Immanuel

Now, normally, I am a firm proponent of the "Christmas season comes after Thanksgiving" stance. I broke yesterday by purchasing and playing a Country Christmas CD, and yet again right now as I post this blog. I could not help it, though. And really, it is for a good cause. Christ's birth is cause for celebration all year round! I found this gem by Charles Spurgeon in my church bulletin this morning. This is an exerpt from a Christmas sermon, "The Birth of Christ."

“Immanuel.” It is wisdom's mystery, “God with us.” Sages look at it, and wonder;angels desire to see it; the plumb-line of reason cannot reach half-way into its depths; the eagle-wing of science cannot fly so high, and the piercing eye of the vulture of research cannot see it.
“God with us.” It is hell's terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it; his legions fly apace, the black-winged dragon of the pit quails before it. Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, “God with us,” back he falls, confounded and confused. Satan trembles when he hears that name, “God with us.”
It is the labourer'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 labour if that one word were taken away?
“God with us.” 'Tis the sufferer's comfort, 'tis the balm of his woe, 'tis the alleviation of his misery, 'tis the sleep which God giveth to his beloved, 'tis their rest after exertion and toil.
Ah! and to finish, “God with us,”—'tis eternity's sonnet, 'tis heaven's hallelujah, 'tis the shout of the glorified, 'tis the song of the redeemed, 'tis the chorus of angels, 'tis the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky.
“God with us.”

C.H. Spurgeon