Emmanuel, God with us! (3rd Advent) - Pastor Dave Klassen

Growing up, we knew Christmas was close when the tree went up. That childhood longing points to a deeper truth: from the very beginning, God has longed to be with His people. In Eden, He walked with Adam and Eve, creating us in His image to enjoy relationship. Sin introduced fear and hiding, but it never canceled God’s desire. Enoch walked with God. God chose Abraham and formed a people. He gave instructions for a tabernacle and then a temple—signs of His intent to dwell in the midst of Israel. Even in exile, He spoke hope through Jeremiah: seek Me with all your heart, and you will find Me. For four hundred years, silence. Then heaven broke in—an angel to Zechariah, a promise to Mary, and a name: Immanuel—God with us.

This is the heart behind Christmas: God came near. Jesus embodies God’s nearness not just in theory, but personally. In Luke 5, He steps into Peter’s boat and turns a fruitless night into overflowing nets—not to dazzle a crowd, but to draw one man. He reaches out to a leper no one would touch and restores him. He looks past a packed room and lifts a paralyzed man through forgiveness and healing. He calls Levi, the tax collector everyone despised. Over and over, Jesus shows that God with us means God with you—the individual, the overlooked, the untouchable, the ashamed.

And He hasn’t changed. “I am with you always,” He said—and we live in that “always” right now. If you’re facing doubts, grief, or financial strain, you don’t walk it alone. His presence does not always remove the storm, but it changes what the storm can do to your heart. The story of Scripture—from the garden to the manger to the empty tomb—says the same thing in a thousand ways: God wants to be with you. Let that truth move from your mind to your bones. Let it quiet your fear. Let it draw you out of hiding. And today, right where you are, let it become your hope.