Emmanuel

"And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.
Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.

The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.
 The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." 

                            -Daniel 2:1-4, 8-11


After seeing the title of this blog, and reading the verses that go along with it, you may be wondering how the two could go together. But earlier today, I was reading these words and I stopped at the the phrase, "...whose dwelling is not with flesh."  It made me think for a moment about all the people in this world who serve a "god" who is faraway and out of reach.  A god that they lack a personal relationship with, and "whose dwelling is not with flesh."

But on the flip-side of that, we serve a God who "was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).  And even today, God still dwells, not only with us, but in us (I Corinthians 6:19). For 33 years, the Son of God Himself walked and talked with us; but even when He ascended back into heaven, He sent us a Comforter (the Holy Ghost) to dwell among us until He returns.

At its definition, Emmanuel means "God with us." Throughout Scripture, we see time and time again that God is not satisfied to have a "long-distance relationship" with us.  He wants it to be personal.  In fact, I believe that is one of the reasons that Jesus came to die on the cross. The Bible says in Isaiah 59:2, "...your iniquities have separated between you and your God." God wanted us to be 100% free from sin so that there would be no separation between us and Him.

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