In his book, God in the Wasteland, theologian David Wells traces the rise of rationalism in the western world, and its tragic effects on the church in the 20th century. He suggests that as the culture deified the scientific method, Christians responded by formulating a God who could be understood, measured, explained and contained. The result was a serious dumbing down of spiritual truth. 

Wells carefully delineates the process by which the church fashion-fitted God to meet the ever-increasing demands of a consumer culture and pacify the plethora of our psychological needs, until what was left was a people deaf to the summons of the external God." All too often, Wells adds, he now leans weakly on the church, a passive bystander…that is to say, God has become weightless. [David Wells, God in the Wasteland, Eerdmans, 1994, p. 101].

A weightless God is surely a far cry from the One whose presence once rent the earth to swallow sinners, or caused well-worn priests to flee from the cloud-filled temple in holy fear. Sadly for many, the idea of Immanuel -- the present Christ -- is little more than an icon – a picture of a throne upon which our Savior sits (or wishes to sit) in the hollow of our hearts. 

Yet history is replete with stories of believers whose lives were rocked when their eyes were finally opened to the mystical, supernatural reality that Christ inhabited their very souls. Augustine lamented of how he came so late to love this beautiful Jesus, having looked without in vain for that which was within. He wrote:

You were within me while I was outside of myself…Then you called me and cried to me and broke through my deafness! You sent forth your beam, the light of your magnificently beautiful presence. You shone your Self upon me to drive away my blindness. You breathed your fragrance upon me…and in astonishment I drew my breath…now I pant for you! I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst for you. You touched me—and I burn to live within your peace.
 [Hazard, David, Editor, Early Will I Seek You, a 40-Day Journey in the Company of Augustine, Bethany House, 1991, p. 24]

How can we explain Immanuel -- this sense of Someone so real that we find ourselves aligning our entire lives to please Him, yet so intangible we will ever fail to find words to describe His worth? Immanuel is not an idea, a doctrine, a ghost of religious fantasy in our minds, or a sentimental fabrication of what seems important to us.  [Hawthorne, Steve, Seek God for the City 2001, Waymakers, 2001, p. 25]. The Christ who indwells us by His Spirit is a violent force, ever seeking to kill the deeds of our flesh, and breathe in and through us a life so palpable that we could never doubt that He has come.

The reality that El Shaddai, Elohim, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the first and last, King of kings and Lord of lords has come -- not only to redeem but to indwell us -- should turn our world upside down. He is the external God – nothing we do or think can change the slightest facet of His glory. No one can ward off His hand or say to Him, What have you done? for He is in the heavens and He does whatever He pleases (Daniel 4:35). But oh what a wonder – He is Immanuel, God with us. 

Let us pray that the weight of this God might fall once again, that we would lie prostrate at His feet, crying out for grace to set us free from banal beliefs. Surely Christ beckons us to repent of hearts that see Him so small we think our works enrich Him, our programs support Him, and our lives are indispensable to His plan.

To see Him move and work in power for His name's sake must become our consuming passion, deepening and intensifying as His Spirit takes control of our hearts. Let us settle for nothing less than the explosive inhabitation of the living Lord, that our children, our neighbors, our coworkers and yes, the nations may know at last that Immanuel has come.

Respond

God is with us. This is not just an idea, but a full spiritual reality. Jesus has come to us, revealing the mystery planned before the world began, to put His Spirit within us that we might know Him and glorify Him. Why do you think people tend to take this lightly or fail to see the awe of it? What has the indwelling Christ meant to you personally? How real is His presence in your day to day living of life? 

That God is with us, that He indwells us by His Spirit should stun us, once we truly see it with spiritual eyes. Stop and consider His Name – Immanuel. Muse on it, ponder it, then ask the very Spirit of Christ who lives within you to reveal the wonder of this. Wait in awe-filled silence before Him.

A Prayer

O precious Immanuel, how can I ever truly appreciate the mystery that You have come to me? God with us -- in me, and around me and within me -- the very air I breathe. What have we missed Immanuel? Why does Your indwelling presence not explode in power, changing our hearts and the world in which we live? How we need You to come in a fresh way, to show us the unsettling mystery that the living God dwells within our souls. O Immanuel – bear down upon me with a weight I cannot resist. Stir within me with a zeal I never dreamed possible. Then I will live for Your fame, then I will see Your kingdom come, then the cry of my heart on the highways and by-ways will ever be, O come, O come, Immanuel.

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