The Verse of the Day

-June 21, 2020-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day, happy Father’s Day,

-Jesus Delighted To Do The Father’s Will-

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my heart.’”

(Psalm 40:6-8).

The death of Christ fulfilled God’s will and brought about our salvation. This passage was quoted by the writer of Hebrews hundreds of years later in Hebrews 10:5-7. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, delighted to do the Father’s will in giving His life for us on the cross in order to redeem us.

From the book of Genesis onward, God established the sacrificial system of the shedding of blood in offering a sacrifice to God. Lambs, bulls, and rams were killed and their blood poured out in the place of the sinner. In the NT, we see that Jesus came to fulfill all righteousness and give Himself once and for all for the sins of the world.

In Hebrews 10:9 we read, “Then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of body of Christ once for all.” Jesus, the Lamb of God, gave His body and His blood to save us. He delighted to do the Father’s will and He completed His mission on the cross.

Jesus did not just do the Father’s will, He delighted to do it. Isaiah 6:8 reveals the heavenly conversation, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send Me.’” Jesus volunteered for the mission and He was the only one who could do it. He was perfect God and perfect man. He had no sin of His own, thus He bore our sins and the sins of the world in His own body.

God prepared a body for Him and He gave it willingly, joyfully, and fully for us. The word delight is a beautiful word to describe Jesus’ devotion to the Father’s will. He agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane with the realization of what suffering on the cross would entail. He prayed three times that if it was possible to remove the cup from Him, but added, “…nevertheless not My will but Your’s be done.”

Jesus loved the Father so much that He delighted to do His will, even as difficult as it was. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We thank God that Jesus delighted to do the Father’s will and fulfilled it. He loved us so much, even to the point of death on the cross. May the Lord help us as His disciples to delight to do the Father’s will in our lives, no matter what He asks us to do, to accept, or to reject. God’s will is not often easy but it the best for us and He has a purpose for everything. It was hard to accept the death of our dear brother Jim as God’s will but we did and we do. God knows best and His will is best. We cannot doubt or question His will.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day and Father’s Day. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean