The Perfect Gift For Life

By Gerri Di Somma

This book offers more than money can buy. It shows the way to receive the most perfect, priceless and precious gift ever made available to mankind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9780956054944

Book preview

Somma

PART ONE

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR LIFE

CHAPTER ONE

THE PERFECT GIFT REVEALED

Why is the birth of Jesus remembered worldwide year after year? What is the real reason for celebrating? What makes His birth the perfect gift for each day of our entire lives here on earth and for all eternity?

To discover the answer to these questions, we begin by looking at one of the most well known and frequently quoted of all the scriptures used when we consider and celebrate Jesus’ birth: To us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be on His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6. ESV.

This scripture contains a wealth of revelation. It mentions four names belonging to Jesus: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. These names will provide the focus for each part of this book. For the purpose of our study, it is important to know that in the original Hebrew text there were no punctuation marks. Some translators of the Bible have separated the two titles, ‘Wonderful’ and ‘Counsellor’ with a comma, believing that each title should be considered independently. Many translations, however, have no comma, so the two words form one title, ‘Wonderful Counsellor’. When we consider the names of Jesus, I will follow the Hebrew tradition and those referring to Jesus as our ‘Wonderful Counsellor’.

The promise of the Perfect Gift is for you

The opening of the quoted scripture gives the impression that it refers to a birth which had already taken place on earth, but this was not the case at the time it was written. Isaiah was foretelling something which had yet to happen, concerning the Messiah and Saviour to come. The promises of God contained in these names are for everyone. Jesus is a gift to be received by everyone that they might receive the fullness of life. He is given for you.

Through many prophecies given before Jesus’ birth, God prepared mankind for this event long before it happened. This was how people knew for centuries that one day the Son of God would come down to earth from heaven and take on the form of a man.

These prophetic words contain concepts which are beyond man’s natural ability to comprehend, even today, because they exceed the boundaries of people’s thinking.

For example, virgins do not give birth, but the fruit of the virgin Mary’s womb was to become the fulfilment of prophecy: "The Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son…." Isaiah 7:14. God even foretold where Jesus would be born: You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel…. Micah 5:2.

The Perfect Gift is given for life

People celebrate the birth of Christ worldwide, but it is often without appreciating or comprehending its full significance. Lack of knowledge or understanding prevents people from tapping into all that God has planned, purposed and prepared for their lives. What then do we need to know and understand in order to change that?

Jesus is the Word that the Bible speaks about: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.... John 1:14. Jesus said that the reason He came to earth was to give us life in its fullness: I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10. ‘Abundant’ means: more than enough, plentiful, having plenty of something, rich.

How does Jesus dwell among us today and how do we access that abundant life He promised?

Jesus gives us access to spiritual resources, which enable us to achieve and accomplish His plans and purposes for our lives. God gave His Holy Spirit so the Word, Jesus, may dwell within us as believers. Through His Holy Spirit, He makes the words of the Bible become real and relevant for every situation. This is why every believer needs personal revelation from these specific verses, and recognition that prophecy has been fulfilled through Jesus’ birth. When this is realised, it brings an understanding of what God has made available and an appreciation that Jesus came to turn the world and individuals from failure to success.

If you have failed in certain areas of your life, you yourself are not a failure, because God does not make failures. You might have to make some adjustments or find other ways of doing certain things. Whatever has gone wrong in your past, do not let that define you, because it will keep you captivated and defeated. Every one of us has problems, but what you are about to discover through God’s Word will help you overcome them and equip you to succeed in life. It will enable you to draw from the wealth of God’s reservoir of wisdom, knowledge and understanding. As you do so, you will develop greater expectations of achieving significant things for Him and His kingdom, which is His purpose for all believers.

The Perfect Gift is the real deal

In order to draw from the wealth of all that God has for us in His Perfect Gift, Jesus, we need to be sure in ourselves that the Jesus we relate to is the real one, as the Bible describes. We all like to give gifts to those we love and value. Whether it is for Christmas, birthday or any other occasion, we spend a great deal of time and effort looking for that special, perfect gift.

It reminds me of a story I once heard about a man who wanted the perfect gift for his wife, but who wasn’t prepared to pay the price. However, he searched the shops and surfed the web until he found something he believed would please her.

