LifeLink Devotions

Monday, December 11, 2023

Isaiah 9: 6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…”

She was five. Her name was Sharon. She was sure of the facts and recited them slowly, convinced every word was revelation. She said they were so poor they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat, and they went a long way from home without getting lost. The lady rode a donkey, the man walked, and the baby was inside the lady. They had to stay in a stable with an ox and an ass (hee-hee) but the Three Rich Men found them because a star lighted the roof. Shepherds came and you could pet the sheep but not feed them. Then the baby was born. And do you know who he was? Her quarter-sized eyes inflated to silver dollars. The baby was God. And she jumped in the air, whirled round, dove into the sofa and buried her head under the cushion – which is the only proper response to the Good News of the Incarnation.

“To us a child is born, to us a son is given.” God the Son was given by God the Father. Directly from heaven. Into the darkness of sin’s dungeon came the Light. C.S. Lewis puts it this way. “One may think of a diver first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, he’s gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through the increasing pressure into the deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay, and then back up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting until suddenly he breaks the surface again, holding in his hand the dripping, precious thing he went down to recover. That dripping, precious thing is you.” 

But for that rescue of the precious to take place, the giving of the Son had to involve more than just His birth. True gifts come with no strings attached. True givers release the gift for the total benefit of the receiver. Imagine opening the gift of a lifetime on Christmas morning, only to hear the giver say, “I gave you this because I need one too. I reserve the right to use it whenever I want and for whatever purpose I choose.” The value of the gift has been destroyed. Not only did God give the Perfect Gift, but He gave it perfectly. God did not need what He gave. He was what He gave. And He gave His Gift knowing that He would completely release Him for our benefit.

Jesus speaks of this completed act of giving in John 3, when He says, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

It was on the cross where Jesus was lifted up that God fully released His gift. In a moment of excruciating agony Jesus cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” At that moment God’s love for the world was fulfilled in the giving of His Son. It is in that context that Jesus continues in John 3:16 by saying, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

To us a Child is born at Christmas. To us a Son is given at the crucifixion. The story of the greatest gift ever given is not finished until the gift is fully given. The light of the star that shines on the manger should also create the shadow of the cross.

As you ponder the love it took for God to give such a Gift – praise Him! As you consider the cost of such a Gift – praise Him! Let the tears flow as you feel the human emotions of giving such a Gift – and praise Him! It is for you that He gave.

Pastor John