{"id":5349,"date":"2025-12-18T16:02:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T16:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=4338"},"modified":"2025-12-18T16:02:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T16:02:46","slug":"from-the-deep-well-of-past-blog-posts-the-gift-of-god-in-jesus-originally-posted-december-29-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2025\/12\/18\/from-the-deep-well-of-past-blog-posts-the-gift-of-god-in-jesus-originally-posted-december-29-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Deep Well of Past Blog Posts\u2014The Gift of God in Jesus (originally posted December 29, 2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Every now and then, we like to dip back into the deep well of past blog posts. This Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent, I (Jacob) am preaching through Acts 11:19\u201330. Here, we see the early church in Antioch flourishing with a gospel culture of fruitfulness. Specifically, we see the fruit of generous love. The kingdom culture, the garden of God’s people<\/em>, produces a booming crop of love marked by generous giving of all varieties. Indeed, such a culture should arise because the church was born from the greatest act of generosity in the history of creation:\u00a0God giving man the gift of his Son, Jesus. The past blog post, “The Gift of God in Jesus” from December 29, 2023, adapted for us today, is fitting.\u00a0Read and be edified.]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about gifts.<\/p>\n

Christmas day is coming, and many of us will give and receive gifts. Some of us will give an expensive gift and some of us will receive an expensive gift. Some of us will give a less expensive gift and some of will receive a less expensive gift. Most likely it will be a mix of both. But, whether we will give or receive an expensive or less expensive gift, each gift will have a cost associated with it. Every gift given or received costs someone something.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s talk about the gospel.<\/p>\n

In the gospel, God gave<\/em> us the greatest gift of all in his Son, Jesus (John 3:16). Jesus even refers to himself (and everything that comes with him\u2014the eternal life or living water he brings and the Holy Spirit) as \u201cthe gift of God\u201d \u2014\u201cJesus answered [the woman at the well], \u2018If you knew the gift<\/em> (\u03b4\u03c9\u03c1\u03b5\u03ac) of God, and who it is that is saying to you, \u2018Give me a drink,\u2019 you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water\u201d (John 4:10). Jesus is the greatest gift.<\/p>\n

One of the best ways to see and appreciate Jesus\u2019 superiority is to observe how he fulfills what others in the redemptive narrative of Scripture pointed to. One of the best characters to study for this purpose, a man whose life pointed to and anticipated Jesus in many ways, is King David.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

King David\u2019s Christlikeness
\n<\/em>In 1 Chronicles 21:18\u201322:1, King David intercedes for his kingdom and Jerusalem by offering a sacrifice. Why did he need to do this? Well, God had sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem because of David\u2019s sin of taking a census of Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1\u201317). In response, David pleaded with God to spare the people from the plague and to let God\u2019s wrath fall on him and his household alone since he was the one who sinned (1 Chronicles 21:17). So, God commands David to go and build an altar and to make sacrifice to the LORD at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite (1 Chronicles 21:18). And here, David does something remarkable.<\/p>\n

When David comes to acquire the threshing floor, David buys it at full price. <\/em>Why is this remarkable? Well, David could have exercised his divine right as king and simply taken the threshing floor. In fact, Ornan tries to give it, along with the oxen and wood, to David for free. But David will not accept Ornan\u2019s offer. Why? David says why: \u201cNo, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the L<\/em>ORD what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing<\/em>\u201d (1 Chronicles 21:24, emphasis mine). The Greek translation of the OT, the LXX, could be woodenly translated into English, \u201cI should certainly not take what is yours for the L<\/em>ORD, to carry up as a burnt offering gift (\u03b4\u03c9\u03c1\u03b5\u03ac) to the L<\/em>ORD<\/em>\u201d (my translation; Notice, the LXX uses the same word here for gift<\/em> [\u03b4\u03c9\u03c1\u03b5\u03ac] that appears in John 4:10 to describe the gift<\/em> of God in Jesus and the eternal life he brings). David will not offer a gift that costs him nothing. Therefore, he buys the threshing floor, offers sacrifices, and the LORD accepts them and spares Jerusalem. David then announces that the temple and altar will be built at this location, the threshing floor of Ornan.<\/p>\n

How does this point us to the superiority of the gift of the person of Jesus? Well, we know that David, as a King of Israel, is a type of Christ. He points to and anticipates the greater David, the promised Son of David (1 Chronicles 17:11\u201314). And here we see King David looking Christlike in that he successfully intercedes on behalf God\u2019s people by offering a sacrifice. But to fully appreciate how Jesus is supreme, we don\u2019t just note the similarities. We look for the differences<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

King Jesus\u2019 Superiority
\n<\/em>The differences between David here in 1 Chronicles 21:18\u201322:1 and Jesus are stunning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sinful David intercedes for God\u2019s people because they suffer the consequences of his sin<\/em> (1 Chronicles 21:17; cf. 21:1\u201317).<\/p>\n

Righteous Jesus intercedes for God\u2019s people because they suffer the consequences of their own sin<\/em> (1 Peter 3:18).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David tries<\/em> to offer himself as a substitutionary sacrifice for God\u2019s people (1 Chronicles 21:17).<\/p>\n

Jesus does<\/em> offer himself as a substitutionary sacrifice for God\u2019s people (Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 10:10, 12).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David\u2019s gift<\/em> to save God\u2019s people costs him 600 shekels of gold (1 Chronicles 21:25).<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 gift<\/em> to save God\u2019s people costs him his life (Mark 10:45; Romans 5; Philippians 2:5\u20138)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David\u2019s sacrifice leads to the building of God\u2019s house, the temple made of stone and brick (1 Chronicles 22:1; 2 Chronicles 3:1)<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 sacrifice leads to the building of God\u2019s spiritual house, his temple made of living stones, his people (Ephesians 2:19\u201322; 1 Peter 2:1\u20135; Revelation 21:1\u20133).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jesus is the better David. The better king. God\u2019s people do not suffer due to his sinfulness. Rather God\u2019s people are healed and saved by his holy righteousness. Jesus does not simply try to lay down his life as an acceptable offering to God. Jesus successfully lays down his life as an acceptable offering to God. Jesus does not purchase us as God\u2019s people with silver and gold. Jesus purchases us with his infinitely valuable blood that never diminishes in value. Jesus does not build a temple with wood and stone in a fixed location. Jesus builds a living temple of God\u2019s people inhabited his own Holy Spirit so that God\u2019s people worship him in Spirit and in truth no matter where they are (John 4:21\u201324). And through Jesus, God does dwell in the midst of his people now and will dwell in the midst of his people forever (Revelation 21:1\u20133). Jesus is the greatest gift.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Gift of God
\n<\/em>Gifts come in all shapes and sizes. They come with different costs. But all earthly gifts, even our favorite gifts that we received this Christmas, pale in comparison to the gift of God. In Jesus, God has given us the gift of his very own Son. God has given us eternal life. God has given us his very own Spirit. Jesus is the greatest gift because Jesus gives us everything. Jesus gives us his own life so that we might have God. Through the gift of Jesus, then, God gives us himself.<\/p>\n

So as we joyfully anticipate our gift giving and receiving from this Christmas\u2014and let us enjoy those gifts fully\u2014let the taste of joy those gifts give us be just that, a taste. And let that taste of joy remind us of the supreme gift God has given us in his Son, Jesus, who gives us everything. Because if you know the gift of God, and who it is who offers us that gift, then you will ask him, and he will give you the fullest taste of living water (John 4:10).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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