We continue in our names of God study today.

In our last lesson we saw that Jesus is the Teacher.

Today we will see that He is the Agapao. 

In love He predestined us to adoption as sons 

through Jesus Christ to Himself, 

according to the kind intention of His will, 

to the praise of the glory of His grace, 

which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:5-6

 

Agapao is the Greek word for Beloved and it means to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly…

The beautiful thing about this name (or title) of our Jesus is that this is the name that God the Father calls Him from the heavens as He introduces and confirms Him to those He came to save.

After being baptized,

Jesus came up immediately from the water;

and behold, the heavens were opened,

and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove

and lighting on Him,

and behold, a voice out of the heavens said,

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

Matthew 3:16-17

As Jesus was coming up out of the baptismal Jordan the heavens opened up and God declared to all… this is my Beloved…

This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 

“Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; 

My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased; 

I will put My Spirit upon Him,

and He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

Matthew 12:17-18

Here He was, the Beloved. The Promised One. The One in whom the soul of God was pleased because it was the soul of God in human flesh. Here God declared to all His Love for this One who would die a sinners death on that wretched Roman cross. The Father cried out from heaven and said Here! Do you see Him. I love Him. I dearly love Him. No matter what His accusers say of Him… No matter what human judge condemns Him… My soul is well-pleased in Him. In Him. The very soul of God, is well pleased in this One that is His dearly loved… the Agapao, the Beloved.

Then the crazy of crazy of all this is that even though much of mankind exulted with the demons of hell on the day that the Beloved bled and died on that cross, the Beloved still chose to return for us… Risen from the dead in resurrection power and glory and coming to the rescue of any and all who believe and call on His name, Jesus, Iesous, Jehovah-Saves.

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness,

and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son

Colossians 1:13

Not only does He rescue us, but now the Beloved calls us beloved…

So, as those who have been chosen of God,

holy and beloved,

put on a heart of compassion,

kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

bearing with one another, and forgiving each other,

whoever has a complaint against anyone;

just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Beyond all these things put on love,

which is the perfect bond of unity.

Colossians 3:12-14

 

What unites God the Father and God the Son is Love. Jesus is His Beloved, He called Him My Beloved. It is a soul to soul love. Then what unites us with Christ is His love for us. He, the Beloved, calls us beloved…

Before I met my husband, I did not know his family. My husbands family loved him. He was their beloved son… but then my husband united with me in love. Their beloved now called me beloved… and when he took me to his family I came in as His beloved, and then I became their beloved as well.

We become the beloved of God because His Beloved unites with us in love and He brings us to His Father and we become the Father’s beloved, holy and beloved…

It’s beautiful isn’t it.

This crazy thing called love… <3

Just for fun here’s a little Looney Tunes love… my favorite line is the last… “The game of love is never called because of darkness.”

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