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How would you feel if God were to appear in human form and offer you an absolutely astonishing, mind-blowing gift? He actually did so!

Just like we are not always aware of what others do in payment and preparation for a gift we are to receive, even so can we be unaware of what God has done. As I place the gift at your door, leaving you a voice message, the gift is delivered, only for you to discover it. This is my “voice message,” telling you about God’s inexpressible gift, freely given without any strings attached.

Jesus died for our sins

Like many firefighters have lost their lives in saving others, even so Jesus gave His life to save us. “Save us from what?” you might ask.

As created beings, we are fully accountable to our Creator, whether we like that or not. Instead of submitting to Him, we have rebelled and sinned: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). We don’t care about God’s way; we want our way. This is called sin, which literally means to “miss the mark”—to miss the goal for why we have been created.

Just like when we get a ticket for speeding, even so there are consequences when we transgress God’s law. Furthermore, since God has clearly laid out the consequences, we are without excuse. This puts all of us in a very perilous condition, to say the least. We, so to speak, have been flashed and are awaiting our ticket.

The good news is that God loves us and does not want us to experience the payment for our sins—eternal separation from Him. He does not, however, ignore our transgressions and shoves our sins under the rug as though nothing has happened. The ticket has to be paid in order for justice to be met. That is what the gospel is all about! God paid for our sins by Jesus dying for them. Consequently, God’s justice is satisfied and His love fully expressed. Isaiah continued with saying: “And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” God took our sins and placed them on Jesus, suffering the punishment for them.

This amazing love can either be accepted or rejected. If you were to offer to pay for my speeding ticket and I refuse your gift, I will have to pay myself because justice has to be satisfied. But why would I refuse your offer? That would be foolishness.

Jesus lived for our righteousness

Since God is holy and cannot live with wrong, there is a major dilemma on how we can be accepted by Him. Job, the oldest book in the Bible, states: “But how can a man be in the right before God?” (Job 9:2). How can we stand righteous before Him?

If we look into our hearts and look at our actions, we have to admit that we are not righteous, but have sinned. It is obvious that we don’t love God or our neighbor as we should, which God states is the essence of His moral law. We fall deeply short in living according to His will.

Nevertheless, God loves us supremely. Not only did Jesus die for all our sins, He also lived a perfect, righteous life on our behalf. He fulfilled God’s law and all the right things God requires of us, offering His life as a gift.

When we receive His righteous life, we are fully accepted by God and He treats us as though we have never sinned and as though we have always done what is right. We are then also the recipients of all the blessings and promises to which His righteous life is entitled.

Our response

This is the heart and essence of the gospel—the amazing grace of God. In His love He gave Jesus to live and die on our behalf, so that we could be freely forgiven and fully accepted, now and throughout all eternity. The only thing left is for us to open the door, receive the gift, and enjoy it forever, as the following verses express:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36)

“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11-12)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23)

Will you place your trust in Jesus and receive Him as God’s inexpressible gift to you?

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