It’s not as if Christ became the delight of God at the baptism or transfiguration. Instead, Jesus is the eternal delight of his Father. Have you considered that love existed before creation? Since God is love (1 John 4:8), and he is uncreated, then love existed prior to any creation. Who or what did God love? The answer is God loved himself.

If we spent some time together, it’s likely we’d soon learn what each other is passionate about. We make it known by what we say and how we say it. Imagine you were able to run all of your words spoken in a month through a concordance software. What would be the most common word you say? And, also consider, if you ran another query, what words would be most passionately spoken? Some of us might be encouraged by what we find, others perhaps, not as much.

Now consider the same exercise with God. What or who is God passionate about? When God speaks audibly from heaven in the New Testament, people took notice. And we should take note. On multiple occasions, his thundering voice shreds the skies and declares, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased (Matt. 3:17, cf also Matt. 17:5). God is telling us that Christ is the delight of God.

And this is not a one-time deal. It’s not as if Christ became the delight of God at the baptism or transfiguration. Instead, Jesus is the eternal delight of his Father. Have you considered that love existed before creation? Since God is love (1 John 4:8), and he is uncreated, then love existed prior to any creation. Who or what did God love? The answer is God loved himself. Throughout eternity the Trinity was enveloped in perfect delight, enjoyment, and love as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When Jesus is born as a man, and his Father has something to say about him, it is a continuation of the divine satisfaction that has characterized heaven throughout all eternity.

Why is the Son the delight of God? I’ll give three quick reasons.

Jesus perfectly radiates the glory of God

God is glorified through the right representation and reflection of his character. The Scriptures teach us Jesus is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3).

What does it mean that Christ is the radiance of the glory of God? The best way to understand it is to think about light radiating from a source instead of reflecting. The moon, without its source of light, reflects the light from the sun. It radiates from the sun. Jesus is not reflecting the glory of God back to God. He is not merely personifying glory like a cloud or fire. He is not merely doing the right thing and reflecting glory to God. He, being God, is the radiance, the effulgence, the source of the glory of God.

Read More