"Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility He endured from sinful peo- ple; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. And have you forgotten the encourag- ing words God spoke to you as his chil- dren?
He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” Hebrews 12:1-6 NLT
This Easter season, the passage in Hebrews took on new and deeper meaning for me in light of all the events we shared together. When I consid- ered what Jesus did for me and why, it became clearer that He endured the cross keeping in mind something amaz- ing and wonderful that was going to happen because of His own suffering. The “joy awaiting him” or as it says in other translations, “the joy set before Him” was not only about returning to heaven and being back with His Father. Jesus already had that in heaven. He is perfect and complete in himself, He is over owingly happy in the eternal fel- lowship of the Trinity, and he does not need us and is not de cient without us. And yet He still willingly chose to come for us.
So, since He already had perfect joy in heaven within Himself (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), what was the “joy” that brought Him to take on esh and be born human? What was the “joy” that sustained Him through His life and min- istry here on earth? What was the “joy” that was before Him as He endured the shame, scorn, pain and suffering of the cross? Clearly the joy that await- ed Him was the joy of bringing us along with Him into the Father’s presence. It was His great joy to love us and include us in His glory. That thought amazes me and makes me want to love Him so much more.  click here to read more...