Because He Is A Gift Giving God (Why Christmas part 2 of 4)

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

Throughout the Old Testament, the gift-giving God left hundreds of hints about the perfect gift He had prepared for a broken world.

The Favorite Part of Christmas

What is your favorite part of Christmas? Ask most children—and many adults—and you'll get the same answer: the gifts. As a child, that was what I anticipated. Do you remember making paper chains leading up to December 25th, cutting off a link each day? The anticipation wasn't for the Christmas ham or the turkey. It was that on Christmas morning you'd wake up and find gifts waiting for you.

My siblings and I would count the gifts with our names on them and decide who was the favorite based on the number. My mom, being cunning, once tried to trick us by wrapping each child's gifts in a different paper with no tags. The only problem was that on Christmas morning she forgot her code. And every year around September or October, something special came in the mail: the J.C. Penney Wishbook Catalog—600 pages of gifts. I'd go to the toy section with a ballpoint pen and circle everything I hoped my mom would buy.

More Blessed to Give

As we mature, something shifts. It's not necessarily the receiving of a gift that brings the most joy, but the giving. There's a biblical truth about this in Acts chapter 20:

I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)

Those words are true because Jesus spoke them, but we also recognize their truth because we identify with it. It is such a blessing to give a gift, especially when you've found the perfect gift for that perfect someone. You know the things that bring them joy, and your enjoyment rises as you watch theirs.

Once you've found that perfect gift, you wrap it—concealing what it is, knowing there's an appointed time when it will be revealed. What is concealed will be revealed, and there's a heightened joy the first time they see it. We experienced this just a couple of days ago. Our younger daughter Evangeline's birthday was Friday, and her grandparents had bought her a scooter while we bought her a tricycle. When she came downstairs she was so excited she was speechless—which for Evangeline is amazing. I'm not interested in the tricycle or scooter; watching her was the joy.

Leaving Hints Along the Way

There's something else about gift-giving that brings joy. When you've found the perfect gift but the day to give it is delayed, you want them to have it so badly that you begin to leave hints. I see this in my wife in a big way. She loves to give gifts; if she had the means, she'd give them several times a day. When she gets a gift ready for me, she'll put it under the tree and say, "You're going to love this. Do you want a hint? Don't you want to guess?" Every Christmas Eve she'll ask, "Don't you want to open just one tonight?"

She'll even try to trick me. If the gift is small, she puts it in a big box; if it's big, she hides it and draws a picture in a small box—but she still wants me to guess. I believe this is one of the ways we are created in God's image. We saw last time that God made us in His likeness. He is creative, and He made us creative. He is the gift-giving God, and He created us to love giving gifts too.

The Perfect Gift for a Broken World

Did you know that God, looking upon the broken world He loved, knew the perfect gift for it? He had an appointed day when that concealed gift would be revealed. But that day was far in the future—and the gift-giving God, who loves to give gifts, gave us hints along the way. Throughout the Old Testament there are hundreds of these hints. We call them prophecies. And the first one is given back in Genesis chapter 3.

We saw last time that God spoke creation into existence, declaring it good seven times in chapter 1, and "very good" in verse 31. He made a garden filled with trees pleasant to the eyes and good for food, and gave it to man. He permitted Adam to eat freely, except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then came the first negative: it was not good that man should be alone, so God gave another gift, the woman Eve. In chapter 3 the serpent introduced a deceptive question—is God really a good gift giver, providing everything you need? Humanity was deceived, man fell, and the world became broken.

The First Hint: Genesis 3:15

As God pronounced the curse on the serpent, He gave the first hint about His perfect gift:

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

Although masked in poetic language—wrapped to conceal exactly what it is—God gives a hint. The seed of the woman, a man, will come forth and deliver a crushing, death blow to the head of the serpent, destroying his dominion. In the process this offspring will receive a wound—the serpent will bruise His heel—a superficial wound. But He will ultimately overthrow the serpent.

