THE GIFT OF GOD

I am sure that everybody likes to receive gifts. A gift does not have to be earned or worked for, or deserved. It is not because of any effort on our part to receive a gift. At various times in our lives we have all been offered gifts by our family and friends. We appreciate those and we thank those who gave them.

The Bible teaches that God is the Giver of the Greatest of all Gifts, Eternal Life through Messiah Jesus. He offers this Gift to everyone - no exceptions. Those who do not refuse but receive this Gift are grateful to God and thank Him for it.

But we must understand a little background to this Gift of Eternal Life. It begins here and now in this life and continues even after death. It is what the word "eternal" suggests - never will it end. As we look into the Hebrew Scriptures (the Tenach) and study the Law of Moses, we are reminded that this Law brings us all under the condemnation of God because we have all violated it! Sin is the violation of God's holiness and the Scriptures declare that all have sinned!

We also see that every human being is so depraved that he is unable to meet God's standard of conduct. What is this standard of God? The answer is that we are to love God with all our heart, soul and might, and to also love our neighbor as ourselves.

Since we all fail, we are in a hopeless situation as far as earning or deserving eternal life with God. We read of the condemnation which God pronounces upon mankind in the words:

"There is none righteous, no not one," "ALL (without exception) have sinned" and no one has "clean hands and a pure heart" as God requires.

So how is it that sinful man can receive Eternal Life? How can we, who are not worthy, receive God's great Gift which He offers us? The Bible tells us that we are made qualified through the life of Another! Isaiah, the Jewish prophet, taught that God would send a sinless Person into the world to die for each of us.

This Person would satisfy the judgment of God against us. He would come and take our place - that is - He would be our Substitute. He would die, but be raised from the dead as was prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is because Messiah Jesus fulfilled these prophecies of the Tenach that this wonderful Gift of God is made available freely to all who believe. We read about this in the second half of the Bible, in Romans, 6:23, where it says: "The Gift of God is Eternal Life in Messiah Jesus, our Lord."

You might ask how can I receive this Gift? Let the New Covenant Scriptures give the answer. In the book of John, the third chapter, the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth verses:

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting (never-ending or eternal) life."

"God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world should be saved through Him.

"He that believes on Him is not condemned; but he that believes not has been condemned already, because he has not believed on the Name of the only begotten Son of God."

And along these same lines we read in John 3:36: "He that believes on the Son has Eternal Life; but he that obeys not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

It is as simple as that. By believing in Messiah Jesus and receiving Him into our lives as a living Person, we accept God's promises by faith, and automatically receive God's Gift of Eternal Life!

We see, according to the Scriptures, that Eternal Life with God is not secured by the virtue of doing things. It is not by good deeds, rituals and religious ceremonies, not by baptisms, or by partaking of holy communion, or through circumcision or having a Bar Mitzvah ceremony.

No, Eternal Life is not obtained by pilgrimages to Mecca or India. Neither does one receive Eternal Life by a sincere study of the Bible and the Talmud. It is not through attending Church or Synagogue, or Mass, High Holiday services or Easter services and so on. This may be fine and good, but Eternal Life and fellowship with God is a Gift, not a reward. One does not work for a Gift.

A person must be perfect to deserve Eternal Life as a reward. Since no one is perfect, and all are hopelessly imperfect, God's plan is to grant life as a free Gift. This Gift can be received by virtue of simply believing in the One Who made it possible - none other than Messiah Jesus!

Do you want the assurance in your heart that you have passed from death to life? Do you want to know that you have this wonderful Gift of God? God Himself wants you to know without a shadow of a doubt that you are not under His condemnation and judgment. You have heard about the wonderful free Gift of Eternal Life and how to receive it. Won't you open your heart to God and believe in His promise of Messiah Jesus? If you do this then it will mean you have received the Gift which God has purchased and offered you!