How Big is the Pleasure and Love of God?
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
When the church fathers discussed the nature of the Holy Spirit, things got a little cosmic. The nature and substance of what is spirit and what is God the Father and WHO is God the Son can get complex pretty fast.
One thing they all agree on pretty clearly is that spirit doesn’t have mass; it doesn’t take up space. If it doesn’t take up space, then it can’t be divided up in to parts. Wherever it is, all of it is there.
Hold on tight.
If it can’t be divided up into parts, because the spirit isn’t physical, that means that wherever the spirit is, **all of it is there. **
So, when God dwelled among us in the form and person of a man, all of God was there. Jesus didn’t carry around a snippet or a souvenir of God. He was NOT a chip off of the old block, HE WAS THE WHOLE BLOCK.
It pleased God to do this. God was happy to fully be present with people and among people, even if it meant being tired, hungry, hurt, or even killed. Every bit of God that was there at creation, there at Noah’s flood, there at the Exodus and the Babylonian captivity was sitting there in Jesus.
Let that boggle your mind a little. I’ll wait.
Are you back? Did you ponder how amazing that is, because if you didn’t, you aren’t ready for what is next.
[waits another minute]
Whether the pleasure of God was to dwell in Jesus at all, or the pleasure was to dwell in Him FULLY doesn’t matter. It made God happy.
Then Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. 50 days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down upon all of the believers. That is how Paul would be able to say in Romans 8:11:
‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. ’ Romans 8:11 ESV
God, who was pleased to dwell in Jesus can can’t be portioned out or split up, now dwells in you. If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, you don’t just have a part of the Holy Spirit, because He can’t be portioned. You have the fullness, the capacity, the maximum pleasure of God going on right now inside of you.
If God was pleased to dwell in Jesus, for whom He gave up nothing, believe that it is true that He is please to dwell in you, for whom He gave up His only Son.