"How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (II Corinthians 12:4).

There are three things called "unspeakable" in the New Testament, with each one translated from a different Greek word. However, they all convey the notion of something which is so marvelous that it simply could not be put into words.

II Corinthians 12:4 mentions "unspeakable words," I Peter 1:8 refers to "joy unspeakable" and II Corinthians 9:15 speaks of an "unspeakable gift."

The unspeakable gift to which Paul refers is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. This matchless gift is what we Christians seek very inadequately to be thankful for at Christmas-time, "The gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23). "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

When the apostle Paul received Christ as His Savior, he considered himself as "crucified with Christ," yet he could also say that "the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). It was Paul who was chosen on one unique occasion to be "caught up into paradise," where he "heard unspeakable words." But whatever he saw and heard convinced him once and for all that once a person decides that "to live is Christ," then "to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).

And so it will be for everyone who has received by faith that ultimate, indescribable Christmas gift, the Lord Jesus Christ!

No wonder that other great apostle, Simon Peter, could say that we "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (I Peter 1:8). HMM