Three times in the Bible – once through a prophet, and twice directly - God proclaimed that Jesus was His beloved, in whom He was well-pleased.
“Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!* I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry out, not will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He send forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust.” (Matthew 12:18-21 NKJV)
*The original text recorded in Isaiah says: “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!” (Isaiah 42:1). When God is well pleased with someone, His soul delights in them!
Eight hundred years
before Jesus was born, God proclaimed, through His prophet, Isaiah, that His
soul was well pleased with Jesus. Jesus was God’s chosen Servant who would confirm
the promises He made to Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, and bring hope to the Gentiles
(Romans 15:8-12, 2 Corinthians 4:6).
Jesus was willing, and waited for the time when His Father would prepare a body
for Him, because He delighted to do His Father’s will (Psalm 40:6-8, Hebrews 10:5-7).
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Just before Jesus began
His ministry (around the age of 30, Luke
3:23), He went to John at the Jordan River to be baptized “to
fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew
3:15). When we piece together the three gospel accounts of Jesus’ baptism,
we find that Jesus prayed after He came up out of the water* and it was then
that the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove, and
suddenly a voice came from heaven which said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased.” (Matthew
3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22)
When John (the baptizer) saw the descent of the
Holy Spirit and heard the declaration of God, it confirmed what God had told
him of the coming Messiah; he knew that this was the Son of God (John 1:29-34). So, in the following
days, John pointed his disciples to Jesus – the Lamb of God he had prepared the
way for – and they heard Jesus speak and began to follow Him (John 1:35-37).
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
Six days after Jesus
told His apostles that He would have to suffer many things from the elders,
chief priests, and scribes, that He would be killed and be raised the third day
(Matthew 16:21), He took three of
them (Peter, James, and John) up on a
high mountain by themselves. Jesus transfigured before them: His face shone (shined) like the sun, and His clothes
became as white as light (Matthew 17:1-2).
I like Mark’s description of this instance: “His clothes became exceedingly
white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.” (Mark 9:3). It was then that Moses and
Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus (Matthew
17:3, Mark 9:4).
Peter who was greatly afraid
and did not know what to say, suggested what he thought to be a suitable idea: Let’s
make three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus –
after all, these people represented the Law, the prophets, and the promised Messiah;
the very Son of God – but while Peter spoke a bright cloud overshadowed them
and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear Him!” When Peter, James, and John looked up again, they
saw no one but Jesus.
At age 12, Jesus said, “…I must
be about My Father’s business.” (Luke
2:46-49). He increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and
men (Luke 2:52). As we saw earlier,
Jesus began His ministry by determining to fulfill all righteousness in being
baptized, and He spent His days exemplifying God to the people and telling them
of God, His Father and how they can become citizens of His eternal kingdom (Matthew 7:21-27). Jesus did not come to do His own will, but His
Father’s only (John 6:38, 5:30) – His very food was to do the will of the
Father (John 4:34) – and even as the
horrific crucifixion loomed on the horizon, Jesus steadfastly set His face to
go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-53), and
when the time came, Jesus finished His prayers to His Father with this humble statement, “…not
My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke
22:42) All He did throughout His life, death, and resurrection was all that
His Father had given Him to do (John 17:
4, 19:30).
“Jesus said to them, “When You lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things which please Him.” (John 8:28-29 NKJV)
What can we learn from
Jesus?
We can follow Jesus' example.
We are commanded to walk
just as He walked (1 John 2:3-6), and
He left us an example that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:18-24). We, too, can and must, deny self, take up our
cross daily and follow Him (Matthew
16:24, Luke 9:23) Take time to read and consider Matthew 10:38-39, Romans
12:1, and 2 Corinthians 5:15.
We can determine to
know and to do God’s will. God’s will is
unchanging; what is written is what we can know and it is what we should be
doing. The LORD teaches the humble His way (Psalm
25:9, 12-14), and all Scripture was written for our learning (Roman 15:4, 2 Timothy 3:16-17). We need
to read and study so we can grow (1 Timothy
4:12-16, 2 Peter 3:18). When we walk in the light we can find out what is
acceptable to the Lord (Ephesians 5:8-10,
John 3:19-21), and when we walk in wisdom (that is from above, James 3:13-18), we can understand what the will
of the Lord is. Just knowing is not enough, we must do God’s will (James 1:21-25);
it is in the doing that His will is proven to be good and acceptable and
perfect (Romans 12:2). Read and think
on Colossians 1:9-14.
We can do the things
that please God. When we humbly follow
Jesus’s example, have a heart determined to do God’s will, and a mind focused
on giving God the glory, we will please God. Read through the gospels and renew
your mind in how Jesus lived before God the Father, how all He did and said
pointed people to the Father. We can do that too! Let’s determine to know
Jesus, so we can learn to faithfully keep God’s commandments and allow the love
of God to be perfected in us (1 John
2:3-6).
Jesus was the Son of
God. His Father was well pleased with Him and told us to hear Him. Jesus said
that we must do the will of Father (Matthew
7:21). Let’s prove our love for the Father by doing what He commands, just
as Jesus did (John 14:31), so we too
can be pleasing to God!
You can do it! So can
I!!
