The Man Hidden in the Text

A Scripture study tracing how “God with us” moves from Old Testament presence, dwelling, tabernacle, and temple into the fullness of the Word made flesh: Jesus Christ, the true dwelling of God with man.

“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” — Isaiah 7:14

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel... God with us.” — Matthew 1:23

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us...” — John 1:14

1. God With Us Was Not Invented in Matthew#

Matthew opens the Gospel by taking the reader back to Isaiah. The birth of Jesus is not presented as a disconnected miracle, nor as a new idea invented in the New Testament. It is the promised fulness of what God had already spoken.

“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet...” — Matthew 1:22

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel... God with us.” — Matthew 1:23

Matthew is quoting Isaiah 7:14. The name is the announcement: Immanuel, God with us. Yet this does not mean God had never been with man before Bethlehem. It means that the promise of God-with-us had reached its appointed fulness in the Son born of Mary.

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” –Galatians 4:4-5

The Old Testament had already shown the nearness of God in many forms: presence in the garden, appearance to the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, Manoah, glory among the prophets Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, dwelling in the tabernacle, filling of the temple, ark of the covenant at the mercy seat…

God with man before Bethlehem → God with us in incarnate fulness

The incarnation does not erase the earlier witnesses. It gathers them. The God who had been with His people by presence, Word, glory, covenant, tabernacle, temple, and man-form appearance now comes with us in flesh.

2. Immanuel: The Sign and the Fulness#

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” — Isaiah 7:14

The sign in Isaiah is a son. The name of the son carries the meaning: God with us. In Matthew, that promise comes forward into the birth of Jesus Christ. The child is not merely a sign that God will help from afar. The child Himself is the arrival of God-with-us.

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” — Matthew 1:21

The name Jesus announces salvation. The name Emmanuel announces presence. Together they declare that God has come near in order to save. He is not only present to observe. He is present to deliver, forgive, restore, and dwell.

This is why Immanuel belongs in the man-word study. The earlier H376 trail showed that the eternal Son could be seen in man-form before the incarnation. Immanuel shows that the same God-with-us pattern comes into history as true human birth.

3. The Son as the Revealer of the Invisible God#

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son... he hath declared him.” — John 1:18

The Father is invisible. The Son declares Him. Scripture repeatedly draws the reader toward this truth: the Son is not an afterthought in revelation. He is the One through whom the invisible God is made known.

“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature...” — Colossians 1:15

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person...” — Hebrews 1:3

This helps explain why the Old Testament can contain appearances, forms, glory, and encounters in which God is truly present, yet the Father remains unseen in His invisible essence. The Son is the visible expression, the image, the Word, the declared presence of God.

This also helps the Genesis image-language stand in the background. Mankind is made in the image of God. The Son is the image of the invisible God. Therefore it is not strange that the eternal Son can appear in man-form before He becomes incarnate. The image trail begins before the fall and moves toward its restoration in Christ.

4. The Garden, the Presence, and the First Loss#

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day...” — Genesis 3:8

The story of man begins with nearness. Man was not created for distance from God. The garden is not merely a location of trees, food, work, and beauty. It is a place where man lives before God.

After sin, man hides from the presence of the LORD God. The first loss is not only innocence. It is presence. Man is separated from the face, fellowship, and open communion for which he was made.

The whole biblical story then begins to move toward restored presence. Covering is provided. Promise is given. Seed is announced. Altars are built. Covenants are made. God calls, appears, speaks, and dwells. The question is not only whether man can be forgiven. The deeper question is whether God and man will dwell together again.

5. The Tabernacle: God Dwelling Among His People#

“And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” — Exodus 25:8

The tabernacle is a major step in the God-with-us trail. Israel is not merely rescued out of Egypt to become a religious nation with laws. Israel is brought out so that YHWH (LORD) may dwell among them.

“And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.” — Exodus 29:45

“And they shall know that I am the LORD their God... that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.” — Exodus 29:46

The Exodus pattern is clear: God hears, remembers covenant, delivers, brings out, speaks, makes covenant, and dwells. The goal is not only escape from bondage. The goal is God in the midst of His people.

Heard cry → Remembered covenant → Delivered → Brought near → Dwelt among them

This matters because John later says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The tabernacle was never merely a tent. It was a God-given witness that the Holy One intended to dwell with man.

In John 20:28, after Thomas is invited to touch the wounds of the risen Jesus, John hits the climax of his gospel, as Thomas realizes who Jesus is, remember Exodus 29:46 above?

“And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.”

The hand of the LORD that brought them out of Egypt, and birthed them as a firstborn child, through the water and through the “ruach” (Spirit), is what John 3 was talking about when Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born of water and Spirit, and he is reminding Nicodemus of Ezekiel 36, the washing, the new heart, and the Spirit.

The LORD’s name is I Am that I AM, in Hebrew; but Hebrew used to be a pictographic language at the time Moses recorded the first five books of the Old Testament. Remember how Jacob was given a name, and this was significant? Up until Exodus 6, God was known as God, or Elohim; but in Exodus 6, Moses asks for what name he should give the people. Elohim (God) spoke to Moses and said, tell them YHWH (I Am that I AM) sent you.

In the Pictographic language, the letter “H” is “behold”, which is in the name twice, the “Y” is “hand”, and the “W” is peg, or hook, or pierce. When Thomas looks at the hand of Jesus, Jesus is saying, BEHOLD the HAND, BEHOLD the Piercing. And it dawns on Thomas, this IS YHWH, … MY LORD and MY GOD.

6. The Mercy Seat, the Ark, and Covenant Presence#

“And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat...” — Exodus 25:22

Inside the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat become the appointed place of meeting. YHWH says He will meet and commune from above the mercy seat, from between the cherubim. The covenant testimony is beneath. The mercy seat is above. The presence speaks there.

