The Gift of Gifts

     “For God so loved the world, (which He was, in Christ, reconciling to Himself, 2 Cor 5:19) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’select? It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:32-34). “In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10). Paul’s soul being directed into this love of the Father, as it shines forth in the gift of His Son, joyfully exclaimed,“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). Its greatness is such that no tongue can describe it nor thought conceive it.

     The Father, speaking of this Gift, says, I will “give Thee for a covenant of the people” (Isaiah 42:6); and when the Father gave Christ in covenant, He did not give Him at random, but gave Him to be the Surety of His chosen people. For this people the Lord Jesus Christ gave His bond, the blood of the everlasting covenant. So He would open the way through which the love and mercy of the Father’s heart could flow to guilty sinners such as we, in a way consistent with all His divine attributes, that He might be a just God and yet save His people in Christ.

- John Kershaw, October 1834