CHAPTER 2: IS GOD HAPPY?

ANGLICAN BISHOP J. C. RYLE (1816–1900) wrote, “Happiness is what all mankind want to obtain—the desire for it is deeply planted in the human heart.”[1]

If this desire is “deeply planted” in our hearts, then who planted it? Fallen people? The devil? Or, as J. C. Ryle believed, our Creator?

Our answer to that question will dramatically affect the way we see the world. If we believe God is happy, then doesn’t it stand to reason that he would create us with the desire and capacity to be happy?

As we’ve seen, the gospel of salvation in the Messiah is prophesied as the “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7). The angels proclaimed to the shepherds “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). The degree of happiness in the good news is dependent on the degree of happiness possessed by the originator and sender of that good news—God himself.

To be godly is to resemble God. If God were unhappy, we’d need to pursue unhappiness, which sounds as fun as cultivating an appetite for gravel.

Fortunately, however, God doesn’t condemn or merely tolerate our desire to be happy; he gave us that longing. Through the Cross, he granted us the grounds and capacity to be happy forever. He encourages us here and now to find happiness in the very place it comes from—him.

Happiness Began with the Triune God

In one sense, the idea that happiness began with God isn’t exactly right. Because if happiness is part of who God is, then happiness didn’t “begin” at all—it has always been, since God has always been.

In his book Delighting in the Trinity, Michael Reeves writes, “The Trinity is the governing center of all Christian belief, the truth that shapes and beautifies all others. The Trinity is the cockpit of all Christian thinking.”[2] Yet strangely, the Trinity is rarely discussed in most Christian books on joy or happiness.

Twice in Matthew’s Gospel—at Jesus’ baptism and at the Transfiguration—we see extraordinary exhibitions of the triune God’s happiness:

When Jesus was baptized . . . behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

MATTHEW 3:16-17

The Father’s and the Holy Spirit’s participation in this event demonstrates their approval of Jesus and their happiness in him.

At the Transfiguration, the Father’s statement is repeated: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5).

In Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming of Jesus, the Father says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights” (Isaiah 42:1). For the Father to be well pleased and delighted with his Son means he finds great happiness in him.

Likewise, the Son and the Holy Spirit had every reason for total delight in each other and with the Father from before the dawn of time (see John 17:24 and 1 Peter 1:20).

Steve DeWitt writes, “Before you ever had a happy moment, or your great-grandparents had a happy moment, or Adam and Eve had a happy moment—before the universe was even created—God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit were enjoying a perfect and robust relational delight in one another.”[3]

God’s communal happiness within himself has significant implications for our own happiness. It means happiness began long before the first human experienced it. It also explains how God could be displeased with his creatures and their sin without disrupting his innate happiness.

Does the Bible Really Say God Is Happy?

Yes, it certainly does! Many times Scripture states that God experiences delight and pleasure. But sadly, in some cases when it affirms God’s happiness, readers of English Bibles don’t understand what the original language was communicating.

The apostle Paul wrote of “the gospel of the glory of the blessed [makarios] God with which I have been entrusted” (1 Timothy 1:11). Later in the same book, God is referred to as “he who is the blessed [makarios] and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (6:15).

In 1611, when the King James Version translators chose the word blessed in verses like these, it meant “happy”! Even two centuries after the KJV was translated, people still understood blessed to mean “happy.”

For example, Charles Spurgeon, a renowned nineteenth-century preacher, commented about this connection between blessed and happy. He said of 1 Timothy 1:11, “The Gospel . . . is the Gospel of happiness. It is called, ‘the glorious Gospel of the blessed God.’ A more correct translation would be, ‘the happy God.’ Well, then, adorn the Gospel by being happy!”[4]

While “blessed” was once a good translation, today it fails to convey the connotation of happiness that the original word held for Paul’s readers.

What’s the Source of Happiness?

Paul didn’t simply talk about the gospel; he talked about its source: “the happy God.” This good news comes from not just any god but the one true happy God.

Occam’s razor is the philosophical rule that the simplest explanation is most likely true. In 1 Timothy 1:11, the simplest explanation is that, writing under the inspiration of God’s Spirit, Paul called God happy precisely because God is happy!

Once you realize God’s happiness, you see it everywhere in Scripture. For instance, in Christ’s story of the Prodigal Son, the elder brother resents his father for happily celebrating his brother’s repentance. The father explains, “But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found” (Luke 15:32, GNT).

