BELOVED SON

‘And lo a voice from heaven, saying,?This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased?.

The timing of the Father’s testimony from heaven about His beloved son was critical. John had been baptizing in Israel with the ‘baptism of repentance for the remission of sins’, Luke 3.3. To set the example of righteousness the Lord Jesus desired to be baptized of John. It was as He came out of the water that the Father sent the Spirit upon Him and testified of Him. This Son was not a sinner but righteous and beloved.

Not all kings have honourable sons. A dynastic type of government does not guarantee that character and compassion will be transmitted by royal blood. Often the very power and fame associated with rule become the same entities that corrupt the heart. King David, a man after God’s own heart, had to admit, ‘Although my house be not so with God’, 2 Sam. 23. 5. Indeed, consider king David’s sons: the deceit and sin of Amnon, the murder and betrayal by Absalom and the pride and plotting of Adonijah. Then, there were the sons of Eli the priest, the wicked Hophni and Phinehas, who defiled the house of God morally and spiritually. Even Joel and Abiah, the sons of the prophet Samuel, were covetous and perverted justice by taking bribes.

Yet, in the midst of failure, the God who had been displeased with Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, and destroyed them with fire, now looks down from heaven at the Lord Jesus walking among sinful men and calls Him ‘my beloved Son’. This was after those thirty hidden years in which he was a child, a teenager and a young man; the Father was pleased with His life. Again, in the middle of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus, the Father testified on the mount of transfiguration and called Him ‘my beloved Son’, Matt. 17. 5. This was after a year or two of preaching and teaching - pleased with His ministry. Then, after His crucifixion by man, God raised Him from the dead and set Him as Lord at His own right hand - pleased with His sacrifice. The Lord’s death was acceptable because His life was acceptable. If God the Father is pleased with His Son in all aspects, are we?