What Pleases Our Father? Part 2 - His Glory Seen in the Eternal Son
by Greg Wood
Recently, I wrote a post that looked at our Heavenly Father being pleased with His own character and work. We saw that God is the only One of whom it can be said that He rightly delights in Himself. It is fitting that God would exalt and praise His own character and work in the world and that he requires the same of us. Keep in mind that he does not do this to the exclusion of His love and grace toward others as we do when we exalt ourselves. God is perfectly holy in all He does, and would not be holy if he did not take pleasure in Himself in this way.
In my next post, we will begin to look at the activities of God’s people that the Bible tells us please the Father. But today I want to soak in the biblical truth of our Father’s pleasures in His eternal Son, and why that should cause us to rejoice as well.
So, what does the Scripture say about the Son of God, Jesus Christ, giving the Father pleasure? And what can that tell us about the pleasure our Father has in us – His people who are justified by grace through faith in the Son?
Pleased with the Son Long ago
We know from passages like John 1:3 and Hebrews 1:2 that the cosmos was made through the Son.
“All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:3)
Back in the earliest records of God’s reflection on this work done through the Son show His assessment: “and God saw that it was good.” And after making mankind’s first parents, Adam and Eve, he records, “behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). If all things were made through Him, we see here that God is pleased with the Son in the act of creation. Furthermore, Adam is made in the image and likeness of God, a reflection of the perfect image to come in the Incarnate Son. God’s “very good” approval speaks of even more, beyond merely the work of the Son, to His own representation of God in the world.
Speaking of His Son who was to come into the world, God said this more than 500 years before His birth:
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” (Isaiah 42:1).
It is easily inferred that this delight extends into eternity past, for the Father and Son have not changed (James 1:17); so the Son has always been a delight to the Father.
Pleased with the Son During the Incarnational Ministry
The Father’s pleasure in the Son extends into the time when he sent forth the Son (Gal. 4:4) to take on flesh as well:
“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” (Colossians 1:19)
The Father makes His pleasure in the Son very public at Jesus’ baptism, an event that reminds readers of both the creation story and the Exodus story, proclaiming Jesus’ as the climax of God’s redemptive plan:
“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”” (Luke 3:21–22)
God is pleased to have the kingdom of heaven breaking into the world through the pleasing and eternal Son! We see this again at the Transfiguration of Christ before the eyes of three apostles. They see Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus, who is shining like the sun:
“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”” (Matthew 17:2–5)
Notice also in the following passage that when Jesus does the will of the Father, including the redemption accomplished at the cross, the result is that many believe.
“So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” As he was saying these things, many believed in him.” (John 8:28–30)
Suddenly this seems to be more connected to our relationship with the Father, doesn’t it? The Father’s pleasure and our faith are both looking to the same event, the cross of Christ.
Pleased with the Son’s Redemption
Here is where this theme of God’s pleasure in the Son starts to get closer to home!
“But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53:10, NASB)
And following the death, resurrection, and ascension Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Majesty, honored above all creation (Heb. 1:1-4). There on His exalted throne, the Son is anointed with the oil of gladness (Heb. 1:9), another indication of the mutual enjoyment between Father and Son.
This redemption, accomplished by Jesus to the pleasure of the Father, was the plan of the Triune God in eternity past:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. …” (Ephesians 1:3–4a, NASB)
What’s more, it is IN CHRIST that we are blessed. When we place our faith in Christ, when we trust Him alone to rescue us from our sin and to give us new life forever, we are united to Him - In Him. We have redemption by being united with Christ through faith. And the Father’s pleasure in the Son’s work spills over into blessings for us, such as His gracious election, our holiness, and blamelessness!
Pleased with the Son’s Righteousness Imputed to Us
Having seen that the obedience and suffering of Christ was a pleasing sacrifice to the Father (Isa. 53), and that there is a praiseworthy glory associated with giving grace to sinners (Eph. 1:6), we now look at the pleasure of God seeing the Son’s righteousness imputed to us. The next verses (Eph. 1:5-10), in speaking of the “kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved,” speaks of redemption and forgiveness through Christ’s blood:
“In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” (Ephesians 1:4b–7).
And Romans 5 elaborates:
“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:18–21)
Good news!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is such good news for us. The pleasure that our Heavenly Father has in His eternal Son spills over in blessings for you and me! Rather than being under the wrath of God for the sin we have inherited from Adam and for the sins we ourselves have committed, in Christ we are the objects of our Father’s delight. Just think of the prodigal's father's delight upon his return! And likewise, our delight in God is through our Lord Jesus and His work on our behalf. Because of God’s grace to us in Christ, we are justified – declared righteous in Christ. So when the Father looks upon the return of the redeemed people of God, brought to Him by the Son, He takes pleasure in what He sees. That grace is an anchor and reason for our souls to rejoice!