Immanuel is a Hebrew name meaning
“God with us.”
It is one of the most significant titles
given to Jesus Christ in the Bible,
revealing that in Him,
God Himself has come to dwell with His people.
The name Immanuel first appears in the prophecy of Isaiah:
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
The name also appears in Isaiah 8:8 and 8:10, where it emphasizes God’s presence with His people.
In the New Testament, Matthew explicitly applies this prophecy to the birth of Jesus:
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:22-23)
The name Immanuel reveals several profound truths:
This name captures the heart of the Christmas message and the entire gospel: God has not remained distant but has entered into our world to save us.
The prophecy of Immanuel is directly linked to the virgin birth. Matthew presents the miraculous conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words. The virgin-born Son is the true Immanuel — God with us in the fullest sense.
Immanuel is one of the richest and most comforting names of Jesus. It declares that God is not far away but has come near in the person of His Son. Through Jesus, God is with us in life, in death, and for all eternity. This truth is the foundation of Christian hope and the heart of the gospel.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.