A popular Christmas reading from Matthew’s gospel says “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”. But what did it really mean for God to be with us?

Well, Jesus didn’t merely come to show us the way, but to be THE way. In fact, Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”. Was that an arrogant statement? Not at all. For Jesus, being fully man and fully God, was the only one who could pay for all our sin, that both you and I, if we put our faith and trust in Him to save us, can indeed be forgiven for all the wrong we have ever done. So the news of Jesus birth, that God was with us, changed everything.