Why did the father say he had to celebrate and be happy? God only has to do what’s true to his nature—his happiness compels celebration. He grieves over sin—even to the point of dying on a cross to restore his relationship with his children. When they repent, he throws a party and all Heaven rejoices (see Luke 15:7; 22-24). This all transpires because God is happy! When I’ve shared from Scripture the truth of God’s happiness, people who have long been Christians are often initially skeptical, assuming this is a modern attempt to twist the Bible’s meaning. But once they see this ancient, biblically solid truth, they’re both surprised and delighted.

Many Scriptures Assume God’s Happiness

We are told, “Delight yourself in the LORD” (Psalm 37:4). Do you take delight in people who are not delightful?

“May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you!” (Psalm 40:16, NET). Could we be happy in God if God were not happy? Could we rejoice in him if he were not joyful?

Psalm 2:12 offers a clear picture of the happiness of those who trust God:

The oldest and most literal English translations render the verse this way:

How could we become happy by taking refuge in a God who is not happy?

Other verses describe the happiness offered God’s people:

These passages don’t directly state, “God is happy.” But they make sense only if he is. When was the last time you were made happy by an unhappy person?

We are to be holy because God is (see 1 Peter 1:16). We should be happy for the same reason—because God is.

How Can God Be Happy When There’s So Much Sin?

We know that God is unhappy with sin, and there’s so much sin in the world. So isn’t he unhappy all the time?

God’s unhappiness is specifically directed at sin. Therefore, it is temporary, because sin itself is a temporary aberration, decisively and eternally dealt with by Christ.

Happiness, in contrast, is the underlying nature of the timeless God. His happiness is eternal and constant. It preceded sin’s birth and will forever continue after sin’s death. He who was happy before the world began will be happy in the world to come, and he is happy now.

I’m convinced that in the new universe—called in Scripture the New Heaven and the New Earth—the attribute of God’s happiness will overflow everywhere we look. The God who delights to make us happy tells us, “My people will be happy forever because of the things I will make” (Isaiah 65:18, NCV).

Upon their deaths, Christ-followers won’t hear, “Go and submit to your master’s harshness” but “Come and join in your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21, CJB).

The literal translation is, “Enter into your master’s happiness.” We can only enter into what already exists. To enter into our master’s happiness means we don’t have to muster up our own happiness. Rather, God invites us to participate in his own infinite happiness, which has unlimited room for the happiness of his creatures.

Once we comprehend the enormity of God’s happiness, anticipating those amazing words “Enter into my happiness” can sustain us through every heartbreak and challenge in our present lives.

No wonder the devil doesn’t want us to believe in God’s happiness! He knows how completely it would thwart his attempts to make us view life with a dismal and downtrodden perspective.

God’s Happiness Is Attractive

When we recognize that God is happy, we see how his happiness overflows in all he does.

If your grumpy neighbor asks, “What are you up to?” you’ll see the question as suspicious and condemning. But if your cheerful neighbor asks the same thing, you’ll smile and talk about your plans. We interpret people’s words according to how we perceive their character and outlook. So it is with our view of God.

If we think of God as unhappy—and many sincere Christians do—we will interpret his words in Scripture accordingly. When he tells us not to do certain things, we’ll think he’s trying to keep us from happiness. But if we know God to be happy, we will understand that he tells us to avoid things because, like a loving parent who warns a child to stay away from the highway, he wants us to be wise and happy.

Christians are often told to spend time with God in the Bible and through prayer and in church. This is good counsel, but the unspoken question sometimes is, “Why would I want to spend time with an unhappy God who cares about my obedience but not my happiness?”

As the only infinite being in the universe, God has within himself not only unlimited holiness, love, and goodness, but also unlimited joy, gladness, and delight.

Happiness is attractive and contagious. Infinite happiness is infinitely attractive. Those who believe God is happy will want to know him better.

To think of God as not only good but good natured is paradigm shifting. Being drawn to his quality of happiness, like any who fall in love, we will be eager to spend time with him and learn more about his other attributes.

Isn’t it time we not only acknowledge but enthusiastically celebrate what the Bible has said all along about the “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7), and the glorious gospel of the happy God (see 1 Timothy 1:11)?