The Protocol That Cost Everything and Was Given Away Free

In the early 1970s, engineers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn developed TCP/IP — the foundational communication protocol that makes the entire internet possible. Every email you send, every video you stream, every message you receive travels through the architecture they designed. They could have patented it. They could have charged licensing fees every time a packet of data crossed a network. Conservative estimates suggest they walked away from billions of dollars.

Instead, they gave it away. They made TCP/IP an open standard, freely available to anyone. Cerf later explained that the internet could never have grown into what it became if they had kept it for themselves. The sacrifice of personal gain became the foundation on which the entire connected world was built.

This is a shadow of what Christ did on the cross. The One through whom all things were made — the architect of every star, every cell, every beating heart — did not cling to what was rightfully His. Paul tells us He "made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant" (Philippians 2:7). He gave Himself away freely so that every human being could be connected to the Father.

Cerf and Kahn surrendered potential wealth. Jesus surrendered His very life. And just as their open protocol built a network spanning the globe, His sacrifice opened the way for every tribe, tongue, and nation to find their way home to God.