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In the birth of Jesus, God has delivered an indescribable gift to us.
Today is the third message in our 2022 Advent series The Wonder of Jesus' Birth.
Many of the thoughts are borrowed from Pastor Chuck Swindoll.
Since the Christmas season began, one word has been spoken more than any other.
Maybe you haven't stopped to think about which word that was.
I don't think it's the word joy or carol or tree or food.
I think it's the word gift.
If you listen in on conversations in stores and on parking lots all around , I'm sure you'll hear the word mentioned several times in a conversation.
Most of us have lists of gifts we hope to buy or make.
Some even have lists of gifts they hope to receive.
I'd like you to turn to a unique Christmas verse: 2 Corinthians 9.15 “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”
Because it is not found in the normal sections about Christ’s birth, we often don't think of it in light of Christmas.
Personally, I think it ought to appear on every Christmas card.
I think it describes the gift of God to us.
"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"
This verse was written by a brilliant man who trained under Gamaliel, a rabbi: Saul of Tarsus, who was well respected in his day.
He had a broad vocabulary.
He was a master of the Greek language.
He was an excellent communicator.
And yet, he surprises us when he comes to this simple four-letter word "gift" and says it is indescribable.
Paul chooses a term that is used nowhere else in all of Scripture.
Paul chose the word indescribable as unable to be declared.
Why is it indescribable?
Why is this gift too awesome for words?
After all, we’re talking about a baby.
Yet, because he was not conceived naturally, nor was this an ordinary baby, the scholarly Paul says it's indescribable.
Turn for a moment back to Luke 2:6.
Dr. Luke continues his account much like a physician would fill out a report.
Almost a matter of-fact manner, one translation reads: "It came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.
And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
She wrapped him in cloths.
She laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn."
Here they were in a stable surrounded by a few animals and straw, and for the first time in all of time she looks at God face to face!
Mark Lowry’s song, Mary, Did You Know? comes to mind.
Standing nearby was a man who had nothing to do with the conception.
He did not even at that moment know that woman intimately.
He had simply believed the word of the angel: "What has happened to this woman to whom you are betrothed is of God.
Believe me.
Believe God."
And he did.
Not a trained, deep theological thinker, this carpenter was most likely in amazement.
She gave birth and she placed him in a feeding trough.
But first, please observe, she wrapped him.
For some reason, many get caught up in the wrapping of God's gift.
Some people seem to have a lot of fun wrapping.
They put one box after another inside one box after another, each one carefully wrapped with ribbon to bring you from one massive gift down to a tiny ring.
And some gifts you cannot seem to hide even though you wrapped them carefully, such as a basketball or a shovel.
The baby Jesus comes wrapped in prophecy
How do you wrap an indescribable gift?
What material do you use?
She wrapped him in cloth.
She came prepared for that.
Before that, this gift was wrapped in prophecy.
God doesn't just suddenly drop Jesus Christ out of heaven to earth.
I mean he prepares humanity for his coming hundreds of years ahead of time.
Listen to a few prophecies.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 7.14.
"Therefore Jehovah himself will give you a sign.
Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name God With Us."
You wrap something indescribable in something as powerful as prophecy and you have people anticipating his arrival.
Chapter 9, verse 6: A child will be born to us.
What will be his name?
We read that the government will rest on his shoulders.
His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Shalom Prince.
There will be no end to the increase of his government or of his peace on the throne of David or over his kingdom to establish it, to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forever more.
To whom would that refer, if it is not Messiah?
No one fits that description except the indescribable Gift.
The Jews held on to those prophecies down through time.
Chapter 11 continues with more: A shoot will spring up from the stem of Jesse.
A branch from its roots will bear fruit.
And the spirit of the Lord will rest on him.
He will be distinct.
He will be unique, as we continue to listen.
Upon him will be the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and strength-the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah.
He will delight in the fear of Jehovah.
He will not judge by what his eyes see nor make a decision by what his ears hear.
With righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth.
This Hebrew poetry is beautiful.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips will he slay the wicked.
It's all intensified.
Righteousness will be his belt.
Faithfulness will be about his waist.
Look at the beauty of that prophecy.
Here we have a gift that comes through the womb of the Virgin Mary, but centuries before this, there was a prophet that said, "Righteousness will mark his life-godliness, the fear of Jehovah.
He will with fairness judge the poor and the rich alike.
He will be like none other."
Isaiah is at a loss, as we skip to chapter 53.
He's asking who will believe this message?
He's living among a people of unclean lips.
He knows his times.
He says: "Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
Isaiah has given all kinds of descriptions of Him.
He will grow up before him like a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him.
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.
But that isn't what made Jesus Christ significant.
He looked like any other Jew of his day.
As a boy he looked like any other carpenter's son.
His appearance had nothing majestic about it.
There was no shining glow about him, like the artists used to present.
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