What Delights God?

Matthew applies this quotation from Isaiah to Jesus and His ministry. Notice: - God commands us to pay attention: “Behold!” He says. He wants us to turn our eyes to this Person in whom He especially delights. - Jesus is called God’s Servant. Before Him, this title was applied to the patriarchs; Moses; Joshua; David; the prophets; and even pagan kings whom God raised up to do His will. But now the word “Servant” finds its fulfillment in the person and work of God’s Son. - God has “chosen” this Servant for a special task – to “declare justice to the Gentiles” until “He sends forth justice to victory” (Matthew 8:18, 20). - Before being chosen as Servant, however, Christ was God’s eternal Son, His Beloved, in whom His soul delighted. (The Greek word translated “servant” also means “son.”) Consider the implications of this brief passage: - We are to focus our minds on Jesus more than on any other person, event, or thing in this world. - If the Father delights in Him, should we not also find our deepest joys in Christ? - And if God especially favors the title “Servant,” does that not imply that we, too, should assume the servant role in life?