"He brought forth His people with joy; and His chosen with gladness." [Psa 105:43]
Regarding Jesus’ sacrifice, it says in Hebrews that Jesus, “for the joy being set before Him endured the cross…” [Heb 12:2] Regarding the most painful part of Jesus’ life, His greatest hour of affliction and torment, where the agonies of our sins were crushing Him to pieces, Jesus had joy set before Him. There was an object of joy so great and so deep set before our Lord that it motivated and provoked Him to endure the cross, as it says again, “for the joy being set before Him, [He] endured the cross.” Even through the agonies and torments of the cross, Jesus did not lose sight of that joy nor did He lose hope. Despite even the fact that He was bearing our sins for us, being made into sin on our account, [2 Cor 5:21] yet even so Jesus remained steadfast. He would not be moved. Though a thousand ropes were attached to Christ to pull Him opposite of Calvary, yet He would have trudged on, undeterred by their force. Though a dozen temptations were to strike His heart and mind at once, giving ample and sufficient reasons for why He might alleviate Himself from pain for our sakes, yet He would endure nevertheless. For Jesus had before Him a great object of unsurpassable joy – that which brought Him, (and as the present verb in Hebrews 12 shows us), still yet brings Him, joy. That object is you, dear Christian, and I. The object of Jesus’ joy, that which was set before Him, yes and still set before Him, which imbued Him with desire to endure through the cross, is His bride, the church. For in Isaiah we read of Christ, “…He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days…” [Isa 53:10] You and I, dear reader, are “His seed.” Yes, we are “the seed of the Blessed of The LORD;” and we are “the children whom The LORD hath given [to Christ].” [Isa 65:23; 8:18]
We are the joy set before Jesus: we are the objects which fill His heart with motivation to suffer, with love and with sweet passion. Does this sound altogether too wonderful to you? Too far-fetched and certainly too optimistic? What then of the glories spoken of by the prophet:
“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will leap/dance for joy over thee with a shout of joy.” [Zeph 3:17]
And again, speaking through Solomon, Christ says to His bride,
“Thou art all beautiful, my love; there is no spot in thee…thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! And the smell of thine ointments than all spices!” [Songs 4:7, 9-10]
The love of Jesus for His church knows no limits. His love “is surpassing knowledge.” [Eph 3:19] As Jacob “served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her,” [Gen 29:20] so too Christ served and endured for His bride, not counting it as drudgery or evil, but seeing it as a worthwhile and joyful pursuit. Again, as our verse tells us, “He brought forth His people with joy; and His chosen with gladness.” Just as The Father saved His people from Egypt with joy, so too Jesus has saved us from sin and all our other enemies with joy. Our salvation was bound up in Jesus’ heart: it was His genuine desire to save us; as it says of Christ,
“Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips…he asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation…” [Psa 21:2, 4-5]
May you rest today in Jesus’ love for you. It is an eternal love, a burning love; a love which cannot be quenched. You are to Him “the apple of His eye,” [Deut 32:10] and He shall not lose sight of you, for you have been upon Christ’s heart even from eternity past. He has set you before Himself as an object of blessed joy, and it was with joy and gladness He did bring you out of your sins, having been crushed upon the cross to accomplish your forgiveness and salvation. May God be praised for His great love; and may we ever stay confident in it: for we are no burden to our King, but a joy; no regret, but a delight.
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