“One Divine Gift for All”

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

While exhorting the Corinthians concerning a generous offering for the poor of Jerusalem, St. Paul made the point that all our giving is a poor imitation of the indescribable, maximum gift given to all people by God the Father. Paul was speaking about God’s gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor so that we, through his poverty, might become rich.

What does it mean for God to make us rich? All human beings, even the richest people in the world, are really poor, because all are sinners, without God and without hope in the world. The Scripture says all people are under God’s just and holy wrath, and unless God saves them, they will be eternally damned. God loves sinners, so in the fullness of time he sent his eternal Son to become poor by becoming a man, that he may enrich us by his grace, and through that we may enter into the rich blessing of eternal life and communion with God.

No one can ever fully describe the gift of God in Jesus Christ. One can know more of Christ and his work of salvation, but one can never know him fully. But the more we know Christ, the more we rejoice in him, so we need to open this indescribable, divine gift God has given us.

The Gift: Jesus is God

When we examine this gift, we first discover that Jesus Christ is God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) And John continues, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth . . . No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” (John 1:14,18) Jesus Christ is God, but unless your eyes are enlightened by the Holy Spirit, you will not appreciate this divine gift. You will hate him. When the Jews wanted to stone him, Jesus asked, “I have shown you many miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” And they replied, “We are not stoning you for any of these, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” (John 10:32-33)

Our Lord Jesus Christ is describable and yet he is beyond human description. We can know him and be saved through this knowledge, and yet Paul says he isanekdiegetos –beyond words. Why? He is God. But “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,” that we may believe in him and be saved from eternal damnation. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:16, 36) Even though we may not fully understand him, Jesus is God’s one gift for the whole world. Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” In Christ we receive all things. God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 3:3).

Most people in the world have not known him. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10) Sinful man is ignorant of this gift of God. Why? Satan has blinded his eyes so that he cannot see the glory of God in the face of this gift, Jesus Christ, and be saved. He who is the Creator and Governor of the universe was sent to us wrapped in human flesh and rags, and placed in a manger. No wonder people despise him! But this lowly Son is God.

Dr. John Murray made this statement about the gift, Jesus Christ: “He who never began to be in his specific identity as Son of God, began to be what he eternally was not. . .The infinite became the finite, the eternal and supratemporal entered time and became subject to its conditions, the immutable became the mutable, the invisible became the visible, the Creator became the created, the sustainer of all became dependent, the Almighty infirm.” Yes, “God became man.” In one person there was a conjunction “of all that belongs to Godhead and all that belongs to manhood.” This eternal Son came into a “world of sin, misery and death.” He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin. “He came into the closest relation to sinful humanity that it was possible for him to come without thereby becoming himself sinful.” (Collected Writings of John Murray: Volume Two, Select Lectures in Systematic Theology , published by Banner of Truth, pp. 132-133)

The Gift: Jesus Is Man

Open the gift! You will find that Jesus is God, and you will also find that he is man. This is the biblical doctrine of virgin birth, that the virgin Mary, without the aid of a man, by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit conceived and gave birth to a Son, the Holy One of God, our Lord Jesus.

This was a unique miracle of supernatural begetting. The baby was a supernatural person, taking on himself our human nature. He was wrapped in flesh. Then there was the miracle of supernatural preservation of Jesus from all the stains of sin. We must understand that in this incarnation Jesus never ceased to be what he always was, that is, God. There was no exchange of divine identity for human identity, no surrendering or suspension of divine attributes. Incarnation means addition, not subtraction–the addition of sinless human nature. Jesus is God-Man. “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” (Colossians 2:9)

Why did Jesus become man? We have been sold as slaves to sin, and no man can redeem us because no man is qualified to do so. God sent this divine gift, Jesus Christ, in a state of humiliation, as man, to become our kinsman-redeemer. Just as Boaz was the kinsman of Naomi, and he redeemed Ruth, by becoming man Jesus is now related to us. He is our willing and able Redeemer! By his death he bought us out of slavery to sin, law, death, Satan and hell, and set us free, granting us the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

