with us, extending the celebration. I know you’ve been enjoying your family as well! The best of times, right?
Hallelujah God is with us!
Amen–such a glorious, comforting reality!
Blessed Christmas ❄️🎄❄️
Thank you Julie. We did enjoy a very blessed Christmas. I pray you enjoyed the same!
May you be showered with all that this amazing season has to offer through the birth of our Messiah.
Thank you, Cathy. We did enjoy a beautiful Advent and Christmas. I pray you did also!
Merry Christmas, Nancy and Steve and your whole family. Thank you for sharing this. I hadn’t seen it before. And a big THANK YOU for your dedication to your blog. It has encouraged and enlightened me all these years, just when I needed it the most. Blessings.
Thank you, Cheri. Praise God you’ve found the blog to be meaningful! I trust you enjoyed a glorious Christmas with your family!
Merry Christmas, Nancy.
Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
Thank you, Gary. We enjoyed a lovely Christmas, celebrating with family and friends. I pray you did also!
Yes, thank you.
Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
Spurgeon was a master communicator that’s for sure. Thanks for sharing his “Immanuel, God with us.” Those who have faith find it immensely comforting that God loves and cares for us. Thanks, Nancy. I hope you had a merry Christmas! 🙂
I marvel at Spurgeon’s eloquence. His prose so often reads like poetry. We did enjoy a marvelous Christmas with all the family together for five days. One son and his wife are still here, so the celebrating continues, though on a smaller scale! I trust you also had a blessed Christmas, Nancy, with family and/or friends.
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and now a blessed new year!!
Thank you, Jean. We did enjoy a wonderful Christmas with the whole family gathered together for four days. I pray you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas also. 2026, here we come!
Jesus has so many names that reflect his many roles and who He is, but Emmanuel is my favorite because if God is with us/ for us, who can be against us? Thank you for sharing these truths, Nancy.
You’re welcome, Linda. I agree–Emmanuel IS a wonderfully comforting, empowering name as we acknowledge that ALL his attributes are active in our lives because of his abiding presence. Hallelujah!
Merry Christmas, Nancy, and may the New Year be abundant with blessings for you and your family. What a powerful ode to “Immanuel”. I love “… the everlasting oratorio of that great orchestra of the sky.” Majestic words!
Isn’t that a glorious line? I’m imagining majestic works like the overture of Handel’s Messiah, causing holy goosebumps for sure! I pray you also enjoyed a Merry Christmas as we certainly did. And thank you, Dave, for your New Year blessing. I pray the same for you and your family as well!
It is almost the New Year! Wishing you blessings in 2026! (I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!)
We did, Linda. I pray you enjoyed the same!
I hope you had and are having a Merry Christmas! (I’ve been told we celebrate Christmas until the 6th of January!! ) Thank you for sharing this meaningful reflection!!
We enjoy our Christmas tree and other decorations until the completion of the twelve days of Christmas on January 6, Three Kings Day or Epiphany. (My husband would vote to keep them on display even longer!) / I’m so glad you found the Spurgeon quote meaningful, Katie.
Thank you Nancy 🙂 I love that you know all the names for the completion of the Christmas season! 🙂 I once wrote a blog named Epiphany–that I published on the Ephiphany. 🙂 It was about my “Ephinany”–a realization I had about the character of God. 🙂 (I’m with you husband–I would keep our Christmas decorations up longer as well.)
This is so profoundly powerful. Eternity’s sonnet, heaven’s hallelujah. So true. But also hell’s terror, where Satan trembles at the sound of Immanuel. God with us. I don’t know of a more powerful name for Jesus than this, for it gives us all we need to live, hope, and continue through the challenge of this life. Thanks so much for sharing this, Nancy. It is definitely a timely gift.
I found those last seven lines especially inspiring also, Dayle. I also agree that the beloved name Emmanuel communicates much, as you’ve described. What empowering comfort to know our loving Savior is always with us!
God with us – what comfort…
AMEN to that, RH!