THE HAPPINESS OF GOD.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church
God is an infinitely happy God. The happiness of God means that God finds infinite, eternal, delightful joys in and of Himself. God is supremely happy. He is a rejoicing God. Paul speaks of the glorious gospel of the “blessed God” (1 Timothy 1.11). Isaiah 62.5 speaks of God rejoicing over His people. This signifies deep and profound glory that God exudes in Himself and in His character. He rejoices when sinners come to faith (Luke 15.7). This marvelous attribute that springs from God’s character is a most exhilarating and breathtaking quality flowing from the divine nature because it teaches that God is a God of emotion, of relatability, of infinite and boundless joys. And He can relate to us. Imagine that for a while!
As has been said by the Puritans: the happiness of God consists in the knowledge of Himself, and his own perfections, and His wondrous and infinite delights in them. God — and God alone — is the perfect and ultimate object of His own happiness. It has been well said that the knowledge of God consists of His own happiness and so our knowledge of God is what produces our real happiness as well. The more we know God, the happier and more joyous we become.
For God to be blessed means that He is infinitely joyous and receives infinite delight in Himself. God cannot be infinitely happy outside of Himself for that would mean something is greater than Himself because His happiness and joy would depend on something else. But that is not the case. He is the perfect sum total, in Himself, of all immeasurable delights. This is not a selfish narcissistic joy but a good, righteous, appropriate and infinite delight in His own perfect worth and glory. It is right for God to be happy in Himself because He truly is the only One who is infinitely glorious and good.
Learn and study your God for He alone is the fountain and source and well-spring of all true and real happiness. Why, then, is God truly happy? First, God is truly happy in Himself. He has perfect fellowship with each of the divine and eternal members of the Godhead. Each member delights and satisfies one another as each member is God. Each member is co-equal, co-eternal, co-existent and happy fellowship and marvelous delight springs within the perfect Godhead.
Second, God rejoices in His works of creation. He spoke all things into existence and pronounced it very good. God rejoices in His works (Psalm 104.31). Third, God is supremely happy in His Son. The Father spoke and said how he was well-pleased with His Son (Matt 3.17; 17.5). It is the Son of God who magnificently reflects the glory of the Father because He is God (Hebrews 1.2-3). Jonathan Edwards put it well: “the infinite happiness of the Father consists in the enjoyment of His Son.”
Next, God finds happiness in His people. He rejoices over His own (Isa 62.5). He exults over the covenant-ones with loud singing (Zephaniah 3.17). His own reflect His glory as the redeemed ones become more conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8.29). God delights in this. God is well-pleased in the prayers of His people. Indeed, the prayers of the upright are acceptable to God (Proverbs 15.8). Finally, God is happy in the redemptive work of the Son. He loves His glory and wants His glory to be restored in the corrupt and sin-cursed world. And that wondrous work of the Son that completes atonement and promises ultimate consummation gives joy to the heart of God. Contemplate your happy God today! The more you know Him, the happier you become!
