Focus: Our Sweet Sovereign!

Text: 1Pet.2:3

"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is GRACIOUS."

Peter, in this text,aligns himself with what the psalmist had said, "O taste and see that the LORD is GOOD: blessed is the man that trusteth in him" (Ps.34:8). Peter uses the Greek word kurios for the Hebrew word YHVH or yehôvâh, meaning that Peter acknowledges Jesus Christ as the same self-existent and self-sufficient sovereign of the Old Testament. Even Thomas acknowledged Christ as his 'Lord' and his 'God.' The God of the Old Testament is a triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not three Gods, but three persons in one God. It is a mystery that the finite mind of man cannot fully fathom. It is theology beyond logic.

Peter says, "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is GRACIOUS." Again Peter uses chrēstos for ţôb. The word chrēstos is translated in the New Testament as 'easy, better, kind, goodness, and gracious.' The word ţôb translates as 'good, pleaseth, fair, goodness, goodly, better, best, prosperity, goods, well, fairer, merry, favor, goodlier, goodliest, pleased, kindness, glad, beautiful, pleasant, precious, kindly, fine, wealth, welfare, pleasing, liketh, pleasure, ease, loving, bountiful, joyful, ready, sweet, most, fairer, graciously, well-favored, and cheerful.' You can see how it is variously described or translated.

The Lord is sweet to the taste. The Lord is gracious. The Lord is the best thing that ever happened to you. The Lord is kind; He is kindness personified. The Lord is all the wealth you need. His presence in your life is prosperity. The Lord is pleasant, pleasing and loving. He is our sweet sovereign.

"O taste and see…" Taste God and see for yourself how good He is, how lovely and loving He is, and how beautiful and fair He is. There is no better God anywhere else in this universe. He is fairer than all the gods of our fabrication and all the gods of the figment of our imagination. A little taste of Him will convince you. Like Jonathan, you will sweetly exclaim, "How mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey" (1Sam.14:29).

Peter says, "IF ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." The little word 'if' is known in the Greek as the 'if' of certainty. In other words, no doubt is implied. It means that the people Peter was writing to had indeed tasted the graciousness and goodness of God. They could testify to the fact that the Sovereign Lord was truly and extremely sweet. God will never leave a sour taste in your mouth at the end of the day. 

The God you serve is not a bitter-and-sweet God. Rather He turns bitter into sweet, water into wine, ugliness into elegance, and ashes into beauty. John writes, "When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine…" (Jh.2:9). Jesus Christ makes the best wine out of ordinary water, and it tastes so good, and He keeps the best wine for the last lap of life's events. He sweetens up your life. He comes into your life to make it good and enjoyable.

Taste the wine of Christ, and you can tell that there is no wine like it in this world. It is made of water only, yet it is the best wine ever produced on earth.

The author of Hebrews says, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost" (Heb.6:4). Apart from tasting of His wine, you also taste of the heavenly gift - the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is your enabler and helper. He says also, "And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come" (Heb.6:5). You taste God as being good and gracious. You taste the wine of Christ made out of water. You taste the heaven gift - the Spirit of God Himself - and become a partaker of Him. You taste of the powers of the world still to come.

Moses writes about the manna, "And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey" (Ex.16:31). Again he writes, "And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil" (Num.11:8). When you taste His manna, it has the taste of a wafer made of honey and the taste of fresh oil. The manna of God's word is so sweet. The psalmist says, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Ps.119:103). The psalmist is describing his experience with God's word. God's word is delicious and tasty. God is so sweet to the taste.

In the Song of Solomon, the lady says, "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." Spiritually speaking, that is the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of repentance, the fruits of righteousness, the fruits of heavenly wisdom, fruits of labor, fruits of godly character, and fruits of the tree of life.

Our Sovereign Lord is sweet. Taste and see for yourself. Taste and testify. Tell it to the world that God is good and gracious. He is the best thing that ever happened to all of us who believe in Jesus Christ. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter