There is a third reason why the gift of God is indescribable. We have seen that the gift itself is indescribable. We have seen that the grace by which it is given is indescribable. God’s gift is also indescribable for the effects it produces. This is unmeasurable by human beings.
The gift of God accomplishes everything in those who believe. First, Jesus brings forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God’s grace. We are in rebellion against God, and God has loved us while we were yet sinners. But God does not merely love us and let it go at that. He also forgives our sin through Christ’s sacrifice. This means removal of sin so far as God is concerned. The Bible tells us that God hurls “all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). It says, “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist” (Is. 44:22). David wrote, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). The Bible says, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Heb. 10:17; cf. Jer. 31:34). God knows everything, but according to this verse the only thing He has ever forgotten is the sin of those who believe that Jesus died for them. If we have received God’s gift, we do not need to fear that our sins will ever rise up again to haunt us.
Second, the believer in Christ is justified before the bar of God’s justice. Forgiveness is a negative thing; it forgets the past. Justification is positive; it brings a new standing before God which we did not have before and could never have achieved for ourselves. The Bible speaks of this as being clothed with the righteousness of Christ, as with a new suit of clothes. Before, we were clothed with the filthy rags of our own righteousness. These are taken off, and we are given new garments.
Third, we are adopted into God’s family. Before, we were of no family. We were “separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). But now, “how great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God!” (1 John 3:1). As children we have the privilege of coming to God at any time with any matter, knowing that He cares for us as a father cares for a beloved son or daughter and that He will always answer our requests according to his own great wisdom.
Fourth, as God’s children we are God’s heirs. Paul writes, “If we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). The word “co-heir” means that we possess all things jointly with Christ. All things! That is clearly indescribable.
Fifth, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit who unites us to Christ forever. This makes our bodies temples of God, who dwells in us.
Sixth, we have a divine peace which goes beyond circumstances and is beyond any poor human efforts to describe. Paul calls it a peace “which transcends all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). This is a priceless blessing in the midst of the sorrows that habitually overtake us in this life.
