In order to determine the greatest thing God has given to mankind, let us see God’s great gifts to mankind.

Ge. 2:7 The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The first great gift of God to man is the divine life or divinity or the Holy Spirit. This gift transformed man into a living soul, which means a soul that can grow or decay. This started a big problem for God, as angels were not happy with the new development. The new development meant that man could grow spiritually towards the level of God and could rise above angels in the process. One third of God’s angels, who suddenly doubted God’s goodness to them, rebelled against God. Later, God had this feeling about the whole episode:

Ge. 6:6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

Ge. 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
Ge. 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

The second great gift of God to man is His word. God gave His command to Adam, who represented all of humanity. Unfortunately, man did not understand the value of God’s word and so turned against the word of God. This immediately caused the fall of man.

Ge. 2:9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The two trees in the middle of the Garden of God were spiritual entities. The tree of life is the Holy Spirit (God) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is Satan. By the time God created the garden, Lucifer had already led one third of God’s angels into rebellion. The fruit of the tree of life is divine life (see Jn. 6:63). The fruit of the knowledge of good and evil is sin. The way for a human being to eat the fruit of the tree of life is by speaking words of God (see De. 8:3, Mt. 4:4, Jn. 3:34). Similarly, the way to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is by disregarding words of God and following words of Satan.

God eventually gave the fullness of His word to Israel (ps. 147:19). It is through Israel that the whole world has received the fullness of God’s words.

The third great gift of God to mankind is the man Jesus Christ. Adam with his descendants had fallen and thereby fell short of the glory of God (Ro. 3:23). Even though God had revealed to Israel the importance of blood sacrifice in the remission of sins, sacrifices and offerings could not qualify any descendant of Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of life (He. 10:5-6), after Adam and his descendants were barred from the tree of life (Ge. 3:22-24). In order for the divine life (Christ) to come into man again, God formed a new man (He. 10:5). The new man or Adam was Jesus Christ.

The new Adam came into the world, in the nation of Judah, and became exposed to words of God. When he was baptized by John the Baptist, God gave him the Holy Spirit and he became a living soul, very much like the first Adam. It was now time for him to grow spiritually by continual eating of the fruit of the tree of life. But God never gives the fruit of the tree of life to any human being freely; a human being has to earn the fruit of the tree of life, just as people earn the physical food they eat by working for it. To this end, the Spirit moved the newly baptized Jesus Christ into the desert for a confrontation with the devil himself (Mt. 4:1). It is exactly the same kind of confrontation that Adam and Eve had with the devil in the Garden of God. By the way, the location in the desert where Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil may well be the same location where Satan tempted Adam and Eve. Anyway, Jesus Christ consistently rebuffed words of Satan by speaking words of God and eventually overcame in the confrontation. God rewarded Jesus Christ by anointing him with great measure of the Holy Spirit and power.

Mt. 4:11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Lk. 4:14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

Col. 1:19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
Col. 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Col. 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
Col. 1:22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Because Jesus Christ passed the test of temptation by Satan, quite unlike the first Adam, God was pleased to have all the fullness of divinity dwell in him. Jesus Christ understood that God wanted to manifest His will through him and accepted and presented himself as a sacrifice unto God. It was the will of God to reconcile to Himself all things through Jesus Christ, by making peace through the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ fully yielded himself to doing the will of God.

Lk. 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Ph. 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Ph. 2:6 Who, being in very nature [Or in the form of] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
Ph. 2:7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Ph. 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

Jesus Christ offered himself up to be a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the first Adam and his descendants. By so doing, he took upon himself all our sins and our sins killed him. God accepted his sacrifice and released him from death. Because of the price that Jesus Christ paid, every human being has been released from death. A human being can now go to the tree of life and eat the fruit of the tree of life, which is eternal life.

Among these three great gifts of God to man, which one do you consider to be the greatest?

Life

My Answer

Most people don’t really understand God’s purpose in creating man. What is God’s purpose in creating man that provoked one third of God’s angels to rebel against Him? If you understand the thing about God’s plan for man that provoked angels to rebellion, you will come to understand that God’s greatest gifts to man are His Spirit, His words and Jesus Christ.

Actually, God’s greatest gift to man is His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in a man makes the man to become like God; the man has the capacity to do what God can do. However, God has given man freewill. Man is free to choose the way he wants to live, but will face the consequences of whatever choice he makes. The Holy Spirit in a man implies that the man must fulfill the will of God; hence, the Holy Spirit is only for those who choose not do whatever they like, but only the will of God. Therefore, a man chooses whether he wants to receive God’s Holy Spirit or not. This is where the gift of God’s words came in.

God started man by breathing some measure of the Holy Spirit into him, thereby making man a living soul. The Holy Spirit is the glory of God in man. If man chooses to be a vessel that expresses only the will of God, God increases the measure of His Spirit in the man so that he fully expresses the will of God. If man goes counter to expressing the will of God, the glory of God in man decays. God made His will known to man through His words and it is through God’s words that man chooses to be a vessel that expresses only the word of God.

Is. 55:10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
Is. 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Jn. 3:34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

In Is. 55:11, God says that any word that went out of His mouth cannot return to Him without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it. Words of God specify the will of God. Therefore, any man who wants a will of God to be done in his life should send the word of God that specifies that will back to God. In Jn. 3:34, Jesus explains what happens when a man sends God’s word back to Him. Sending God’s word back to Him through word of faith moves God to give His Spirit to that man. The Spirit then fulfills the will of God associated with the word in or through the man. The will of God is actually an expression of how God works; hence, the man begins to work like God.

Jn. 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work”.

Jn. 5:17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”

Without speaking words of God, man will not be able to align himself with the will of God and receive the Holy Spirit. Therefore, God’s gift of His words to man is almost as great as God’s gift of His Spirit. The Spirit can only operate where words of God are spoken.

Sin barred man from access to the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ sacrifice of atonement for the sins of mankind reconciled man to God and made it possible for man to gain access to the Holy Spirit through speaking words of God.