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. Hebrews 12:2
One of the most despised tasks of our childhood was the annual filling of the woodshed with the slabwood that had been dumped by the sawmill truck in our chipyard. It was tedious and uncomfortable work. Our hands were sure to pick up one or two splinters from the wood. Our arms would be rubbed raw from the rough bark. Our heels would be blistered from working in that rough environment. And the woodshed seemed to take such a long time to fill up. It took several days to get all that wood inside. I am sure I speak for my sisters when I say we hated that job. So to offer us some encouragement, our father would sometimes promise to buy us an ice cream pie if we finished by the end of a particular day. That was an encouragement, because no treat was more attractive to us than an ice cream pie. When our energy was flagging halfway through a hot and sweaty afternoon, and our tempers were wearing thin, somebody would mention that ice cream pie, and we would be back at it again. As the wood pile shrank and as the shed filled up, the anticipation of that ice cream pie carried us through to the completion of the task. Could it have been like that for the Lord Jesus as He endured the cross for us.
There was a great joy for the Lord Jesus to anticipate as He entered into and passed through the judgment of Calvary. Firstly, His joy was to do His Father’s will. The first Adam had failed in this, but the Last Adam would not and could not fail. He could say with delight, ‘I do always those things that please the Father (John 8:29)’. To be able to do that brought Him great joy. Just as it should thrill our hearts that our Salvation has brought us into an ability to please the Father, an ability that we did not have in our unconverted state. Secondly, the Lord Jesus would rejoice that He was delivering lost sinners from the judgment that we deserved. His great love for us caused Him to rejoice in the anticipation of our deliverance. Thirdly, He could rejoice that the ones that He would deliver would be brought into the joy of our Salvation. All of this joy was set before Him as He endured the cross.
Only eternity will be long enough for us to realize the extent of what the Lord Jesus endured at Calvary. We read of His rejection, shame, sorrow, and suffering. But we defer to the words of the hymn writer who said,’None of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed, or how dark was the night that our Lord passed through, ere He found the sheep that was lost’. To say that He endured the cross is to say more than we can understand.
Our text must lead us into worship today as we meditate on a Savour Who has endured so much for us and Whose delight is in the joy that He brings to us. -Jim MacIntosh