Here's a verse where God expresses His pleasure in Jesus Christ. The book of Matthew, chapter 17, verse 5; here's what it has to say:
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
In the preceding verse, Peter was talking to Jesus, suggesting putting up places of shelter for Him, Moses, and Elijah. While talking, the voice of God made this statement to him. This is actually the second passage in the Bible where the voice of God came down from heaven, declaring Jesus Christ as His son and His pleasure in Him.
The first one happened when John the Baptist was baptizing Jesus. The same scenario played out. Nothing else is capable of pleasing the Father the most other than His beloved Son. That's why God is considered to have made the biggest sacrifice by laying the life of His most beloved for our sakes.
Jesus was the only being known to live a perfect and sinless life while He was yet still on earth. He considered the delights of His Father and knew that sin wasn't one of them. Every action He ever took during His entire lifetime was for the pleasure of God, His Father.
Imagine someone that sits at the right hand of God, considering the millions of eternal beings in heaven: the angels, the twenty-four elders, the Cherubim, and the seraphim. God selected no one other than Jesus Christ.
There are, however, other things that please God, but not as His son. We can see this in the Book of Jeremiah, chapter 9, verse 23-24:
(23)This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,
(24)but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
God says to delight in these things: kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. So anyone who exercises these things, God is pleased with them because they are putting His interests at heart. Worship is also a powerful act that pleases God as well.
These things manage to stir up delight in the Father, but not compared to His son.
That's why our biggest prayer as Christians is to be like Christ, so as to be pleased by the Father.
Thank you brother Eli for this teaching. May God bless you.