Feeling rather satisfied with himself, he was talking to a friend about the gift he had purchased. He took from his pocket a small box and opened it. The man smiled at the reaction of his astonished friend, who saw a beautiful ring glinting and sparkling in the box.

His friend said, I thought that your wife wanted a sports car.

Yes, she did, replied the man. But where am I going to find a fake sports car?

However clever that man thought he was being, he was not giving his wife what she really wanted. Perhaps even worse than that, what he gave her might have looked impressive, but it was a fake. I don’t even want to think about the scene in that house when his wife eventually found out the truth!

The media in the UK often reports stories of scams designed to cheat people out of their money. For example, fake medicines, fake IDs, fake passports, fake qualifications and fake car documentation. Some have been so serious that they have even cost people their lives.

The tendency to deceive is often evident when people try to impress others, for whatever reason, and particularly when it concerns the value of something. For example, the art of perfecting forgeries has been with us for centuries. This deception leads the unsuspecting to purchase a fake at a high price, thinking it’s the real deal.

No-one wants to discover that they have been the victim of either fraud or deceit. When the truth is exposed, what should have been the perfect gift then becomes a source of hurt and disappointment to the recipient and distrust towards the giver. The gift itself is probably rejected and, very often, so too is the person giving the gift.

The good news is that everything the Word says about Jesus is true. He is the best gift anyone could ever receive. He is the real deal, not a fake nor a replica. His value and worth is unquestionable and inestimable. Though people might let you down, Jesus can always be trusted and He will never hurt nor disappoint you.

We must always remember that the Perfect Gift from God is freely given, not earned or deserved. Nothing we could possibly do would ever repay God for His free gift, and the fact that He was sent from God makes Him unquestionably the ‘real deal’.

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men.... Romans 5:18.

Recognise that the Perfect Gift of Jesus was promised for you, thousands of years before you were born. Jesus came to make your life what God intended it to be, something more than you could ever imagine. Rejoice that God had a purpose for you when He gave His Son to mankind. Trust Him completely and draw from Him as you discover more of what this means for you.

QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL APPLICATION AND GROUP DISCUSSION

Jesus is referred to as ‘the Perfect Gift’. In what ways do you consider Him to be the Perfect Gift for your life?

Discuss possible reasons for Jesus’ birth being foretold so long before the event.

Have disappointments in your life affected the level to which you feel safe in trusting Jesus, or have those experiences encouraged you to trust your own understanding instead? Consider how you will change this so that you will fully trust Jesus.

CHAPTER TWO

GOD’S HUMANITY AND GOD’S DEITY

God is not a remote deity who sits in heaven unconnected to mankind. What evidence do we have of this? Our key scripture tells us: To us a child is born, to us a Son is given…. Isaiah 9:6. ESV. The birth of the child, the gift of the Son, was God’s gift to each individual. From that moment on, God was with mankind through Jesus, and everything that God is, Jesus is: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Colossians 1:15.

God with us

In the New Testament, Matthew referred to Isaiah’s prophecy foretelling Jesus’ birth: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us. Matthew 1:23. Some translators help us distinguish the humanity of the Christ, the Son of Man, and His divinity as the Son of God. In the ESV, for example, whenever the Bible refers to the child that was born, there is no capital ‘c’. The Son, however, is marked with a capital ‘S’. Both the child and the Son are one and the same Jesus. In Him, God reveals His deity. Through Him, the Son of Man, He became in His humanity the perfect sacrifice for sin.

Referring to both the humanity and deity of Jesus, Paul wrote: For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily… Colossians 2:9. When God says that He is with us, that is exactly what He meant: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14. The word ‘dwelt’ is used in the sense of God dwelling among His people in a tabernacle, as He did with the children of Israel. So we can rightly say: God tabernacled with us in the person of Jesus.

The birth of Jesus made our salvation, deliverance and prosperity possible, which is cause for celebration. What God desires is that each individual believer and the church, the body of Christ, experience and live in the fullness of all that He has purposed through His humanity and deity.

Jesus is the Son of God

Jesus’ birth is traditionally re-enacted in nativity plays every Christmas. Jesus is portrayed as a helpless little baby, but that image sometimes prevents people from