Here is how Webster’s Dictionary defines with: accompanied by; accompanying.

With summarizes the true essence of Christmas, Jesus, the Uncreated One, the One who through whom all things were created, became part of His creation.

But before He was With us, He was With God – John 1:1-2

The pre-incarnate Christ was with the Father and the Spirit in eternity past.  Their love and fellowship were perfect, pure and holy – their intimacy was without interruption.

He was With Us – Matthew 1:23

Jesus left His Father’s side as it were, becoming Immanuel, which means God with us.  He bridged the gap between The Uncreated and the created by leaving the immediate company of His Father and the Spirit to take company with us.  Their intimate fellowship was completely intact, but it was different now.   Jesus, throughout the Gospels, must withdraw to lonely and desolate places to pray, to close out the world in order to close in with His Father.

He was With the Wild Animals, Specifically Satan – Mark 1:12-13; Hebrews 4:14-16

Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the desert for a time of intense, cruel suffering and temptation.  He now experiences the company of wild animals and worst of all… Satan so that we would have a High Priest who could sympathize with our weaknesses.  He does not succumb to temptation, but meets the righteous requirements that the law demands.

He was Without God – Mark 15:34; 2 Corinthians 5:21

The Godhead was severed when Jesus became our curse bearer. The bridge of intimate communion that had existed for all eternity was broken when God the Father laid upon The Guiltless One, all the iniquities of the guilty ones.  Jesus became the most God-forsaken Man ever.  No one deserved suffering less, no one received it more.

Now We will Never Be Without God – Hebrews 4:14-18; 13:5

Because He was with us, because He was with our enemy, because He was without God – all those who despair of saving themselves and take Him as their treasure will never be without God – He was forsaken by God, so that we would never be forsaken.

Let me reiterate…. “With” just may be the most beautiful word I have ever heard. Do you agree?

Matthew Ellison
Sixteen:Fifteen
President and Missions Coach

Sixteen:Fifteen exists to help local churches discover and use their unique gifts in partnership with others to make Christ known among all nations. Find out more at www.1615.org or call to talk to a Church Coach at 505-248-1615, or email us.