Before the world was made,  God decided to be with us in communion and that is why he created.  He did not create and then say, “I think I would like to have these humans in communion”. No! God is communion.  He created us with the purpose of including within his own communal life those who are not God.  And that is the purpose he pursued in time bringing it all to fulfilment in Immanuel, God with us.

Immanuel is the one man in whom the many will find communion with the Father in the Spirit.  Not because God  owes it to us.  Not in virtue of any quality or capacity we have in ourselves.  We are completely without claim or ability for this.  It is all actual in Immanuel and in him alone apart from anything in us.

We turned away from God missing our destiny, treading underfoot our dignity, losing the gift of fellowship with him.  Nevertheless, God himself intervened as man.   Not just for man but as man.   He is with us as one of us to bring us back to all God intends for us –  His eternal purpose of union and communion in Christ by the Spirit.

God does not ignore what we have done to ruin ourselves.   Nor does he simply hide from sight our tragedy.   He gives himself to us in Immanuel to close the gulf for which we are responsible. “God with us” means more than God along side us helping us to do what God intends for us. It rather means God himself, at his own cost, and also on his own initiative, fulfilling his own eternal purpose for us.