Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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You are a gift. You are God’s gift to His Son Jesus. Jesus wanted you and asked his Father for you, and He gave you to him.
Long, long ago, God promised His Son that, if he requested it of Him, He would give him the peoples of the earth as a gift. He said, “Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for your possession” (Ps. 2:8). There is no biblical account of the moment it happened, but we know from the evidence that at some point, Jesus asked the Father to give us to him. The Father’s acquiescence to that request is recorded by another ancient prophet. Over half a millennium before Jesus came, Isaiah was used by the Father to proclaim, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, in whom my soul delights! I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth justice unto the Gentiles. . . . He shall not fail nor be discouraged until he has established justice in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.” The “isles” are us, the Gentiles.
Then, we have this from Isaiah (49:1, 6), this time moved to speak by the Son: “Listen, O isles, unto me! And hearken, you people from far! The Lord has called me from my mother’s womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. . . . And He said unto me, ‘It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation unto the end of the earth.’ ” How happy the Son must have been as he told us of his Father’s promised gift!
And then the Father immediately answered His Son through that same humble prophet: “Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation [of Israel] abhors, to a servant of rulers, ’Kings shall see [you] and arise, princes also shall worship [you]. . .’” How happy the Father must have been to promise this gift to His Son!
You are a gift. You are God’s gift to His Son Jesus. Jesus wanted you and asked his Father for you, and He gave you to him. Rejoice! The terrible wrath of God will erase all this universe from memory, and all wickedness with it, but you belong to His Son, the Savior of the world, and “he is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by him.” So go on your way, and be thankful. You are a gift, precious in the eyes of both the Giver and the one to whom you have been given. You are a gift!