1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 8.1 The Pleasure of God

Table of Contents

The Text

Psalm 16 (CSB)
A Miktam of David.

1 Protect me, God, for I take refuge in you.

2 I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides you.”

3 As for the holy people who are in the land, they are the noble ones. All my delight is in them.

4 The sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, and I will not speak their names with my lips.

5 LORD, you are my portion and my cup of blessing; you hold my future.

6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

7 I will bless the LORD who counsels me— even at night when my thoughts trouble me.

8 I always let the LORD guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices; my body also rests securely.

10 For you will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.

11 You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.

The Chapter

It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be the mediator between God and man; the prophet, priest, and king; head and saviour of the church, the heir of all things, and judge of the world; unto whom he did from all eternity give a people to be his seed and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.

The Confession

It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be the mediator between God and man

Isaiah 42:1 (CSB) “This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations.

1 Peter 1:19–20 (CSB) but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.

It is one thing to call God sovereign. Another, Almighty. And still, the will of God accomplished. But what we rarely talk about is the pleasure of God. For whatever God does in the salvation of his people, it pleases him. For:

Isaiah 53:10 (CSB) Yet the LORD was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the LORD’s pleasure will be accomplished.

Psalm 35:27 (CSB) Let those who want my vindication shout for joy and be glad; let them continually say, “The LORD be exalted. He takes pleasure in his servant’s well-being.”

Psalm 115:3 (CSB) Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases.

Psalm 149:4 (CSB) For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.

For God to have done this:

Matthew 1:21 (CSB) She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

... he was pleased to do this:

Ephesians 1:5 (CSB) He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

the prophet

Acts 3:22 (CSB) Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you.

Luke 7:15-16 (CSB) The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Then fear came over everyone, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.”

The Prophets from Abel to John the Baptist testified that the coming of the Messiah. But prophets also testified that the Messiah would be a prophet. For:

Deuteronomy 18:15 (CSB) “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

It was only John the Baptist that knew that Jesus Christ was that Messiah and the Prophet. For:

John 1:21 (CSB) “What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?” “I am not,” he said. “Are you the Prophet?” “No,” he answered.

The last and final Prophet that the Jews were looking for is fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord.

priest

Hebrews 5:5–6 (CSB) In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him, You are my Son; today I have become your Father, also says in another place, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7:24–25 (CSB) But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

And

Hebrews 9:11–12 (CSB) But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

The priests of old had to stand continuous for the work of cleansing the people from their sins was never ending. And, not only that, what they did only ceremoniously did so--those animal sacrifices didn't cleansed them once bit. What made all the people of God was their faith and trust in the Messiah.

But Christ, the Priest forever, has sat down:

Hebrews 10:11-12 (CSB) Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

Because what Christ did upon the cross was perfectly effective to save his people from their sins. Since he is done forever, he gets to sit down at the right hand of God.

king

Psalm 2:6 (CSB) “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”

Luke 1:33 (CSB) He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”

Revelation 11:15 (CSB) The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.

When God established the nation of Israel, he was always to be their king. For as his people, they were set apart from the other nations and he was to be king forever.

1 Samuel 8:6-7 (CSB) When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand wrong, so he prayed to the LORD. But the LORD told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king.

God knew that they would do this. God knew all things. In his law, he made provision for such a day.

Deuteronomy 17:14–15 (CSB) “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,’ you are to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. Appoint a king from your brothers. You are not to set a foreigner over you, or one who is not of your people.

And Saul was "voted" in as the people's king. And he failed so tragically as a king that the Lord regretted in doing so:

1 Samuel 15:11 (CSB) “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.” So Samuel became angry and cried out to the LORD all night.

Saul could never be the king that the people needed. Even his replacement, whom God said, "was a man after my own heart", fell short. Both lines of kings, Israel and Judah, failed way short.

Matthew 1:1 (CSB) An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

Jesus Christ, through the lineage of Solomon through Joseph and Nathan through Mary is the double Son of David. And by his life and death and resurrection sits on the throne as God covenanted with David:

2 Samuel 7:11a-16 (CSB) “ ‘The LORD declares to you: The LORD himself will make a house for you. When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and blows from mortals. But my faithful love will never leave him as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’ ”

Christ is not only that king but he alone is King of kings. For:

1 Timothy 6:15-16 (CSB) God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

And.

Daniel 7:13–14 (CSB) I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

head and savior of the church

Ephesians 1:22–23 (CSB) And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Ephesians 5:23 (CSB) because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.

Colossians 1:18 (CSB) He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

The Church is the body of Christ. Not a body, or a denomination, or a building, but the people of God, whom Christ has paid for:

Mark 10:45 (CSB) For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

1 Timothy 2:5-6 (CSB) For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.

the heir of all things

Hebrews 1:2 (CSB) In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

And

Daniel 7:13–14 (CSB) I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

Side note: if Christ is the heir of all things and we are fellow heirs with Christ, what do we inherit?

Romans 8:14-17 (CSB) For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father! ” The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs — heirs of God and coheirs with Christ — if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Our original father, Adam, had dominion through the Covenant of Works. But he lost it all due to sin. And we have no dominion. But our Second Adam has perfectly fulfilled the Covenant of Works and therefore, has inherited everything. Because we are in Christ, we are co-heirs with Christ, and we too have regain dominion over all things.

and judge of the world

Acts 17:31 (CSB) because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

Because Christ has taken back dominion, he is the judge of the living and dead:

2 Timothy 4:1 (CSB) I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom:

For the guilty, he judges them into his wrath:

Matthew 7:22–23 (CSB) On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

Revelation 20:11-15 (CSB) Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

unto whom He did from all eternity give a people to be His seed and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified

Isaiah 53:10 (CSB) Yet the LORD was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the LORD’s pleasure will be accomplished.

John 17:6 (CSB) “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Romans 8:30 (CSB) And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

For those who belongs to Christ, he judges them into his glory:

Matthew 25:21 (CSB) “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’

Revelation 21:5-8 (CSB) Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars — their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Oh close and blessed union! Justified by God, accepted in Christ, condemnation there cannot be. I stand in the Divine presence as Joshua stood before the Lord, or as the woman stood before the Savior, charged, accused, guilty; but I am in the presence of him who, though now he sits upon the throne as my Judge, once hung upon the cross as my Savior. And, investing me with his own spotless robe, he proceeds to pronounce the sentence- "NO CONDEMNATION!"

"These things write I unto you that your joy may be full."

Octavius Winslow. No Condemnation in Christ Jesus. 191.