44. The Father's Gift to Jesus

The Father’s Gift to Jesus

All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6. 37.

God the Father is known as a generous Giver. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1. 17). His gifts have been many and costly. His heart was so moved with love for this sin-cursed earth that He gave the best of all His gifts, namely, Jesus Christ. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3. 16). But the Father gave a gift also to Jesus Christ. If He gave us the best He had, what could He give His only begotten Son? Our text has the answer.

Jesus said, “All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.” But then the question arises, Who are they that truly come to Jesus? If we find the answer to this question, we will know of whom the Father’s gift to Jesus consists. We know that no one ever comes to Jesus Christ unless the law of God drives him there. The purpose of the law is to “become our tutor to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3. 24). Only those will come to Christ who have permitted the law to do its work in their lives for “through the law cometh the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3. 20). The law makes sin “exceedingly sinful” (Romans 7. 13). When the law of God has rightfully done its work in a human heart, the sinner will see himself utterly lost and condemned apart from Christ. Only this type of a sinner will ever come to Christ as Saviour. Jesus summed up this truth in the following words: “No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him” (John 6. 44). This the Father does by mercilessly applying His law. This brings great conviction of sin. We may therefore conclude that it is the sinner who sees himself as lost and condemned that God presents as a gift to Jesus.

This gift then is made up of needy people. Such people never think of themselves as in any sense a gift of the Father to Jesus. In fact, they feel just the opposite. Their need is so great that they are described as hungry and thirsty. Of this class Jesus said, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5. 6). No person on earth is more needy than one who has been stripped of all self-righteousness. He sees himself a candidate for hell. He becomes desperate in his need. His heart cries out with the prophet of old, “Woe is me.” God the Father has been doing a great work in his heart. He has taught him the greatest lesson a lost soul can learn, that he has a need that nothing human can satisfy. Jesus had such souls in mind when He said, “It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me” (John 6.45). They have received private instruction from the Father. Not only that, they have learned. Learned what? Learned that they are needy, poverty-stricken sinners, with the penalty of death hanging over them. These, Jesus said, will “come unto me.” Such are the individuals that make up the Father’s gift to Jesus.

This gift is made up of unwanted people. The thief on the cross was unwanted by society, therefore they crucified him. To this poor, repentant soul Jesus spoke the encouraging words, “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23. 43). The adulterous woman was unwanted by the group that had gathered to stone her. She was privileged to hear the blessed words from Christ, “Neither do I condemn thee: go thy way; from henceforth sin no more” (John 8. 11). The poor unwanted lepers, who had been driven from their homes and friends to live outside the city walls, experienced the gentle touch of Jesus’ hand, and heard Him say, “Be thou made clean” (Matthew 8. 3). The little children, whom the rebuke of the ignorant disciples would hold back, were welcomed to Christ’s arms when He said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God” (Luke 18. 16). The poor woman who fell down at Jesus’ feet, and who was nicknamed “a sinner,” felt the warm welcome of Christ when He gently informed her, “Thy sins are forgiven thee” (Luke 7. 48). In fact, all who come to Jesus are unwanted people. John the disciple wrote, “The world knoweth us not, because it knew him not” (1 John 3. 1). Yet such as these belong to the Father’s gift to Jesus.

This group is also made up of helpless people. They were not always such, for many had prided themselves on “doing the best they knew how.” Some had said they were “no worse than others,” and were “trying hard.” As long as they were in this state they did not belong to the gift that the Father was presenting to Jesus. Such people despise Jesus. They belong to the class of whom Jesus said, “This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7. 6). However, when they finally come to the place where they can no longer help themselves, they have nothing good to say about themselves. Then the purpose of God’s law is fulfilled, namely, that “every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God” (Romans 3. 19). Now they use the language of Paul when he said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1. 15). Blessed, then, is the individual who has come to the place of utter helplessness. If this is your state, thank God, for you belong to the gift that the Father is presenting to Jesus.

We have thus briefly considered the Father’s gift to Jesus. We were not flattered by the beauty of this gift. In fact, we may sum it all up by saying that the Father gave Jesus poor, miserable sinners. We have seen that no sinner was left out because of the vileness of his sin. Every imaginable type of sinner is represented in this gift. It is to the glory of the Father to turn over to Jesus every kind of sinner. Could any gift have more variety? How encouraging to know that the Father loved us so much that He made us a gift to His Son Jesus Christ!