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We believers have an unspeakable blessing—we have God’s presence all the time!
In the New Testament, we find several names for our Lord Jesus. One is Emmanuel, which means God with us. A staff member at Bibles for America was enjoying the Lord as Emmanuel so much that he overflowed in song. He based his song on three verses in Matthew and set it to the tune of the American folk song “Shenandoah.” We hope you enjoy the marvelous fact that God is with us as you hear our staff singing the song.
“Emmanuel—His name men calleth, God with us—with them He dwelleth; I’m in their midst—where saints assembleth, ‘Behold, I am with thee’— ‘til this age hath ended.”
Play it here:
Let’s now briefly get into the three verses the song is based on, Matthew 1:23; 18:20; and 28:20.
[[Free Study Bible]]
“’Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel’ (which is translated, God with us).”
This word spoken by an angel to Joseph is a quotation of the great prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. Jesus’ birth was the fulfillment of that prophecy.
In the New Testament Recovery Version, note 2 for Emmanuel explains its meaning:
“Jesus was the name given by God, whereas Emmanuel, meaning God with us, was the name by which man called Him. Jesus the Savior is God with us. He is God, and He is also God incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14). He is not only God but God with us.”
Jesus is wonderful! He’s Jesus our Savior and He’s Emmanuel, the incarnated God. Through His human birth God was no longer far away in the heavens, unreachable, and unapproachable. As Emmanuel, Jesus was the very God living, walking, and dwelling among human beings.
The blessing of having Jesus as Emmanuel wasn’t only for those who lived in Judea at the time of His earthly life. After the Lord lived a perfect human life among men, He died on the cross to accomplish eternal redemption for us. Then after three days Jesus rose from the dead and later ascended to the heavens. Yet though He’s now in the heavens, wondrously He’s also with us!
“For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.”
The Lord’s pledge here is for all His believers. The two or three in this verse refers to the believers who come together to meet. Whenever we gather together in His name, that is, in His person and out of everything else, Jesus promised He would be with us. Our meeting together isn’t a religious duty but a rich enjoyment because of Christ’s own dear presence. So if two of us come together in His name, three are actually present, because the Lord Himself is among us. What an encouragement and a joy this is!
“Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.”
The Lord Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, after He resurrected and commissioned them with the gospel. Jesus guarantees with this comforting and strengthening word that no matter what, He is with us now and until the end of the age when He returns. And His promise is for all the days. Jesus is with us today, and He will be with us tomorrow and every single day. As we preach and teach His Word to others in the world, He is with us.
The Gospel of Matthew begins with Jesus being called Emmanuel at His birth, the incarnation of God. It continues with Jesus’ own promise to be with us whenever we gather in His name. And Matthew ends with the resurrected Christ promising us: “Behold I am with you.” Praise God for this incomparable blessing of God with us!
All verses are quoted from the Holy Bible Recovery Version. You can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
The church is a profound and deeply significant matter in the Bible. In our post “What Is the Church according to the Bible,” we began to look into the church as it’s revealed in the Scriptures.
In this post, we’ll continue to discuss the matter of the church by getting into some verses in Ephesians, a book unique in its rich revelation of what the church is in God’s eyes. We’ll look at seven aspects of the church revealed in Ephesians and how they relate to us as believers.
“The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:22-23
The revelation of the church as the Body of Christ tells us that the church is not an organization but something living, just as our physical body is a living organism. The Body of Christ is an entity of life.
The church as the Body of Christ isn’t a lifeless organization, structured and arranged according to the concept of man. The Body of Christ is a living organism, issuing from the life of Christ as the Head who becomes the life in His believers as the members of His Body. This means all the members of the Body must possess Christ’s life.
Because the church is Christ’s Body, an organism with Christ’s life, a person can’t simply join it by taking an oath, agreeing to a creed, or signing a paper. One can only become a member of the Body of Christ by being born again, or regenerated, with the divine life.
Praise God, we received the life of Christ when we were born again; at that time, we became members of His Body. In His life, we’re joined to Christ as the Head and to other believers as the members of His Body. Just as with our physical body our fingers, arms, legs, and so on are joined together by our physical life, we as members of the Body of Christ share and are joined together in the life of Christ.
“Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace.” Ephesians 2:15
For the church to be the Body of Christ means the church has Christ as its life. The aspect of the church as the new man means the church has Christ as its person. Christ is the person of the Body with His personality. For this, we as His members must live by His life and take Him as our person, and not ourselves.
As individual human beings, we all have our own personality and differ in background, upbringing, culture, preferences, etc. Although we may greatly desire to be one with one another, if we each live by our own personality, it’s impossible.
But Christ Himself now lives in us to be our new person. He wants us to take Him with His personality as our person. This means we take His preferences and feeling instead of our own.
When we live in this way, spontaneously we’re one because one Person is really living through all of us—Jesus Christ.
[[Free Study Bible]]
“So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are also fellow citizens with the saints.” Ephesians 2:19
The phrase fellow citizens with the saints here shows us our salvation brings us into a new kingdom—the kingdom of God. Here, all the believers are fellow citizens in God’s kingdom.
