These days I was very emphatically determined that our God is a Giving God.
- He first came to this earth as a man to seek and save lost sinners. God gave His only begotten Son, His beloved, to become man. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was also the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.
- When the Lord Jesus had done His work of redemption here on earth and went to heaven, God then gave His Spirit and caused it to dwell in all who have accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour.
God gave His Son and then His Spirit. The interesting thing is that the reason He did this is actually the same in both cases. That reason lies in the desire of God's heart, in which we can distinguish two 'aspects', which you cannot see separately from each other:
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God wants to be praised! He longs to receive thanks, honor and worship from people. Now and for all eternity.
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God's desire is that His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, be given the first and highest place in everything. Now and forever.
God sent His Son that sinners may be justified. The born-again man will bring all the glory and thanks to God for that and only want to boast in Him! Moreover, the Lord Jesus will be precious to you: the most precious thing you possess!
God gave His Spirit so that in the born-again Christian He might glorify the Lord Jesus. God's Spirit makes us know more and more of the person and work of the Lord Jesus from God's Word.
God gives for the purpose that man glorifies Him and that the Lord Jesus Christ becomes greater for that man!
The gifts of God are unspeakable (2 Corinthians 9:15). As a human being you cannot find words to express it in the right way. It is like David, who could not count (and tell) God's miracles.
“Lord my God, many are Your wonders which You have done, and Your thoughts which You have upon us. They cannot be explained to you. Should I proclaim and pronounce them, they are so mighty that I cannot count them.”
(Psalm 40:6)