The Greatest Present
What is the greatest Christmas present of all time?
It’s not what, but Who? And, Who gave Whom to whom, and for whom?
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2 Cor. 9:15, NKJV)
Other translations describe God’s indescribable gift as:
Unspeakable, Inexpressible, Priceless, Incredible, Unbelievable, Astonishing! Precious beyond words, Precious beyond telling! Too wonderful for words! Too wonderful to explain! No language can praise it enough!
God gave His superlative gift; but Who is this gift, and to whom was He given, and why?
For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. (John 3:16, AMPC)
Unto us a Son is given (Isaiah 9:6, NKJV)
Father God gave us His Son to die cruelly, excruciatingly, nailed to a cross by the hands of sinful men, for sinful men—that through trusting in Him sinful men may forever escape the terrible, eternal consequences of sin, which are terrible beyond telling.
Though innocent and sinless, Jesus willingly took from us all our guilt, sin and shame and put it all upon Himself and then died in our place as our substitute. He has taken the punishment we all deserve. No one lives a life good enough to escape the penalty of sin, for no one can live their whole life a hundred percent without sin and to the measure of God’s holiness. Only Jesus could do that; and He did it as a man tried, tempted and tested in life in every way that we are.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23, NKJV)
For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us! (2 Cor. 5:21, TLB)
But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5, NASB)
So, by putting our faith in Jesus and living to please Him, as He helps and guides us, we can have eternal fellowship with Him.
He died to save us, yes, but also that He might get to spend eternity together with us. His love for us is so great that He cannot bear to live without us. And let no one tell you that hell is not real. Because it’s so real and so terrible, Jesus came and went through all that He went through, just so that He might save us from it! His love for us compelled Him to endure all that He endured, just so we may have today a way of escape.
He has fully paid and paved your way of escape. His invitation to heaven is extended to you. His door is open to you. In fact, He is the Door. All you have to do is choose to go through. If that’s what you want to do, read more on our Christian Answers page.
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” (John 10:9a, NIV)