The Gift: Jesus Is Savior

So if you open this gift, you will also discover that Jesus is the Savior. God sent only one Savior to this world, and that Savior is Jesus. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

God promised this Savior as soon as man sinned. Sin came into the world through a woman, and the Savior also came through a woman. Genesis 3:15 said the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. In the fullness of time God sent this indescribable gift of our Savior to the virgin Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph the carpenter. In Luke 1 we are told that the angel Gabriel made this glorious announcement to her, that she would become pregnant through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and give birth to a son who would be called the Son of the Most High, the Holy One, who would be given the throne of David and reign forever.

God sent this Savior to others. When Elizabeth saw Mary, she recognized her as the “mother of my Lord.” When Mary gave birth to this Holy One in Bethlehem, the angel announced his birth to the lowly, despised shepherds who were watching their flocks in the fields near Bethlehem. PGM The angel appeared to them, the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Why did they react that way to this news of a Savior? Sinful people are always afraid when God’s glory appears to them. Zechariah was afraid when Gabriel met him in the temple. Mary herself was afraid because she was also sinful. Joseph was afraid, and now the shepherds were afraid, the Greek text says, with great fear. Why? This fear is fear of the divine damnation of death because of our sins. How can we be delivered from this fear of death and eternal separation from a holy God? Can medicine or psychiatry or education or power or atheism deliver us from this fear? No, this fear of death and damnation can only be eliminated by the gospel. So the angel commanded the shepherds: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Great fear is dealt with by the gospel of great joy.

What Is This Good News?

This gospel is about a baby, born “today,” the angel said. Today! That means in the fullness of time, in fulfillment of God’s ancient prophecy and promise. The time had come. It was “today.” Not only that, the angel said, “in the town of David,” which meant in accordance with God’s promise found in Micah 5:2. This baby was the son of David and heir of his throne.

Then we are told, “A Savior has been born.” Who was this Savior? His name was already chosen by his heavenly Father: “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) This Jesus was the one who would crush the head of the serpent. He would defeat Satan and demons and every force that is against God and man. He would deliver his people from the clutches of sin, death, Satan, hell and the law, accomplishing this by his life and death. Jesus gives us salvation! That means our sins are fully pardoned and we are clothed in the full righteousness of God, so that we can appear before him and enjoy fellowship with him forever. Jesus reconciles us to God by dealing with the problem of sin, which has separated us from him.

This Jesus is the Christ, we are told. Christ means he is the Messiah, the Anointed One, anointed by the Holy Spirit to be prophet. It is he and he alone who teaches us the way to God. It is he who told us to come to him and learn of him, which we do through his word, the Bible.

This Jesus is our priest. He will bring us to God through the sacrifice of himself, and secure for us forgiveness of all our sins. Not only that, this Jesus is Lord. In the Old Testament this word “Lord” meant Jehovah, or God, and now this title was given by the angel to this baby, Jesus. He is kurios , Jehovah, God–the self-existing, self-sufficient, eternal, infinite, almighty God who entered into a covenant with man to save him. Because Jesus is God, he is able to defeat every rebel, enemy and sin. He will deliver his people, as he did when he defeated Pharaoh, and brought his people out of Egypt.

Speaking of this baby, the angel said “To you is born. . .” This meant Jesus would be the Savior of those among God’s chosen people Israel who would believe on him. Salvation is of the Jews. It is Jesus who saves Abraham and David, and all true Israel. But salvation is not limited to Israel. The angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people .” God’s purpose in calling Abraham was so that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. (Genesis 12:3) There is only one Savior, but he is the Savior for the whole world–for people of all nations, all races, and of every social standing, whether bond, free, rich, poor, educated or uneducated. There is no other name than the name of Jesus given by God by which we can be saved. He is the indescribable gift!

Who Receives This Gift?

