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Isaiah 62:5
“For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
The blessedness of God, we have seen, describes our Creator’s perfect joy and delight in Himself and in what He has done. He is blessed forever (2 Cor. 11:31) because He is the perfect good, and since it is good to delight in that which is good, the Lord must delight in Himself and in His works. He who is the good cannot help but rejoice in the good.
As we continue thinking about divine blessedness, Petrus van Mastricht makes an important point to consider. He writes that God “has not [divine blessedness] for himself alone, but which he can communicate, has promised to communicate, and also will communicate to his own, according to his own will, and their capacity (Ps. 4:6–7; 36:9; 84:11).” The Lord is somehow able to share His own joy in Himself with rational creatures such as ourselves, in a manner fit for creatures. We can be filled with delight in the Lord as the supreme good in a way analogous to how He is so filled. What does this filling look like? It is an eternal, never-ending growth of joy in the knowledge of God and His character. First Corinthians 13:12 tells us that in the consummation, we will know God fully; yet, since we are finite and He is infinite, the fullness of knowledge for us is not identical to the fullness of knowledge that God has. It is something that we must ever grow into, even when the new heavens and earth arrive. Our hearts, minds, and souls will never grasp all that the Lord is, but our understanding of Him and our relationship with Him will deepen for all eternity from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).
Our experience of divine blessedness through ever-increasing delight in God and His works begins in our conversion and then continues thereafter, with no end even in eternity. One way that He causes us to more and more delight in Him is by giving us truths in His Word that are particularly conducive to our finding joy in Him. For example, Scripture tells us that God actually rejoices in His people (Isa. 62:5). This is beyond our capacity to fathom. How can our perfect Creator take joy in us who are imperfect, even sinful? A full answer is impossible, but we can say that God’s delight in us is tied to His work in us. He rejoices in His works, and we are His workmanship (see Eph. 2:10), so He rejoices in the good that He produces in and through us. Matthew Henry comments, “God by his grace has wrought that in his church which makes her his delight.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
We do not always feel joyful or like rejoicing in the Lord, but because God communicates His blessedness to His children, our rejoicing in the Lord cannot be identified with our feelings that wax and wane. We may not always feel very joyful, but as long as we keep looking to God in our sorrow and hoping finally in His mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are taking joy in our Creator.
For further study
- Psalm 18:19
- Psalms 147:11; 149:4
- Zephaniah 3:17
- Philippians 4:4
The bible in a year
- 1 Chronicles 23–25
- John 11:1–16