God’s Unspeakable Gift

What was the most wonderful gift you received as a kid?  Mine was a Lionel Satellite Train I received for Christmas when I was about ten or eleven years old.  It was an electric train having five cars, one of which was a satellite launcher that when the train started up, air blowing up from the car launched a small round Styrofoam ball into the air, which would remain in the air a few inches above the car as long as the train did not go too fast.  I greatly coveted this train since first seeing it advertised on TV and told my grandmother and aunt (who raised my sister and I) that this was all I wanted that year for Christmas and then waited with great anticipation for Christmas to come.

When I got up that Christmas morning there was no train under the tree going around the track like I envisioned from the ad on TV.  I was of course quite disappointed, although I didn’t express it openly as I did not want to appear ungrateful for the nice gifts I did receive.  After all the visible packages around the tree were open, I resigned myself to a trainless Christmas. And then my loving but “tricky” aunt, under some false pretense, has me go in back of the tree, where I see a large, wrapped box.  She feigns ignorance regarding what it might be and upon inspecting it finds my name on the wrapping.  And upon my opening it, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but my coveted train.

I enjoyed that train greatly for about a year.  Eventually it got boxed up and put in the attic with other “wonderful” gifts that had outlived their usefulness.  It was in good condition and probably would be worth a tidy sum today for its collectors’ value.  Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to it, as many other wonderful gifts throughout the years had taken its place in my heart.  And for all too many of those years, the one gift that I needed most, I coveted least.  It was a gift I was fearful to receive, as to receive it could cost me everything valued in this world’s marketplace, in addition to my personal autonomy and pride (Matthew 19:20-22) (Matthew 16:24-26).

It is a gift revealed in 2 Corinthians 9:15 as “indescribable”, “unspeakable”, or “inexpressible”, depending on the Bible translation.  These adjectives speak to the infinite value and inestimable worth of the gift, such that possessing it would be found to be exceedingly more desirable than anything that was lost or displaced in the receipt of this gift (Matthew 13:44-46).  It speaks of a gift of such unimaginable beauty, wonder and magnificence that it would far surpass the known joys and pleasures of all other gifts one can desire combined.

The identify of this infinitely valuable gift is found in John 3:16, where we read that  “God (the Father) so loved the world that He gave (as a gracious gift) His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ), that whoever would believe in Him (Jesus) would not perish (in Hell) but have eternal life”– the glorious life and relationship of intimate love and communion with God for which we were created in the beginning (Psalm 16:11), a relationship which was lost to mankind because of sin – our rejection of God’s purpose for and rule over our lives (Romans 6:23) (Romans 3:23).

There are two essential aspects to believing in Jesus in a way that keeps us from perishing and restores to us eternal life. We first and foremost must believe and embrace Him for who He has revealed Himself in the Bible to be, namely God the Son, the infinitely glorious creator and sovereign ruler of the universe; who along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are infinitely worthy of being known intimately, loved supremely, trusted explicitly, obeyed perfectly, pursued passionately and enjoyed singularly above all of creation as the eternal God (Hebrews 1:1-3) (Luke 10:25-28).

Secondly, we must acknowledge and embrace Him as fully human, the embodiment of the overwhelming, never ending precious love of God, who voluntarily comes into this sin cursed world as a man to accomplish through His sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross and miraculous resurrection, everything necessary to save believing men and women from the eternal consequences of our sin and to reconcile us to the glorious relationship with God for which man was created (Philippians 2:6-10) (1 John 4:9-11).

Pastor and Christian author, John Piper, in his wonderful book Desiring God, addresses how if we do not find Jesus to be our greatest gift, our all-satisfying treasure, our heart’s eternal delight, then our faith, our believing is nothing more than a vain effort to secure “fire insurance” – to deliver ourselves from God’s just judgement.  He writes:

“If we are not captivated by His (God’s) personality and character displayed most clearly in the person and work of Christ in our salvation, then all of our other declarations of love and thanksgiving are like the love and gratitude of a wife to a loving husband for the many and beautiful cloths and jewels she receives from him, which she uses to further her love affair with another man. … God is then nothing more to us than a tool, a means, a machine to produce for us the things we really love, and desire and delight in. … Our soul is not born again unless or until it is excited by the knowledge and person of God (in Christ) where He is loved, desired for His own sake, where there is a deep and spontaneous love and affection to God as the most excellent of all beings – the most excellent of all relationships – the most excellent of all riches – the most excellent of all pleasures …. wherein we lose our appetites for lesser pleasures and lesser delights.”

I pray that as we celebrate God’s giving of the indescribable, unspeakable, inexpressible gift of His eternally beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to a world in desperate need of Him, that we would receive Him, embrace Him, submit to Him and celebrate Him as the object of our deepest love and source of our greatest joy, both now and forever, Amen.

Grace and Peace This Christmas ×