"Christ Jesus is both God and man. And anent the Godhead, He is Himself highest bliss, and was, from without beginning, and shall be, without end: which endless bliss may never be heightened nor lowered in itself....And anent Christ's Manhood...He, with the virtue of Godhead, for love, to bring us to His bliss suffered pains and passions, and died. ,,,And this is the bliss of Christ's works... we be His bliss, we be His meed, we be His worship, we be His crown."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 31)
Christ is both God and man. As God, Christ is the highest joy that ever was or ever will be. Noone could be as full of joy as God is, as happy as God is, and noone could give us as much joy as God can. And as Man, Christ died and rose to bring us up to that very bliss. He wanted us to experience and be part of that high joy that is the Godhead. (And it was all the members of the Godhead at work in Christ's passion to bring this about; the Spirit was present with Christ at the cross, and the Father was in the Son reconciling all of us to relationship with God.) And this is the amazing thing, not only that we find ultimate, highest bliss in having and knowing God but also that He finds ultimate, highest bliss in having and knowing us! We are actually His bliss, joy, and crown! What was God dreaming of before time began? He was dreaming of all of us, His created children, being wrapped up in eternal bliss enjoying the family circle of the Trinity! Nothing else would please Him more, and nothing else would please us more. We were made for eternal bliss, joy, happiness, exuberance and delight. Do we realize how delightful we are to God, how happy we make Him? After all, fathers adore their little children and can't imagine their lives without them, so wouldn't God have the same feelings, to an infinitely greater degree? We make His heart leap for joy, and we are going to be experiencing that joy, God enjoying us and us enjoying God, forevermore!
"He happily rejoices over you, renews you with His love, and celebrates over you with shouts of joy."
Zephaniah 3:17 (GW)
A Prayer: The happiest place of all is with You, Lord!