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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:02, NKJV).
This is an astonishing verse in so many ways, not the least of which is the revelation that one of the motivations for Jesus going to the Cross was, amazingly, joy.
I can easily imagine grim resolve. Or determined obedience to the Father's will, facts that other texts clearly describe, but joy?
Shameless and perverse critics have used this verse and others to argue that the Bible, if it contains any truth at all, illuminates a blood-thirsty, sadomasochistic deity no better than the devil itself.
But people think and say a lot of mindless things.
No, the prospect of excruciation was not the source of joy, but the eternal benefit to us that His enduring that horrific death would yield.
His death was our rescue.
His death was setting us free from the eternal penalty of sin.
His death was His indescribable gift to the Father, planned before the foundation of the world, that would redeem a helpless and hopeless fallen Creation, and present us without spot or blemish to the Throne of God.
His death was our eternal life in the Presence of God, attainable no other way.
That was the joy set before Him.
And unaccountably, we are the joy that was set before Him. That is, those of mankind who know, believe and live by the truth that is revealed in Jesus.
A common and willful misconception of the God of the Bible is that He is a tyrannical demander of worship and adoration and sacrifice. It is His way, or the highway to Hell.
Yes, he desires our adoration and worship, yet not for His sake, but for ours. He needs nothing from us, but knows that we become like what we worship. Either ourselves in this fallen state, headed inevitably and irretrievably toward eternal destruction. Or His perfect Son, through whom we have eternal life.
Yes, He has sovereign authority over His Creation, the "right of manufacture" as it is written about in some old Puritan texts, but authority only equates to tyranny when misused for evil. When an all-knowing, all-powerful, wholly good, utterly holy, and everywhere-present Deity exercises authority, it is the opposite of tyranny. It is, by definition, the epitome of "Beneficent Rulership".
And sacrifice? Of course, self-sacrifice is the ONLY antidote for our default state of hopeless self-obsession. Giving up something for yourself to provide good for another is noble and honorable, and know this: Jesus exemplifies this very principle - by becoming a Man, by showing the Way, and by voluntarily going to the Cross.
Listen to Christ's only self-description in the New Testament:
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NKJV).
And read His only reason for doing the things that He did:
“for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10, NKJV).
Understand this, beloved of God, no matter how you see yourself, the Father sees you through the eyes of His Son, and those eyes are the same ones that looked upon the very people who drove the iron spikes through His hands and feet, and asked, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34, NKJV).
As we are His joy, so He is ours.
Without Him and His enduring the Cross, our brief span of life on this earth is but a vaporous prelude to unending torment.
With Him, because of Him, we are granted full citizenship in Heaven.
Forever.