As citizens of a particular country, people have certain rights. For instance, in the US, citizens have the right of freedom of speech. But responsibilities also come with being citizens of this country, such as paying taxes.
Similarly, today we have both the rights and the responsibilities as citizens of the church as the wonderful kingdom of God. Sometimes we may want to enjoy the rights without bearing any responsibilities, but as citizens we must also acknowledge and bear the responsibilities of the church as God’s kingdom.
“…and members of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19
All the believers make up the household of God. This is a very sweet aspect of the church, for household refers to the church as God’s family. When we’re saved, whatever our background was before, we become a member of the household, the family, of God.
As the kingdom of God, we have rights and fulfill our responsibilities as citizens. But as the household of God, God’s family, we have God as our Father and the other believers as our brothers and sisters. The church is God’s home, God’s family, where we enjoy the care of our Father and where we care for one another. We find true rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment as members of the household of God.
“In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” Ephesians 2:21-22
The church is also God’s dwelling place on earth. How incredible that today, God’s dwelling place is our spirit, and not simply individually but corporately with all the believers in Christ. Today we are growing in His life and being built together to be God’s corporate dwelling place!
Note 4 on verse 21 in the New Testament Recovery Version helps us see what this implies:
“Since the building is living (1 Pet. 2:5), it is growing. It grows into a holy temple. The actual building of the church as the house of God is by the believer’s growth in life.”
God’s dwelling place on earth isn’t a physical building but His redeemed and regenerated believers, built up by the growth of the divine life in us. Today we are growing together as God’s dwelling place. The more we grow in life, the more God’s dwelling place is built up!
“Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her that He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.” “This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:25-27, 32
The church is the bride, the wife of Christ. In this aspect of the church, Christ loves us with the tender love of a husband, and we love Him as our dear Bridegroom. In His love, He is preparing us by the washing of the water in the Word for our wedding day when He returns.
“Be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil.” Ephesians 6:10-11
The Body of Christ, the new man, the kingdom of God, the household of God, the dwelling place of God, and the bride of Christ are all positive aspects of the church. But the church is also the warrior by which God can deal with His enemy, the devil. This a crucial aspect of the church.
Many are familiar with the verses in Ephesians 6 about putting on the parts of the armor of God. But when we look at the original Greek of these verses, we can realize this armor isn’t for an individual Christian. Paul exhorts the church, made up of all the believers, to put on the armor of God. Thus, the church is the corporate warrior of God, empowered in the Lord to fight the spiritual warfare to deal with God’s enemy.
The revelation of the church in Ephesians is rich, deep, and high. We can pray for the Spirit of reality to reveal the church to us according to Ephesians, and we can ask Him to guide us into the reality of each aspect of the church in our experience.
“Dear Lord, thank You for the church. Grant me a spirit of wisdom and revelation so I can see the church in all these aspects. I also ask that the Spirit of reality would guide me and my fellow members of Your Body into the reality of the church so You can gain the church You desire. Amen.”
If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
The Bible mentions the flesh throughout the Old and New Testaments. But although Christians are clear about what sin is, many may not have heard much about the flesh. Unfortunately, Satan’s obscuring of the truth about the flesh has allowed him to damage God’s people.
What is the flesh, and why is it so bad? Is it still bad after we’re saved? Does our flesh get better the more we grow in the Lord or the more spiritual we become? As believers who love the Lord Jesus and want to go on in our Christian life, we need to know the truth concerning the flesh.
In this post, we can only take a brief look at what the Bible says about the flesh and read some verses and notes in the New Testament Recovery Version.
According to God’s plan, God created man with a spirit, a soul, and a body so man could contain God and express Him. Every part of man was clean and pure, including his body.
But when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, something terrible happened. They took in the sinful nature of the devil. The result was the pure body God had created was changed into sinful flesh.
The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:18:
“For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells.”
Paul’s words are emphatic. Nothing good dwells in our flesh. Why is that?
Note 2 on this verse in the Recovery Version explains clearly:
“The flesh here is the fallen and corrupted human body with all its lusts. This flesh was not created by God but is a mixture of God’s creature and sin, which is the life of Satan, the evil one. God created man’s body a pure vessel, but this vessel was corrupted and transmuted into the flesh by Satan’s injecting himself into it at the time of the fall. Now Satan as sin personified is in man’s flesh, making his home there and ruling as an illegal master, overruling man and forcing him to do things that he dislikes. It is this indwelling sin, which is the unchangeable evil nature, that constitutes all men sinners (5:19).”
Nothing good dwells in our flesh because Satan as sin personified is dwelling there.
Then verse 20 says:
“But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.”
Paul said sin “dwells in me.” Where does it dwell in Paul? In the flesh. Sin doesn’t occasionally visit our flesh; sin dwells there.
When we receive Christ as our Savior, our sins are forgiven and we’re saved eternally. But is our flesh repaired? Are we free from the lusts of the flesh once we’re born again? Do we still have the flesh?
