Mark Kelderman

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. —2 Corinthians 9:15

As we think about what we are thankful for on Thanksgiving Day, we need to ask ourselves, “As I consider everything that I am thankful for, are they not all because of the one unspeakable gift God has given?” Without His ultimate gift, we would not have a Thanksgiving Day. No doubt we are thankful for many blessings; yet our thankfulness is often no more than what was shown by the nine lepers who were cleansed. We need to have the thankful spirit of the one who returned to give Christ thanks.

Paul tells us in the verse above that the source of this gift is God Himself. The Father has given us this gift; He sent His only begotten Son because of His great love (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9). But He not only sent His Son, He also delivered Him up unto death. Now, “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?” (Rom. 8:32). In light of this, do we see that all the things we are to be thankful for are because of Him? All good gifts, especially this gift, have come to us from the Father of lights. Salvation is only possible for us sinners because of His sovereign, good pleasure. “But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even while we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ” (Eph. 2:4, 5). If we have come to faith in Christ, we have learned to say with Jonah, “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jon. 2:9).

A man who was trying to collect for a good cause called upon a friend. There was a great need for this project and he pleaded with his friend to be very generous, but when he seemed to be getting nowhere, he switched the subject and began to speak to his friend about his father. “I knew your father. We both know that he was a very generous man. If I had spoken to your father about a need, he would have needed no further prompting but would have pulled out his wallet and given me ten times more than I expected.” This man pleaded upon the liberality of the father to move this son to give. That is exactly what Paul does with the Corinthians. He sets before them God, who gave everything, including His own Son! There ought to be no holding back by those who know Him. This also applies to us on Thanksgiving Day.

God’s gift was no ordinary gift: it was of great magnitude—it is “unspeakable,” Paul says. Paul uses a word which has not been found in any secular writing of that day. He was so caught up in the wonder of the gift he could not describe it. If we have tasted of the grace of God found in Jesus Christ, we, too, stand in amazement, deeply humbled. If you had to tally up the cost of all the gifts you have ever given, there is a finite amount you would have spent in your giving. But not so with God. He gave everything, His own Son, so that by this gift we might be set free from sin and death. His Son endured unspeakable agony and death in order that we might be given the unspeakable gift of life. By this work, He is able to rescue the greatest of sinners and set them free.

This gift, dear friend, is so near, so close to us, that we often do not even realize it. Christ said to the woman He met at the well, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (John 4:10). Do you know the gift that comes to you now? We recognize that this is a gift not one of us could have earned. Who of us thinks that anything we do could compare to this gift which God freely gives? This would be an affront to the most high God. But to refuse this gift would be an equal affront. “He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son, and this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:10, 11).

Mark Kelderman is pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Burgessville, Ontario.

Published by The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, used with permission.