“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift.”
II Corinthians 9:15
It’s priceless, precious, peerless and practical.
“God’s unspeakable Gift.”
What might this Gift be, which Paul says is so “indescribably delicious” (Grk. “anekdiegetos”—“not expounded in full, indescribable, unable to narrate wholly, etc.”)? Is it His material blessings? Is it physical life or a “Place prepared for us in Heaven” (Jn. 14:1-3)? Is it our being pardoned from our sins and having “our conscience cleansed from dead works that we may serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14)?
Or, is it simply Jesus, God’s “only-begotten (one-of-a-kind) Son Who died for us on the Cross so we could escape His wrath, be free from the ‘curse of the Law’ and spent eternity with Him?”
We know the answer, don’t we (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 3:23; 5:6-11; 6:23; 10:9-10, 13; Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 3:10, 13)? Hallelujah!!
Yes, no other gift here on earth can compare to God’s Gift of His Son some 2,000 years ago when He came here to earth to live a sinless life. . .suffer terrible persecution and an undeserved death on the Cross. . .and be resurrected from the death so that we might have eternal life.
Other religions talk about doing this-and-that in order to attain eternal life. Some talk about repetitive cycles of life where you keep working at it until you get it right; others say there is no afterlife or, if there is, you’re simply absorbed into the “whole” and lose your individual identity.
But, that’s not what the Bible says.
It clearly teaches that we’re all unique. . .one-of-a-kind. . .created in God’s image. . .for the purpose of “loving Him with every part of our being” (Dt. 6:4-5; Mt. 22:37). And, it’s only when we accept this Gift (Jesus) into our hearts by faith that we can understand what Paul was talking about in today’s Manna.
Truly, only those who’ve experienced the New Birth firsthand can understand why it’s “in Him (Jesus) that we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Only those who’ve been born again know what it means “to have their conscience cleansed from dead works so they can serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14). Only those who’ve been washed in Jesus’ Blood can rejoice over “having their sins taken as far as the east is from the west and remembered no more” (Ps. 103:12; Jer. 31:34). Glory!!
No wonder Paul also wrote, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has entered into the heart (imagination) of man the things that God has prepared for them that love Him” (I Cor. 2:9). That’s also why Peter talked of “joy unspeakable and full of Glory” (I Pet. 1:8). They both had experienced firsthand “God’s unspeakable Gift” and desperately wanted others to know Jesus, too. Have you received that Gift, dear friend? If not, why not stop and cry out to the Lord right now? He’ll hear and answer. Then, you, too, can tell someone else how they can have this Gift as well—which, really, is one of life’s greatest joys.
Morning Manna (Sept. 17); BP: Mt. 11:16-19; RBTTY: II Cor. 10; Prov. 27-29
September 16, 2011