John 3:6 says:
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
When we received the Lord as our Savior, we were born again in our human spirit with the divine Spirit of God. This happened with our spirit, but our flesh remains the same as it was before: sinful and full of lusts.
We have to realize that while we live in this physical life, the flesh never changes, no matter how long we’ve been saved or how much we’ve grown in the Lord.
Many verses in the New Testament show us that believers still possess the sinful flesh.
For instance, Galatians 5:16 says:
“But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Paul wrote this word to believers in Galatia. We have the fallen flesh with its lusts even after we’re saved.
Only when the Lord Jesus returns will we be rid of the flesh. At that time, He will resurrect and transfigure our fallen body. We have this assurance in Philippians 3:20-21:
“We eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself.”
God’s full salvation of our whole being includes the salvation of our fallen body. But for now, our flesh remains the sinful flesh.
[[Free Study Bible]]
We can’t afford to be ignorant or indifferent about the danger our flesh poses to us. If we heed the warnings regarding our flesh, our Christian life will be safeguarded.
To illustrate, let’s say we don’t know that a particular substance is extremely toxic. So we might handle it very casually and even carelessly. As a result, we can do great harm to ourselves. But if we knew its true nature, we’d handle it very carefully and cautiously in order to protect ourselves.
This illustration shows how the proper knowledge of our flesh can help us believers. It also shows us how being unaware of its danger can harm us. And unlike the toxic substance in the illustration that’s outside of us, our flesh isn’t something separate from us; it’s part of us and ever present.
Satan’s strategy is to hide the truth about the flesh from Christians. He wants us to think our flesh isn’t a problem once we’re saved, or that it’s no longer a danger if we’ve been following the Lord for some time. Satan knows if we think like this we’ll drop our guard. We’ll adopt the attitude that we won’t fall into a particular sin. Or, we become self-confident if we haven’t committed that sin in a long time. Or, we’re sure we would never commit a certain sin just because we never have before. What happens when we think we’re safe? We’ll allow ourselves to be in certain situations where our flesh is stirred and then overpowers us. Sin will be the result.
So practically speaking, what do we mean by “drop our guard”?
As an example, let’s say before we were saved we used to go to bars with our friends and drink. After we’re saved, our coworkers or friends still invite us out to a bar. We go because we think, “I won’t be tempted to drink anymore, now that I’m saved.” Since we don’t realize our flesh hasn’t gotten any better and is just as strong as before, we’re in a dangerous position. Our flesh overcomes our willpower, pulling us back into the life we previously lived. We learn too late that we’re still subject to the lusts of the flesh.
Let’s use another example involving immorality. We know immoral acts such as fornication are sinful. But we may think, “Now that I’m a Christian, I definitely would never have a problem with that. My strong morals will prevent me from sinning that way.” Because we think this way, we repeatedly spend more and more time alone with someone, whether at work or elsewhere, because we think we’re immune to the lusts of the flesh. But eventually, through being alone together so much, we become less cautious, and in an unguarded moment, sin is the result. We didn’t realize our flesh is much stronger than our proclaimed morals.
These are just a few examples of what it means to drop our guard. And we shouldn’t think that the flesh is active in only certain types of people. It operates in every kind of person: weak or strong, educated or illiterate, rich or poor. Every human being has the lustful flesh, and every human being, including a Christian, is capable of any sin. Just being in the wrong environment can lead us to sin.
When we’re unaware of or unwise about our sinful flesh, Satan has a way to damage believers, over and over again, lulling them into not guarding against their flesh.
In the book of Romans, a book written to Christians, Paul clearly warns the believers to be on guard against sin hiding in their flesh. Romans 6:12 says:
“Do not let sin therefore reign in your mortal body so that you obey the body’s lusts.”
If we believers aren’t careful with our flesh, sin can even reign in our body and rule over us. This brings damage to our Christian life. What a tragedy!
We can’t afford to give an inch to the flesh by thinking we’re no longer subject to the lusts of the flesh or that we’re strong and can overcome it.
In Romans 13:14 Paul says strongly:
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.”
What does make no provision for our flesh mean? Let’s read note 2 on the word provision in this verse:
“Or, arrangement. This word has the same root as the Greek word for take forethought in 12:17. To take forethought includes the meaning to provide. To make no provision for the flesh is to not take any forethought for the flesh or provide the flesh with anything that will support it and make it convenient for it to fulfill its lusts.”
We can apply this word to our lives by considering what places, what things we see, what things we hear, and what things we do would make it convenient for our flesh to fulfill its lusts. We need to take forethought concerning these things and avoid them so as not to make provision for our flesh. We don’t want to give any support to our flesh.
Seeing that our flesh is still a danger to us is the important first step in not letting sin reign. Our fallen, sinful flesh is like a wild animal that can never be tamed. Giving it the smallest amount of leeway can allow it to break free and cause great damage.
We need to ask the Lord to show us the peril of our flesh. Then we must guard against it and make no provision for it! We encourage you to read our post, 2 Timothy 2:22: Flee Lusts and Pursue Christ. And if you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here to read all the helpful notes on the verses in this post.