When we study the song of the heavenly choir, we discern that God will not save anyone unless he has chosen that person. Only the elect of God will be saved. This choir came from worshiping God in heaven to worship God and his Son on earth. In some translations we read that they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men,” but that is not correct. The better text reads, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom God’s favor rests .” (NIV) That speaks about divine election.

Not all people experience God’s peace. Only certain people are chosen by God’s electing love from all eternity to be saved. All people who trust in Christ will be saved and blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Paul addresses this in Romans 8:28-29: “For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son . . . and those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

If God’s favor rests on you, if God has chosen you and loved you from all eternity, you will gladly believe in the Savior he sent. With great delight you will receive the greatest gift God has given–his Son, in whom there is the conjunction of Deity and humanity. You will want to know him. You will carefully study the Bible so you can know him, believe in him, worship him and be taught by him. You will be completely satisfied with him always, and will tell others about this indescribable gift.

Mary was the first to believe in this Son who was also her Savior. In response to the good news given her by the angel, Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” What she meant was that, no matter what happened, whether she would suffer reproach, shame or even death, she believed in God and in his Son who would be born through her to save her. Elizabeth believed in this Savior, as we see in her speech to Mary: “But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” This amazing revelation was given to Elizabeth, that in the womb of Mary was the Lord, the Savior of the world. Zechariah also believed. When he spoke about his own son, John, he said, “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him.” So Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah were chosen.

The shepherds were also chosen. These shepherds to whom the angelic choir sang were people upon whom divine favor had been resting from all eternity. They were a despised class of people, social outcasts who failed to fulfill all manmade rules of ritual cleanliness. They had a reputation of being liars and were excluded from bearing witness in a court of law. But God chose them from the foundation of the world to be saved through the angelic preaching of the gospel. Paul referred to such in 1 Corinthians 1:26-28: “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are.”

In the world’s view, the shepherds were nothing, but they were chosen by God. They went to Bethlehem and saw this Christ, God the Savior, wrapped in flesh and swaddling clothes, lying in a feeding trough in great humiliation. That sight gave them great joy! In this baby they found their own salvation from death, hell and damnation. Although the shepherds were greatly afraid when they heard the angelic announcement, on seeing Jesus they were filled with unspeakable joy. They believed, praising and glorifying God. They even became evangelists, telling others this good news of great joy.

Have You Received God’s Gift?

This gift was promised to us since the Fall, and in the fullness of time Jesus Christ was born. My question is: Have you opened this gift? Have you appreciated this Savior, Christ the Lord? As Jesus told that Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God . . . you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” He alone will deliver you from all anxieties, fear, hopelessness, hell and death.

Who gave this gift? God, the heavenly Father, from whom all perfect gifts come. If you despise this gift, you are treating the Sender with contempt and he is angry at you. The greatest sin in the world is not to believe in Jesus Christ.

Why do people despise Jesus? He was born in low circumstances, wrapped in rags and placed in a trough. He was poor and had no home. At times he was weary, distressed, weeping, hungry and thirsty. Often he would sleep on a mountain or a boat. He was mocked, spat upon, smitten and crucified. But Jesus is the pearl of great price, the eternal Son of God. This one is the treasure hidden from the eyes of all who are not chosen of God. He alone is the living bread from heaven and the living water for us sinners.

You have been given many years. Have you ever opened this gift and appreciated it? Even though he is indescribable and beyond words, you have received sufficient revelation about him to save you from your sins. We all will soon die, but if you do not believe in Christ, you will go to an eternity without God. While you are living, will you continue to despise the gift of God’s Son, the only Savior?

Let me warn you, you cannot ignore him forever. You will die, but the Scripture says you will be raised up, and every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11). God the Sender will not tolerate your treating him or his Son with contempt. If you do, on the last day you will know him, but not to your profit. “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

The choice is yours. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry” (Psalm 2:12) Kiss the child with trembling–this child that is born to us, this son that is given, this King of kings and Lord of lords. I counsel you to tremble before him, humble yourself before God, call upon the name of the Lord, and be saved.