REFORMED WITNESS
Volume XIV, July 2006, Number 7
God's Unspeakable Gift
A meditation by Cornelius Hanko, Minister Emeritus
From the December 15, 1987, issue of The Standard Bearer
Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. - II Corinthians 9:15
God's unspeakable gift!
Words fail us when we attempt to express the value of the treasure that we carry within this earthy vessel, the boundless love that impelled God to bestow this matchless gift upon us, and all that it means to us to receive and possess such an abundant wealth which endures unto all eternity!
This indescribable gift belongs to the things that eye cannot see, ear cannot hear, and could never enter into the fondest imagination of man!
It is the priceless gift, which caused the apostle Paul to cry out in sheer ecstasy: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out" (Romans 11:33).
No, Scripture does not speak of gifts, in the plural, although there certainly are many facets to this precious gem. But he speaks of one gift, God's unspeakable, indescribable gift! Which is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ!
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (I Timothy 3:16).
Let us confess it in deepest humility and holy wonder: The great gift of God is Jesus, the Christ, God's Son, chosen and appointed to be the Savior and Lord of His people, the heirs of eternal life!
Born of the virgin Mary!
Scripture expresses the wonder of the incarnation in the simplest language when it tells us: "And she (Mary) brought forth her firstborn Son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger: because there was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7).
No room for HIM? We can only respond: Of course not! The heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, how much less the most luxurious or exalted spot in this world. Yes, how much less a place in our human hearts, so filled with all sorts of corruption! For He came unto His own and His own received Him not! Shame on us!
Mary knew the wonder of the child she carried within her! The angel Gabriel had told her: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).
Elisabeth knew, because the Holy Spirit spoke within her, telling her that the mother of our Lord had come to visit her. And the shepherds also knew, for the heavenly messenger declared to them: "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11), and they heard the song of the angels that filled the heavens: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:13).
There were so very many who did not know, and there are still so very many, since God does not reveal it to them! But we know by grace, by the testimony of the Scriptures and the Spirit in our hearts!
Priceless gift! My Jesus! My Lord! From riches to poverty!
"For we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor" (II Corinthians 8:9).
He is rich, and who shall describe those riches? He is eternally God, the third person of the divine trinity, possessing all the glorious perfections that eternally make up the fulness of the Godhead. Heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool. The cattle on a thousand hills belong to Him. He is God, the Creator, the Sustainer, the sovereign Ruler over all, blessed forever!
No He did not, He could not, He might not lay off His riches to enter into the poverty of our sinful flesh. He remained eternally God, yes even when He lay in His mother's arms. God took on our flesh through the virgin Mary. God incarnate? Who can fathom that?
He being rich became poor! O, so very, very poor!
We have no reason to boast of His ancestry. We hide our faces in shame when we read His genealogy in Matthew 1. We find there a list of sinners, some even guilty of gross sins. This is impressed upon us when we notice that four women are mentioned. Do you want to hear their names? Tamar, who put Judah to shame in a very sinful fashion; Rahab, the harlot from Jericho; Bathsheba, who is referred to as "the wife of Uriah"; and Ruth, the Moabitess. The Holy One was born from the unholy! Need I say more?
Jesus' mother was a commoner from lowly Nazareth in despised Galilee. His legal father was a carpenter. His family failed to understand Him. His brothers did not believe in Him. He was an offense to the twelve disciples who were daily with Him.
Isaiah describes Him as the Man of Sorrows, who was acquainted with grief. His own people, the Jews, hated Him and cast Him out and sought to trap Him and cast aspersions at Him. This hatred increased as they saw His miracles and heard Him preach, so that repeatedly they sought to kill Him. At last their rage against Him burned so furiously, that they took Him prisoner, bound Him in chains, tried Him, mocked Him, spit upon Him, beat Him, condemned Him to death and nailed Him to the painful cross, a spectacle of shame for all to see. Our Lord willingly bore all that suffering for you and me!
But even more than this, He took upon Himself the wrath of God against our sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous, the Innocent One for the guilty! All His life the burden of the cross, the bitter anguish of being forsaken of Him whom His soul loved more than His own life, weighed with increasing intensity upon His soul. Especially during the three hours of darkness on the cross He suffered inexpressible anguish and the torments of hell as a pariah, an outcast of God and of men to bear away our sins and to merit for us eternal union with Him in His glory! We confess in awesome wonder: God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, nevermore to reckon our transgressions against us, and He as the good Shepherd laid down His life for us. Who can measure the height, the depth, the length and breadth of that love?
For our sakes He became poor, that through His poverty we may be made rich!
Our Savior arose as the mighty Conqueror over hell, sin, death and the grave to ascend into the highest heavens, where He received a Name which is above all names. To Him were given the kingdom, dominion and power as Lord of His church, carrying out the counsel of God unto the judgment of the world and the salvation of His people.
He sends forth His Spirit into the church, to dwell and abide in us forever. By the power of His Spirit we are made one with Christ, new creatures in Christ Jesus. Paul never wearies of speaking of that amazing mystery, prepared before the foundations of the earth, that we are in Christ Jesus as flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, partakers with Him of all the blessings of salvation. Pause a moment to consider that wonder of grace, that: we are made new creatures with the resurrection life of Christ in our hearts; we are called out of death into life; we are converted; we are given a living bond of faith that unites us in fellowship with Christ; we are assured of the forgiveness of sins, given the complete righteousness of Christ; we are led in the way of sanctification to grow in the grace and knowledge of God; we are preserved by Christ's power until we are perfected in the inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled, that passes not away, preserved in the heavens for us!
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God! It does not yet appear what we shall be, but this we know: we shall be like Christ in His glory, living in intimate covenant fellowship with the Father; and we all, occupying our own places, shall devote all our beings with all our gifts and talents eternally to the glory of His matchless Name! God will be our all in all!
God's indescribable gift! Thanks be to God!
The word for thanks here is "grace." Grace be to God! Our God is the God of all grace, ever blessed in all His infinite perfections, ever radiating His glory in all His thoughts, words, actions and deeds. Glory streams forth from Him endlessly, even as we have a faint reflection of it in the sun that shines at noonday. The whole universe could explode in a huge ball of fire and smoke, yet that would not bring an iota of change in the glory of God. He has no need of anything or anyone to make Himself glorious! He is the Adorable One in His own Being, ever gracious, beautiful beyond description, divinely unique, filling heaven and earth with His glory!
God in His sovereign good pleasure reveals His beauty by looking in grace and favor upon His people whom He has chosen unto Himself as His peculiar possession from all eternity. He has chosen Christ, and has given this people to Him as the Good Shepherd, who not only lays down His life for His sheep, but also gathers them, feeds them in the green pastures of His Word, leads them beside still waters, protects, defends and preserves them unto the blessedness that awaits them in the sheepfold of glory. There will be one flock and one Shepherd!
Yes, Christ graces us with every spiritual blessing for time and eternity, now and in the life to come. We, who by nature were sold under sin, children of Satan, bearing the likeness of our father the devil, worthy only of everlasting condemnation in hell, are transformed into sons and daughters of the living God, renewed in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, and are made heirs of eternal life. We were so very, very poor, worthy only of hell fire. God makes us rich! No not with riches that can be reckoned in thousands and millions of dollars. That is as nothing, compared to the riches of salvation and everlasting life that we possess in Christ Jesus! Our God does the humanly impossible!
As that grace fills our consciousness, our hearts overflow with an exuberant, Grace be to God!
We hear the angels singing a new song, the song of Moses and the Lamb.
We hear, as it were, that multitude that no man can number singing before the throne: Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
For us it all began when Jesus was born!
Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!
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