“His Delight, Our Delight”

  Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be "Mine Elect, in whom My soul delighteth" (Isaiah 42:1).   The Lord Jesus Christ confirmed the foretelling, declaring Himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah's words (Matthew 12:18).  Our Savior is indeed the Elect, the chosen of God, a thrilling consideration when we ponder the Biblical teach of why He is so favored.

    "I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29).

    "He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

    "I honor My Father" (John 8:49).

     "Christ... did not sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again.  When He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously" (I Peter 2:21-23).

    As God the Son before creation, the Lord Jesus existed as the beloved of His Father - "Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24).  As the son of man in His incarnation, the Savior pleased His Father by a lifetime of perfect human devotion and faith, as enabled by the Father - "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works" (John 14:10).  God the Father delighted in who and what His Son was during the latter's earthly human lifetime.  The perfection of Christ in both time and eternity elicits the Father's favor both now and forevermore - "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

    We must join our Father in such favoring of the Elect, in whom His soul delights.  Indeed, one of the primary fruits of genuine relationship and fellowship with God by believers is that we increasingly love what He loves.  This leads to Christ-devotion, Christ-centeredness, and Christ-fascination in our hearts because "the Father loveth the Son" (John 3:35).  We choose the Lord Jesus to be our beloved, our favored, and object of utmost devotion as the Holy Spirit fulfills His role of glorifying and revealing the Savior to us and within us (John 16:14; 15:26).  Indeed, in both Heaven and earth, there is no one like the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is the Father's estimation of His Son.  As we draw ever nearer to God in heart and purpose, we will share this affection, allegiance, and committment to the glorious One for whom our hearts were made, sharing with our Father the love for Christ that causes us to affirm Him as the One "in whom my soul delighteth."

"A voice came from Heaven which said, Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased."

(Luke 3:22)

"God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

(Philippians 2:9-11)

Weekly Memory Verse

   We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.  God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."

(I John 4:16)