Jesus Today . . .

THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM

Because of the joy set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame. --- Heb. 12:2

Facing the cross as he did Jesus teaches us a vital truth about joy: it is not dependent on the circumstances surrounding us. The Scriptures are not telling us, of course, that the cross itself was joyous for Jesus, but that in spite of the circumstances of an agonizing death he found joy.

This is a lesson his disciples have always been slow in learning. Since the time that Jesus’ closest followers fled in the wake of his arrest in Gethsemane, his disciples have been reluctant to “take up the cross daily” and follow him. The chiefest disciple not only fled but cursed and denied that he even knew him, a surprising reaction from a man so strong, but this was in the face of the cross. What others could not face, Jesus did, and we see that it was because of joy. No circumstance, not even the despised Roman cross, could rob Jesus of joy. The Bible assures us that it was because of the joy set before him that he endured the cross.

We are more likely to do the very opposite by avoiding hardships, lest they interfere with our happiness. We do not think in terms of joy and suffering. Yet it is one of those mysterious facts of life that fullness of joy is closely related to the tragic. The Messiah was described in prophecy as “a man of sorrows,” and yet his mission was one of turning sorrow into joy. What a victorious line that is in Jn. 16:20: Your sorrow will be turned into joy. That is the meaning of Heb. 12:2. Jesus faced the cross because he knew his sorrow would be turned into joy, for beyond that cruel cross he would once again be with the Father.

Is this not the basis of our victory? Our sojourn in this world is going to be troublesome (period). All the promises imply that. There is no reason for us to suppose that the believer will find this world the proverbial bed of roses anymore than anyone else. The Lord does not promise us an easy life, but that he will be with us in a difficult one. “In the world you have tribulation,” Jesus says in Jn. 16:24, “but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

That is our victory, that we can be of good cheer even in our kind of world, for the world has already been defeated. Defeated in that its true nature was laid bare by the mission of Jesus. Through its enticing but false values the world deceives those that live in it, one of those deceptions being that joy comes through the abundance of possessions. Jesus was not deceived. He exposed the world for what it is, carnal. The peace it offers,. therefore, is a false peace. The world cannot give joy, only anesthesia.

I have overcome the world! That glorious truth is our only way to that joy that reaches from this life into eternity. If we allow the world to sell us a bill of goods, we can have no more than that happiness which the world gives, which is based largely on consumerism. We, like our Lord, defeat the world by believing that this world is not our home and that we have a destiny far beyond anything this world can offer. When we really believe this great truth even suffering takes on meaning. It caused Paul to say, “This small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble” (2 Cor. 4: 17).

In some way in God’s scheme of things trouble brings victory and sorrow brings joy. This Jesus knew as he faced the cross. The world’s philosophy is that it is escape, not involvement, that brings satisfaction, and knowledge and riches and power, not tragedy, that brings victory. But Jesus was not deceived. He knew that it was only through the cross that the crown could come. The world says that it is circumstances that make for well-being. There is therefore no way for a cross to bring anything except death and defeat. But Jesus believed in a power that the world cannot understand, and that is how he overcame the world. And that is why he gives us the assurance, even in an untoward world, Be of good cheer! This is to say Rejoice! in whatever circumstance. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith! (l Jn. 4:5).

Our Lord was nurtured in the Old Testament, which taught joy as well as law. “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,” we read in Isa. 12:3, while Isa. 65:18 says, “Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.” Then there is that great old psalm (126) that holds out the promise, “May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.” As a child of the Scriptures, Jesus lived in hope. He was no pessimist, for he had that love that believes all things and hopes all things. He went to the cross that way.

In the New Testament joy is even more evident, for it is described as a given of God and as fruit of the Spirit. The apostle Paul even in the circumstance of imprisonment could write, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Philip. 4:4). In Gal. 5:22 he lists the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace. It is fitting that joy is placed next to love, for it may be seen as the fruit of love. Love produces joy. In one of his greatest lines ever the apostle also writes: “The kingdom of God does not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17), and then there follows that great benediction, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Rom. 15:13).

These passages reveal something of the nature of joy. Its source is in believing. If we really believe that God will do what He says He will do, making good on all his promises, then we will have joy. At the same time joy is God’s gift to us, once we seek it like the hart pants for the water brook. Joy is the essence of the kingdom, joy in the Holy Spirit. We may presume, therefore, that the Spirit dwells only in joyful people.

It is not the same as happiness, which is not necessarily a Christian virtue or a gift of God, for happiness is more outward than inward and is dependent on circumstances. One is not likely to be sick, poor, and unemployed and still be happy, but he can be joyful in any circumstance, which is enough to argue for its spiritual quality. Joy is rather the satisfaction and assurance that all is well where it really counts. It is the confidence that we have the victory and cannot lose, even when our body is wracked with cancer. We know there is something more! That is joy.

We may say, therefore, that joy always has an element of anticipation. It looks beyond the misleading values of this world, fully confident that the Father is up to something and that in His tomorrow we will know even as we are known. But still joy is a reality in the here and now in that God is at work in this world as well as in the next. However circuitous it my seem, His purposes are being realized in the now, and in that we rejoice. We are confident that His will is being fulfilled in each of us who believe, even in (and especially in) times of trouble. He uses the hardships to ready us for a glory beyond comparison.

That is why the Master urged that his returning 72 envoys not rejoice because the demons were subject to them, but because their names were written in heaven (Lk. 10:20). Power itself is not a virtue, but a simple trusting faith in what the Father can do is a virtue. It was with this trust that Jesus endured the cross. He knew it would be cruel and painful, but he also knew that it was the Father’s will. That is joy, let come what may.

The joy that was set before Jesus, enabling him to bear all the ignominy of Calvary, is also set before us. It is a gift that the Father is eager to bestow through the Spirit to those who hunger and thirst for it. --- the Editor.

Joy is more divine than sorrow, for joy is bread and sorrow is medicine. --- Henry Ward Beecher

The most profound joy has more of gravity than of gaiety in it. ---Montaigne