Immanuel
Revelation 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Coming of the presence of God in the presence of his people is represented with the tabernacle which in reality is Jesus.
Therefore when the Word of God was made flesh at the very inception the identity “Immanuel” (which being interpreted is “God with us”) had certainly to be represented by a tabernacle. [Isaiah 7:14 - Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.]
Luke 2: 7
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now let me explain what really this manger is and why there was no room for them in the inn.
Leviticus 23:33-35
33 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
Leviticus 23:42
42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
Here we see that on the 15th day of the Biblical 7th month, (i.e. the Biblical month of Tishri (i.e. in according to our calendar 15th of October) there was the festival of tabernacles. And the theme of the festival of tabernacles was the “Coming of the presence of God”.
As I have stated before the Coming of the presence of God in the presence of his people is represented with the tabernacle which in reality is Jesus.
And the 15th being the first day of the festival was marked as an holy convocation (i.e. a special Sabbath day of rest apart from that of the weekly Sabbath) – Leviticus 23:35 [On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.]
Jesus said in Luke 6:5 [And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.]
And in Leviticus 23:42 we saw that during this period all that are Israelites born had to dwell in booths { booths meaning “CUKKAH” in Hebrew, [and as the New Testament was written in Greek its translation to English which is “A Manger” from its Greek derivative PHATNE]}.
Now I hope you can visualize what actually took place in Luke 2:7
In Luke 2:7 wee read “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”
All that are Israelites born had to dwell in booths. Joseph and Mary were not excluded. As they were Israelites there could not have been room in any way for them in the inn because all that were Israelites born had to dwell in booths.
Therefore the tabernacle of the Lord was with men in the very inception as in accordance to the Word of God in October 15th.
And exactly 6 months before was the birth of John the Baptist which is April 15th.
The Following references will explain it all:
Firstly (with reference to John being 6 months older)
Luke 1:24
And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,
Luke 1:26
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
Luke 1:41-42
41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Secondly & Finally (with reference to the 15th of April)
Leviticus 23:4-8
4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
In the 15th day of the ABIB/NISAN which is the First Month of the Biblical Calendar of Events (i.e. in accordance to our calendar 15th of April), was the festival of unleavened bread.
And the theme thereof was “Purging out the leaven of Sin”.
Therefore significantly it was John the Baptist who baptized with water unto repentance.
In Matthew 3:11 John the Baptist himself says:
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Now that the truth is manifested before you through the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ I would conclude by saying with Paul in:
Romans 6 21-22
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
[Rev. Dr. Nishan Wijesinha]
15/12/2008