This is more than furniture. It is a pattern of covenant, mercy, presence, and meeting. Man cannot invent his own way back into God’s presence. God appoints the place, provides the covering, orders the priesthood, gives the blood, and speaks from the mercy seat.

When Cain and Abel are giving offerings, Abel gives a righteous offering, a lamb, spotless, as an act of faith (Hebrews 11:4); and Cain did not have an acceptable offering. Elohim says to Cain, “at the door”, outside of Eden, in front of two cherubim guarding “the way”; sin is crouching and desires you, you can be accepted, but you must resist sin.

When Mankind, through Adam and deceived Eve, sins, Elohim gives a covering, which later is shown as a shadow type of Atonement, and in Revelation, when all sin is removed, and there is no more rebellion, God will cloth the saints in Righteous garments. The ark of the covenant represents the covenant with mankind, the mercy seat has two cherubim behind it, the most holy place is the access point to God, and YHWH is on the mercy seat. Do you see it? Also, when the cloud came down to the “meeting place”, which is the door of the tabernacle, it says YHWH descended in the cloud and stood at the door, at the meeting place. The tabernacle was filled with imagery of Eden, and behind YHWH, at the door, is the tabernacle Eden. These are all Old Testament accounts.

Jesus said, I am the door (John 10:9), Jesus said I am the way (John 14:6), Jesus said no man comes to the father but through me (John 14:6).

The later revelation of Christ will not discard this pattern. It will fulfill it. The body of Christ, the blood of Christ, the priesthood of Christ, and the throne of grace all answer the question first pictured in the tabernacle: How can holy God dwell with man?

7. The Temple and the House Filled With Glory#

“And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD...” — 1 Kings 8:10

“So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.” — 1 Kings 8:11

The temple continues the dwelling trail. The tabernacle moved with Israel in the wilderness. The temple stands in the land. But both teach the same underlying truth: God is making a dwelling among His people.

Solomon knows that no building can contain God in His fullness.

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee...” — 1 Kings 8:27

The temple is therefore both real and symbolic. God truly places His Name there and fills the house with glory. Yet the temple also points beyond itself. Stone cannot be the final dwelling of God with man. The temple prepares the reader for a greater body, a greater priesthood, a greater mercy, and a greater presence.

Tabernacle → Temple → Body → God dwelling with man

8. The Word Tabernacled Among Us#

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (Greek word for tabernacled, or tented) among us...” — John 1:14

John gives the great doorway. The Word who was with God and was God was made flesh. He did not merely appear for a moment. He became flesh. He dwelt among us.

The word “dwelt” carries the tabernacle thought. The Word tabernacled among us. The tent in the wilderness had taught Israel to understand holy dwelling. Now the true tabernacle stands in flesh.

“...and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14

The tabernacle had glory. The temple had glory. John says the disciples beheld His glory. The glory is no longer merely in a cloud over a tent or filling a house. The glory is seen in the Son, full of grace and truth.

9. Destroy This Temple: The Body of Christ#

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” — John 2:19

“But he spake of the temple of his body.” — John 2:21

Jesus identifies His own body as the temple. This is not a small statement. The dwelling-place of God with man is no longer finally located in a stone house. The true temple is His body.

This joins several trails at once. The H376 trail showed that the eternal Son could be seen in man-form before the incarnation. The Immanuel trail shows God with us in the promised Son. The tabernacle and temple trail shows that God intends to dwell among His people. John now shows the fulness: the Word made flesh is the true temple.

Man-form witness → Immanuel promise → Word made flesh → Body as temple

The body prepared for the Son is not incidental. In that body He obeys. In that body He suffers. In that body He dies. In that body He rises. In that body He becomes the visible, tangible, resurrected witness that God and man are being reunited through Him.

10. A Body Prepared in the Fulness of Time#

“Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me...” — Hebrews 10:5

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman...” — Galatians 4:4

Before Bethlehem, the eternal Son could be with His people in appearance, presence, Word, glory, and appointed meeting. But at Bethlehem, He comes in the fulness of time as the Son made of a woman. This is not a temporary appearance. This is incarnation. The Son is fully man, as a son of man (H120) through Eve, but not of the conception of man; the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary. Jesus was an H376, but not a H120, he was the son of H120 by identity and image, but not by seed.

Mary gives the true human connection. The Holy Ghost gives the holy divine conception. Joseph gives the legal household and Davidic placement, but Joseph does not bring Jesus into being. Therefore Jesus is truly Son of Man, yet not fallen Adam repeated. He is the holy Son sent by God, made of a woman, prepared with a body, and appointed to save His people from their sins.

This is where Immanuel becomes more than a title. God with us is now God with us in flesh, in body, in obedience, in suffering, in death, and in resurrection.

11. Closing: From Dwelling Place to Anointed Man#

The story has moved from man-word to presence, from presence to dwelling, from dwelling to tabernacle, from tabernacle to temple, and from temple to the body of Christ. God has been moving toward one great revelation: He will dwell with man through the Son.

Immanuel does not mean that God had never come near before. It means that all the earlier nearness has reached its promised center. The Man hidden in the text, the Son of Man, the Man of God’s right hand, is now Jesus Christ: the Word made flesh, the true tabernacle, the true temple, God with us.

“And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” — Revelation 21:22

The final city has no separate temple, because the dwelling purpose has reached its end. God and the Lamb are the temple. The story that began with man made for God’s presence ends with God dwelling with man in fullness.

But before that final dwelling is shown, the Gospels and Acts reveal another necessary step. The Man who is God with us is anointed by the Spirit.