The Perfect Obedience of Christ - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2026

I delight to do Thy will.
Psalm 40:8

The Perfect Obedience of Christ
Our blessed Lord Jesus found the will of God to be His only motive for action. There was nothing in Him that needed to be restrained by the authority of God. His will was perfect and His every movement was of necessity—the very necessity of His perfect nature—in the current of the divine will: "I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (Jn. 6:38).

Now, what could Satan do with such a Man as this? Absolutely nothing. He tried to withdraw Him from the path of obedience and the place of dependence, but in vain. "If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread" (Mt. 4:3). Surely God would give His Son bread. No doubt, but the perfect Man refuses to make bread for Himself. He had no command, no authority, and therefore no motive for action. "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (v. 4). Nothing could withdraw the blessed One from the path of simple obedience. "It is written" was His one unvarying answer. He would not, could not act without a motive, and His only motive was found in the will of God. "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart."

Such was the obedience of Jesus Christ, an obedience perfect from first to last. And not only was He perfectly obedient, but perfectly dependent. Though God over all, blessed forever, yet, having taken His place as a Man in this world, He lived a life of perfect dependence on God. He could say, "I was cast upon Thee from the womb" (Ps. 22:10). He was wholly and continually cast upon God from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary; and when He had finished all, He surrendered His spirit into the Father's hand. His obedience and dependence were divinely perfect throughout.

C. H. Mackintosh