For He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. 2 Peter 1:17
The bodies of many thousands of Israelites were left in the wilderness because, as Paul reminded the Corinthians, with them God was not well pleased. We are like those Israelites, stumbling and straying, doubting and complaining, fearful and forgetful. Even the great leader of the Israelites, Moses, was unable to enter into the promised land because of his own failures. Even the most godly and effective Christian living today must admit that in us God must daily be displeased with our actions and attitudes. But when it came to the Person of His Son, God must always with delight declare: ‘I am well pleased!’
We today gather to unitedly remember God’s pleasure in His Son. From the ageless realms of eternity and throughout the millennia of time, the Father’s delight in His son has never flagged. For the past two thousand years, companies of the Lord’s people have gathered on the first day of the week to appreciate the Father’s delight in His Son, and to express our own delight in Him as well.
Shepherds in Bethlehem’s fields heard angels proclaim how Jesus birth brought glory to God, and they rushed to the manger to add their own adoration and praise. John’s baptism of Jesus also brought forth from Heaven a declaration of the Father’s joy at the Son’s obedience. For the first time since Adam’s expulsion from Eden, a Man was walking, talking, working, living exactly as mankind was intended to walk: in perfect harmony with the God’s Word and in perfect communion with God’s heart. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James and John saw and heard Heaven’s stamp of approval on the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
As we review the scenes of Golgotha today, we know that God also found delight in His Son. All of Heaven’s purposes for us depended on the Lord Jesus being willing to accept our punishment upon Himself. The Father loved us and longed for us to be saved. How delighted He was that His son was of the same mind and was willing to bear our judgment!
How we rejoice today that He Who delighted the Father’s heart also delights our hearts in worship and praise! -Jim MacIntosh