God Draws Near Through His Presence

📖 Matthew 1:18–25

Most of us are comfortable with the idea of God as long as He stays at a safe distance.

We want His guidance 🙏, His protection 🛡️, even His blessing ✨, but not His interruption.

Christmas has a way of confronting that preference.

Matthew does not begin the story of Jesus with glowing lights and peaceful music. He starts with tension. A problem. A righteous man whose plans and reputation are suddenly at risk. Before there is joy, there is disruption, because the long-promised God has not stayed distant.

He has drawn near.

Why This Matters to Us

Many people today are honestly trying to do the right thing. They are making careful decisions, managing difficult situations, and hoping they do not make things worse 😟. And yet, beneath it all, there is a quiet question lingering:

Where is God in all of this?

This message matters because if we misunderstand how God draws near, we might resist the very presence meant to guide, comfort, and save us. What is at stake is not just clarity, it is whether we recognize and respond to God when He comes close ❤️.

How We Got Here

For centuries, Israel lived with God’s promises but without His visible presence. The prophets spoke of a coming King from David’s line and a child through whom God Himself would dwell with His people. Still, generation after generation waited ⏳.

Then came four hundred years of silence.

Matthew opens his Gospel by tracing Jesus’ royal lineage and then brings us to this moment. Promises move from prophecy to pregnancy. Hope becomes flesh. Expectation becomes incarnation.

Matthew 1:18–25 is the turning point where the long-promised God finally draws near in person.

That raises an important question for all of us:

How does God fulfill His promises by drawing near in Jesus, Immanuel, and what response does that require from us?

1️⃣ God Draws Near in a Way That Confronts Our Plans

Mary, though legally bound to Joseph, is found to be with child before they come together. In Jewish culture, betrothal was binding. It required a formal divorce to end it. From Joseph’s perspective, everything points to moral failure.

Yet Joseph is described as a just man. He is sincere, God-fearing, and trying to do the right thing. His plan is quiet, controlled, and careful.

And still, God is at work.

God’s work often begins in ambiguity before it is explained.

What Joseph wants to resolve quietly, God intends to use globally 🌍.

God’s nearness does not always fit neatly into our plans. Often, it disrupts them first.

Pause and reflect:

Where has God’s work in your life disrupted your plans in a way you are still trying to manage quietly instead of trusting openly?

2️⃣ God Draws Near Through His Promises and His Word

God does not leave Joseph confused. An angel appears, not as a feeling or impression, but as clear revelation 📜. God explains what He is doing before He asks for obedience.

The child is conceived by the Holy Ghost. Salvation does not originate in human effort. It begins with God Himself.

Then comes the name Jesus:

“He shall save his people from their sins.”

God’s presence is not sentimental. It is salvific.

And then Immanuel:

“God with us.”

Jesus tells us what He does.

Immanuel tells us who He is.

Salvation is possible because the Savior is not just sent by God. He is God.

Ask yourself:

Am I interpreting my situation through assumptions, or through what God has already spoken in His Word?

3️⃣ God Draws Near to Produce Obedient Faith

When Joseph wakes up, he obeys. Immediately. No hesitation. No bargaining.

Faith moves from understanding to action 👣.

Joseph takes Mary as his wife, accepting social suspicion, personal cost, and lifelong responsibility. Obedience is not convenient, but it is faithful.

Then he names the child Jesus. In doing so, Joseph publicly aligns himself with God’s purpose. Obedience is not just agreeing with God’s presence. It is submitting to His plan.

Consider this:

What is one clear act of obedience you already know God is asking of you, but fear or cost has delayed?

When God Changes the Direction

In 1812, Luther Rice set sail for India alongside Adoniram Judson, convinced God was leading them forward as missionaries. The plan was clear, until Rice became seriously ill. His condition worsened, and he was forced to turn back while Judson continued on 🚢.

From the outside, it looked like failure.

But Rice did not interpret the closed door as God’s absence. As he recovered, God redirected his path. He began traveling from church to church, stirring hearts for missions and mobilizing support that would shape the future of Baptist missionary work.

God’s presence was not tied to a destination. It was tied to obedience.

Sometimes God does not remove us from the path we expected. He redirects us while staying with us 🤍.

The Heart of It All

In Jesus, God draws near,

✨ disrupting our plans,

✨ revealing His purpose,

✨ and calling us to trust His presence through obedient faith.

Because God has drawn near, the right response is no longer distance or delay, but trust.

A Final Invitation

You may be doing your best to live rightly, carefully managing life and hoping not to make things worse. But Jesus did not come simply to improve our lives.

He came to save us from our sins ✝️.

Immanuel means God is not distant from your need. He has drawn near in Jesus, who took our sin upon Himself at the cross and rose again so we could be forgiven and made new.

You do not need perfect understanding. Joseph did not have it either.

You need obedient faith.

The God who came near at Bethlehem is near today, and He is worthy of your trust.

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