BEHOLD MY BELOVED

 

April 30, 2024


Matthew 3:17

“… behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

BEHOLD MY BELOVED

The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the cornerstone and the centre of our faith. For example, Ephesians 2:19-22 records

9 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Psalm 118:2 is quoted in Acts 4 in reference to Jesus, we read “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” These verses describe how Jesus is the foundation of the Faith Community and the fulfillment of God’s promises.

God shows the awe and honour owed to Jesus when His words announce ‘behold,' my son, and there God makes a public declaration of His love for His Son. When we behold Jesus, we live in awe and amazement of all He is doing. We pause and gaze and We behold Jesus as He works through situations in our lives and communities.

We behold His answer to our prayers.
We behold His constant love towards us.
We behold his transforming work in our lives, and the lives of others.

If it is in God’s heart to honour Jesus, then for us to walk in obedience to God means to honour Jesus too, and all that He lovingly sacrificed for us. Remember Paul’s words in Philippians 2 about Jesus? He describes him is this way:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Now, beholding Jesus may look different for you compared to how someone else might behold Him. We are all different in our needs. The beautiful work of the Holy Spirit is that he ministers to us in such a way that sheds light on areas in our lives where we need growth and improvement so that we can Behold Jesus work of healing in our life that ultimately strengthens our relationship with God. Have you noticed how the Holy Spirit does this? The Holy Spirit brings an awareness to those places where we are struggling to behold Jesus activity in your daily walk. From that awareness God’s spirit helps us come into the fullness of life that God intends for us all.

As Colossians 2:9 ff puts it, “… in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.”