Immanuel!

No prophet ever said that he had “come”; he says that the Word of God has “come” to him; by this he means the divine transcendence, which is from “above”, the sphere which lies beyond all human possibilities, the divine world, God Himself. The fact that “God comes” is one of the fundamental facts of the Biblical revelation. This revelation deals always and everywhere with God’s coming to man, and is in harmony with the idea of the “coming” Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God, the Rule of God, is not at first “present”, because men are living in separation from God, in sin. The coming of the Kingdom of God is the coming of the self-revelation and sovereignty of God, and of the redemption of man. Therefore the Promise proclaimed by the Prophets culminates in the announcement of the Messiah, in whom alone God’s saving presence culminates as the dwelling of God with His people: “I will be your God and you shall be My people”— “I am with you”, “Emmanuel”.—Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption, 350–51