Psa 40:7,8   Then I said, "Here I am, I have come-- it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.

       

The Psalmist prophetically catches the heart of God, or to be precise, of the Son of God. The writer to the Hebrews picks it up (Heb 10:7) and applies it specifically to Jesus. This is Jesus speaking to his Father as he stands on earth, perhaps as he prepares to start his ministry: “OK, Father, I am here, I have arrived. The journey since leaving heaven has taken thirty of these earth years, but I'm here now, and ready. It's just like all the prophecies said, that we gave our prophets, just like they wrote down on the scrolls and which they now read every Sabbath. I know what I'm here for. It hasn't been blurred by the years of growing up in this human body. I'm quite clear in my mind, Father. I'm here to do your will, that which we agreed before we brought time, space and this world into being. The plan is working. I'm here and I'm here to do your will. That's why you've given me this body. Let's do it!”

 

That's what we have here. The most amazing example of submission to the perfect, but sometimes hard, will of God. For the Son to live out life in a body with all its limitations, to do great and glorious things, blessing this world, yet then being rejected, tried and condemned, thrashed, beaten, nailed to a Cross and killed. Yes, all of that was what was involved in this example of submission to the will of God. It is an example for us to follow: “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” (Rom 12:1)