Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14 NIV
Immanuel
The Christ Church National Historic Site in Hope, British Columbia, was consecrated on November 8, 1861 by Bishop George Hills, the colony’s first bishop, making it the oldest church on the mainland of British Columbia, and the oldest church in the province still on its original foundation. The church was commissioned by Reverend Alexander David Pringle, a Scottish missionary for the Anglican Communion, and it was run chiefly by missionaries for the first years of its existence. The building’s architect was Captain John Marshall Grant of the Royal Engineers.
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God’s plan to redeem the world was set in motion the moment that sin entered into the hearts of Adam and Eve. He knew the price the world would pay, the price that every single human being would pay for the sin that had been unleashed into the world the moment our first parents ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God’s entire creation would suffer horribly because of sin. The word ravage is not too strong a word. So, God put in motion a plan He had devised even before the creation of the world. Through the centuries He revealed it one piece at a time. The prophet Isaiah would write this in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Down to the smallest detail, God had developed His plan – Immanuel, God with us, would come. He would once again walk with His people, just as He had in the garden. He has come and His name is Jesus. Immanuel – God still with us.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley