For many years, all my life really, when I’ve heard the term, “the Joy of the Lord”, for example: “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”, I’ve thought of it as the joy the Lord gives me. I experience joy in knowing Him, being loved by Him. The joy of having the Lord in my life.
But today I am seeing it differently.
I know the joy we have in walking with God is legit and not to be dismissed. But let’s look at it differently, just now.
What if the joy of the Lord is His joy?
Hebrews 12:2
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
This flow of thought that is continuously running through my mind and heart, …..
(and by continuously, I mean mainly in the morning and then later in the day I’m a slob again.)….the thought, day after day, is that I need to see Jesus for Who He really is.
So there’s the verse in Hebrews. “For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross.”
Let’s look at Jesus. Jesus was/is from the beginning. Jesus was/is the express image of the person of God. Jesus is God, come down to man, in the form of man, to destroy sin completely, to reveal God truly to us, and open up the way for us to be with God, right here, right now. This is Jesus.
Jesus knew, from the beginning, that there would be JOY once His suffering was completed. He was looking forward to the joy. It was set before Him as the cross was looming on His horizon. Jesus knew that the joy set before Him was worth enduring the horror of the cross. That’s the kind of joy that was set before Him. The joy of the Lord.
And, my beautiful family, this is the joy set before us, as well, because Jesus opened the way.
Jesus loves us so much. The more we see Him, the more we will realize the depth of His love.
I love you all.
