GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 18
GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 18 ~ ~ John 17:22~ ~ “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:”
Continuing with John Piper’s book: The Pleasures of God
From all eternity, before creation, the one reality that has always existed is God. This is a great mystery, because it is so hard for us to think of God having absolutely no beginning, and just being there forever and ever, without anything or anyone making Him be there—just absolute reality that every one of us has to reckon with whether we like it or not.
But this ever-living God has not been “alone”. He has not been a solitary center of consciousness. There has always been another, who has been one with God in essence and glory, and yet distinct in personhood so that they have had a personal relationship for all eternity.
The Bible teaches that this eternal God has always had a perfect image of Himself (Colossians 1:15)
A perfect radiance of His essence. (Hebrews 1:3)
A perfect stamp or imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1:3)
A perfect form or expression of His Glory (Philippians 2:6)
We are on the brink of the ineffable here, but perhaps we may dare to say this much; as long as God has been God (which is eternally) He has been conscious of Himself; and the image that He has of Himself is so perfect and so complete and so full as to be the living personal reproduction (or “begetting”) of Himself. This living, personal image or radiance, or form of God, IS GOD, NAMELY GOD THE SON. Therefore God the Son is coeternal with God the Father and equal in essence and glory. (Thus Jesus many times said that He is one with the Father)
We may conclude that the pleasure of God in His son is pleasure in Himself. Since the Son is the image of God and the radiance of God, and the form of God, equal with God, He is INDEED GOD.
Therefore, God’s delight in the Son is delight in Himself. He sees His own perfections reflected in the glory of His Son. Paul speaks of the “Glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6) From all eternity god had beheld the panorama of His own perfections in the face of His Son.
GOD DELIGHTS IN HIMSELF.
(more tomorrow on that)
Live in the Light of Our Lord 