The Hints Continue Through Abraham's Line

But that's not the only hint. In Genesis 12, the story focuses on Abram, later Abraham:

Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country... to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great... In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1–3)

So this gift would come not only from the offspring of a woman, but through the family of Abraham, and it would be a blessing to all the families of the earth. In Genesis 17, God reveals it will come through Abraham's son Isaac. In Genesis 25, through Isaac's son Jacob. Then, in Genesis 49, Jacob—now called Israel—speaks of one of his twelve sons:

Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise... The scepter shall not depart from Judah... until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. (Genesis 49:8–10)

Again masked in poetic language, God reveals the gift will come through Judah—the lion of the tribe of Judah.

Through the Line of King David

Hundreds of years later, the family of Abraham had grown and inhabited the land of Canaan. The people asked for a king, and God gave them David, from the tribe of Judah. Near the end of David's life, God gave him a promise:

When your days are fulfilled... I will set up your seed after you... and I will establish his kingdom... Your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. (2 Samuel 7:12–16)

This perfect gift would come through David's line. He would be of royal descent and would be King forever.

Immanuel: The Giver Becomes the Gift

About 300 years later, God gave another hint through the prophet Isaiah:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

I got a call from my wife the other day. We have a little nativity carving, and our oldest son Ethan looked at it and said, "Mom, this is just like you and Dad when you first had me." Andrea said, "Well, it's a little different, because Mary was a virgin." Then Ethan asked, "Mom, what's a virgin?" She smiled and said, "She was very special, Ethan. Ask your dad when he gets home." Thankfully, by the time I got home, he'd forgotten the question.

Some translations render Immanuel as "God with us." This perfect gift for a broken world is not a mere man—He is God incarnate, coming by miraculous means. The great Gift-Giver becomes the gift Himself.

Born in Bethlehem

Around the same time, God spoke through the prophet Micah, revealing the very location of His birth:

But 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, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)

He is the everlasting One because He is the everlasting God. He would come as the offspring of a woman, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, through the line of David, in the city of Bethlehem.

His Character and His Work

I'm convinced God loves Christmas, because God loves to give gifts—and like earthly gift givers, He leaves hints along the way. The prophets declared not only who He would be and where He would come from, but also His character. Look at Isaiah chapter 9:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy; they rejoice before You according to the joy of harvest... For You have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. (Isaiah 9:2–4)

This gift would do a great work in the area of the Sea of Galilee, accompanied by three things. First, He brings light to a dark world. Second, He multiplies joy. What kind of joy? Isaiah says it's like the joy of the harvest. Most of his readers were farmers, but in our language we might say it's like the joy of a Christmas bonus—the fruit of your labor. And it's even greater: like the joy of dividing the spoil. To the victor go the spoils. Updated for us, it's the joy the winning team feels after the Super Bowl—something the Chargers may never experience.

Third, He brings release from oppression—"as in the day of Midian." Isaiah's readers understood this perfectly; it would be like saying "freedom like on D-Day." The day of Midian was when Gideon, by miraculous means, set Israel free from the Midianites. So this gift brings light to those in darkness, joy to those who had none, and freedom to the captive.

For Unto Us a Child Is Born

But who is this gift?

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David... The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6–7)

All the way back at the fall, God said, "I have the perfect gift for a broken world"—the very first Christmas gift and the greatest gift ever given. Not a thing, but a man: the offspring of a woman, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, through David's line, born in Bethlehem, bringing light, joy, and freedom.

Why Christmas

Consider one last verse—the most translated verse in the Bible, seen above many an end zone:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Why Christmas? Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season—but we don't grasp the point until we understand that the world is broken, God is a gift-giving God, and He knows the perfect gift for a broken world. "For God so loved the world that He gave." Unto us a Son is given. He brings joy to those who had none, light to those in darkness, freedom to the captive. He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

This season we have a great opportunity to introduce people to the Prince of Peace—the One who multiplies joy greater than winning Super Bowls or receiving Christmas bonuses, the joy of freedom that extends into eternity. Every gift you receive this Christmas has a temporary value of joy—it lasts about until the credit card bill comes, then ceases abruptly. But not the joy that Jesus brings.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I thank You that You are the great gift giver, and that You have given the greatest gift, a demonstration of Your love. Lord, I pray that You would stir our hearts—those of us who know and follow You—to take advantage of the opportunities of this season to share that gift with others. I pray for anyone here today still walking in darkness, captive, lacking joy. I pray, Jesus, that they would see in You the gift that brings light, increases joy, and sets us free, and that like any gift, they would freely receive You today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.