Describing the Indescribable

In his Christmas Day sermon, Pastor Overduin focused on the adjectives in the Christmas story. Consider the difference between the angels having said to the shepherds "Behold I bring you tidings of joy to men" as opposed to what we read in Luke 2:10: "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all men." In the course of describing the goodness, greatness, and comprehensiveness of God's love as expressed in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, Pastor Overduin quoted I Peter 1:8 which speaks of "joy unspeakable."

I have been pondering the adjectives "unspeakable" which appears three times in the KJV: II Corinthians 9:15, II Corinthians 12:4, and I Peter 1:8. I did a quick check on e-sword this morning and was surprised to find that in the original Greek, each of the words translated as "unspeakable" is different. Strong's concordance uses the terms "not expounded in full", "inexpressible" or "unsaid" for the second, and "not spoken out" or "unutterable" for the third.

There is something about the message of the gospel that is quite indescribable or unspeakable, even though we of necessity resort to words to try and express it. Yes "the word made flesh" has come, a miracle indeed that should never cease to amaze us. Pastor Overduin spoke of watching a 90+ member of one of his previous congregations read the Christmas story from a children's Bible and be reduced to tears in amazement at the story with which he was so familiar. Tears, music, inadequate words, just the emotion in your own soul when you try to imagine that " scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:7-8).