December 12, 2011
One of my favorite Christmas movies is “The Ultimate Gift,” featuring Drew Fuller, Ali Hillis and James Garner. In an attempt to build character into his grandson, the deceased grandfather, played by Garner, wills to his grandson a series of gifts leading up to the ultimate gift.
Christmas is the obvious occasion to celebrate God’s giving to us some very precious gifts. I think of the gift of God’s amazing virgin born Son at Bethlehem of Judea. What gift could top that? I also am eternally grateful of God’s gift of forever life accomplished through the finished work of His remarkable Son.
This holiday season I want us to think about another gift, one that we might refer to as, well. . . “the ultimate gift.” Ultimate gift? How could there possibly be a gift greater than the Son of God and His offer of eternal life? The gift I have in mind involves a truth found in Christ’s high priestly prayer found in John 17. Note His words:
“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).
What was our Lord’s restored glory all about? The answer can be found in a short passage in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church. His subject is God’s plan for an orderly resurrection.
“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)
Christ’s resurrection, according to Paul, became the firstfruits of believers who had died. His resurrection was a prototype – a symbolic foretaste – of a gigantic resurrection to come, the resurrection of believers. Paul continued to explain that in Adam all die but all who are placed into Jesus Christ shall rise again. Being in Christ is God’s guarantee that physical death will not be the end. This resurrection is to be accomplished in an orderly manner – Christ first, and then all those who belong to Him at His coming. It is at the conclusion of this final resurrection that the Lord Jesus Christ will give the ultimate gift.
The preparation for this amazing gift began somewhere in eternity past when the first person of the Trinity (God the Father) determined that all things be put under the feet of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ – excluding of course, Himself (1 Corinthians 15:26). The plan is marked out with Christ’s words, “I have come to do your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9). This plan is that God the Son would create all things in time and space, including this universe, this small seemingly insignificant planet, and man. It was His voice that declared in the beginning, “Let there be light.” It was Jesus Christ who formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him. It was the Christ who commanded that man and woman not sin, but He was also the one who clothed them with the skins of animals after their disobedience, foreshadowing His extended grace.
At God’s appointed time His grace came to us through a tiny embryo attached by the Spirit of God to the womb of a young virgin. Thus was born in Bethlehem a sinless Savior who is Jesus Christ the Lord. Then came the death of Jesus as a criminal on a Roman cross, His burial in a poor man’s tomb, and His glorious resurrection from the dead. The Father’s plan continued with Christ’s ascension into heaven and His being seated at His Father’s right hand. His mission continues by His receiving all whom the Father has given Him as gifts to fulfill His own purpose of love and grace (John 6:37-39).
Jesus Christ will ultimately reclaim and restore this fallen earth. This repossession will include receiving His bride (His body), rescuing His people Israel from the clutches of the evil one, and reigning over a kingdom on this earth for a designated time. During this kingdom reign, Jesus Christ will put down all opposition to His Father’s plan. These adversaries include all rule, all authority, and all power – both human and angelic. And lastly, He will destroy the greatest enemy of all – death (Revelation 21: 4). Jesus Christ will then be crowned King of King and Lord of Lords. Then, as the last Adam, He will populate a new heaven and new earth with a civilization created by God to live forever.
When at last the Son’s reign is complete and God’s will is finished, then a final gift will be given. Note carefully Paul’s words, “then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father” (1 Corinthians 15:26). The pronouns in this passage shout to us. For “He (God the Father) has put all things under His (God the Son) feet.” But when He (God the Father) says, “all things are put under Him (God the Son),” it is evident that He (the Father) who put all things under Him (the Son) is the only exception. God the Father is the only Being not under the Son’s reign. Now when all things are made subject to Him (God the Father), then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
Wow! Having finished all that His Father sent Him to do, God the Son will present to God the Father the gift of the Father’s completed will. That will be the ultimate gift! It is at this point that the Son will be restored to the glory that He had with the Father before time began (John 17:5). What a glimpse of God’s magnificent grace!