The Attributes of God Devotional - God is Blessed

Many people may not think of God being blessed as an attribute.  Many systematic theologies do not even speak of the blessedness of God as a divine attribute.  I can argue, however, that “God is blessed” is the perfect three-word summation as to who God is.

All of God’s attributes unite perfectly, with the result that he has in himself an infinite eternal fullness, delight, and joy.  God needs nothing outside of himself and nothing outside of God can hurt him.  He is perfectly happy, and all of us would agree that the one who is perfectly happy is blessed.  It is therefore no surprise to read that God is spoken of as the blessed God (1 Tim. 1:11).

Some might argue that Christ could not have had perfect joy on earth, being “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3).  Yet joy and grief can co-exist together, and Christ did have perfect joy.  Being without sin (Heb. 4:15), he was not in the estate of sin and misery that the rest of mankind is in (WSC 17).  Being filled with the Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:34), he was full of the fruit of the Spirit, including joy (Gal 5:22, 23).  He delighted to do the will of the Father (Ps. 40:6-8; Heb.10:5-7), and so endured the cross, despising the shame (Heb. 12:2).  Even at the darkest moments on Calvary, he saw the outcome and rejoiced (Isa. 53:10-11).

This blessedness is partaken by created beings, although not in the perfect and infinite sense that God has it.  The elect angels have received this blessedness from God, and Adam had it in the Garden.  Prior to the Fall he had perfect joy, as he fellowshipped with God, saw God’s goodness, and knew that he had been created in God’s image in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (WSC 10).  Adam lost that blessedness when he fell by sinning against God, and in Adam we also fell.  We have a promise, however, that those who are in Christ will at death or at Christ’s coming be made perfect in holiness (Heb. 12:23), and so once again we will have that blessedness for all eternity that Adam had prior to the Fall.

Yet we can (and should) partake of this blessedness now.  To the extent that we make in this life God as our portion (Ps. 16:5, 6; 73:26), we enjoy that blessedness here in this life, truly having heaven on earth.  In Habakkuk 3:17-19 we read the prophet rejoicing in the Lord, declaring God to be his strength, and thus his portion, even if the economy of the kingdom of Judah collapsed entirely.  In this time of uncertainty, we would not go wrong in following his example.