The God Who GivesSample

Gift of the Son  

When we read that God “so [houtōs] loved the world, that he gave his only Son,” the point is essentially the manner and the intensity of God’s love for the world. He loved us this much and in this way. The emphasis is therefore on the exceedingly great means by which God has brought about our salvation. 

In Genesis 22 we read a troubling story in which God tests his servant Abraham by calling him to offer his son as a sacrifice. God commands Abraham to give up his only son Isaac, whom he loves. But just as the agonizing event is about to be completed, we hear a voice from heaven: “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him” (Gen. 22:12). Abraham notices a ram in a nearby thicket, and Isaac is spared. We can finally breathe again. 

We are then taken back to the earlier words of faith that Abraham spoke to Isaac before they arrived at the site of the sacrifice—maybe with great trepidation in his voice—as he promised his son, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Gen. 22:8). And now we understand, but we lose our breath again. 

The ram in the thicket ultimately pointed forward to the true Lamb, the full and final offering. Yet here we realize that there is no substitute for the gift of God’s Son. This is important because the New Testament consistently interprets both God’s love and Jesus’ death in terms of this sacrificial gift that is given. This is how God loves: he gives. And what does he give? Himself. 

Out of his love for a broken and defiant world, God gives. He gives this gift. It’s a little strange since we normally give gifts to celebrate an achievement or to mark a joyous occasion. Sometimes people give a gift after a misdeed, as when a man sends flowers to a woman as a peace offering for some failing on his part. 

But here, the innocent and offended party is the one who gives the gift: God has done nothing wrong, nor have we achieved anything worth celebrating. Nevertheless, God looks at his rebellious creation, this “world” defined by its resistance to him, and what does he do? He gives.