Question:
We say that God showed that He was satisfied with Christ’s work on the cross by raising Christ from the dead. Is there Scriptural backing for this thought?
Answer:
Yes, without the very least doubt there is. “Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him” (John 13:31,32). Our Lord and Savior is here referring to His death on Calvary. He would soon be judged for sin and bear our sins in His own body. In bearing the judgment that God’s holiness required, He would put sin away from before God for eternity. Then, with that work finished, God would offer a perfect salvation to mankind based on His righteousness. Jesus Christ is glorified because He is seen as our holy and only Savior. God is glorified because He is shown as a Savior God making the way for the dead in sin to escape His judgment and have life eternal.
“I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:4,5). The holy Son of God, our Savior Jesus, is looking on to the glory He will soon enter. He looks past the cross upon which He is soon to die, for there was never a doubt that He would go there “and finish the work” that the Father gave Him to do. Now, the Man who was judged for sin and bore our sins is glorified along with the Father. He was in the glory with the Father as the Eternal Son before He came to this earth; but now, I repeat, the Man who bore our curse on the cross is glorified along with the Father.
One more important thing:In Romans 4:25 it says that Jesus “was raised for our justification.” This means that because the Lord was raised from among the dead God sees us in Christ as absolutely pure, as though no sin has ever been in us. Justification is just that:as though there never was any sin in us who are redeemed by His blood. Therefore, later in John 17 Jesus prays to the Father, “I will that they also, whom Thou has given Me, be with me where I am; that they may behold My glory.” Can it be imagined what it will be like when we are with our loving Savior and Lord in eternity, seeing and partaking in His glory?
This all shows that God was much more than “satisfied,” for both the Father and the Son are “glorified” and we shall “be made perfect in one” seeing and partaking in that glory of the Day of God when we shall enter into His rest.