"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
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: 1-2 KJV
I couldn't tell you how many times, over the course of my life, that my circumstances have dictated my joy. Surely more times than I could even admit, so many times I am ashamed; and one day I'll have to answer for all those times. One day I'll stand before the just and Almighty God, Who has also been so gracious and providential toward me, and I will answer for all the times that I grumbled at the circumstances He sovereignly bestowed on my life. How on earth I dare to question and doubt what He gives me, I'll never know. He is all-knowing and I am not. He knows exactly what I need and therefore exactly what to give me and when: trial or success, pain or full health, financial hardship or abundance. It is amazing that I dare to question, when I am so small and insignificant and He is so powerful, so loving, so sufficient. My sinful nature can have such a powerful hold over me. Sin truly does easily beset me, the weight of it throwing my balance as I run this earthly race.
And then there is my Savior Jesus. A Man of Sorrows, so acquainted with grief in His lifetime. Despised and rejected by sinful, self-serving men. Scorned and mocked even by those who were supposed to love Him. Even His closest friends denied Him in the face of threat. And at the end of a lifetime of suffering, He stood alone in the middle of the night, abandoned by those friends, looking with dread at the accursed cross standing on the horizon before Him. His divinity knew the depth of the suffering that awaited Him there; that knowledge pressed from Him the bloody sweat in the garden of Gethsemane as His human nature asked of God if there was any possible way this cup could pass from Him... any possible way that there could be a path away from the cross; "nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Always perfect obedience in accordance with His Father's perfect will. Never an ounce of complaint or ungratefulness. Sinless and upright in every thought, every word, every deed, even every inclination. Yes, He knew the ultimate terror of the suffering that God's will included for Him in the way of the cross.
And He endured.
He endured these circumstances: harsh beatings by the Jewish rulers that left His body battered and bruised... insignificant men striking the Messiah across the face. Scourging by the Roman authorities... multi-stranded whips with hooks that tore the flesh from His back in bloody shreds. Humiliating ridicule as He was dressed in a robe and a crown of thorns was driven deep into His scalp. A scepter placed in His hands to mock Him for calling Himself the King of the Jews, a scepter that was also used to further beat Him. How He probably fought to remain conscious through the excruciating pain, as they tied the heavy crossbeam to His back and demanded He carry it up to Golgotha. Would the Messiah have even been recognizable after such suffering? He could not carry the cross, so instead He followed it as Simon from Cyrene carried it for Him. He followed the cross all the way to His own death.
There on Calvary's hill, His already battered, bruised, and lacerated body was nailed to the wood, large spikes driven between the bones in His wrists to hold Him in place. The crossbeam was lifted and secured to the vertical beam, suspending Christ Jesus between Heaven and earth; both rejecting Him. Another nail was driven through the arches of His feet. One foot stood on a rest block so as to prolong His suffering, to assist Him in moving His body upward to lessen the excruciating tension at the spikes and downward just to take a breath. So much effort it took to breathe, and so much more to speak. Skin, muscles and tendons tearing from the gravity and with every movement. Muscles cramping and convulsing as every agonizing moment brought Him nearer and nearer to suffocation. Our minds quickly move to “how could they”, or “I would never have…” but those thoughts are quickly snuffed out by the realization that every sin we commit and will ever commit is another cry of “crucify Him, crucify Him!” Every sin of thought, word, deed, and inclination is yet another pounding of those spikes, driving them deeper and deeper into the wood. Yes, He suffered greatly and willingly at the hands of weak and sinful men, at your hands and my hands. But that mental, emotional, and physical agony was entirely dimmed in comparison to His greatest agony and suffering: being separated from His dear Father for the first and only time in eternity. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
He endured the entirety of God's wrath for all the abundant sins committed against Him by His people. Every sin. All past, present, and future sins. Every single drop of God's righteous and powerful anger was poured out upon His beloved Son. Justice for a crime that Jesus never committed. He endured the depths of Hell on the cross as it engulfed Him in darkness for three hours. All of our wretched sin, every single one, imputed to Him there. And then as His saving work was completed, with one last agonizing effort at speech came His victory cry, "It is finished". He gave up His life and was laid in the grave.
Our Savior Jesus endured such fierce, untamed, all-encompassing suffering and agony. Such agony that it is not even humanly comprehensible for us.
How? And why?
For the joy that was set before Him.
Jesus knew that as fierce, and untamed, and all-encompassing His suffering and agony would be, the joy that would meet Him when He reached the right hand of God in Heaven would be infinitely more fierce, untamed, and all-encompassing. So great, so deep, so wide is that Heavenly joy. Joy that will abound forever and ever through all eternity! Just as His suffering was incomprehensible for our frail earthly minds, the joy that He attained is impossible for us to wrap our minds around too. And He went the terrible way of the cross so that He could bring us, His children, into that joy and that fellowship and sweet communion with Him. Just as our sins were imputed to Him on that cross, His righteousness was imputed to us in that saving work. Because God loved us and sent Jesus to die for us, we can direct our gaze toward Heaven and look forward to the day when we will enter into that joy as well. What a day that will be.
It is so easy to be burdened down by the things that we struggle with and the trials that we face in this lifetime. Yet we must try every day to become more Christ-like, who endured sufferings innumerable without ever once grumbling or complaining against God's will for Him. We can know that every difficulty we will face, He understands. He has suffered the things of this earth before us. He suffered the greatness of God's wrath against our sin so that we would not have to. We need to keep our eyes and minds and hearts on that same Heavenly goal as He did. Lay aside every weight that slows you down. Discontentment, bitterness, anger, jealousy, laziness, addiction, apathy, selfishness... the list goes on. Turn away from the sin that so easily besets you and pulls you off course, and turn toward the gracious Lord and Savior who pardoned every single one of those sins for you. Run with patience, even when your narrow path dives sharply down into a dark valley and remains winding through there for days, weeks, months, or years. Look up, unto Christ the author and finisher of your faith. He will strengthen you through this earthly journey, which truly is just a short passing in comparison to the eternity that awaits.
Remember the joy that is set before you.
When it feels as though the trial you are going through will destroy you, remember the joy that is set before you. When you are deeply feeling the frailty of your human flesh and wondering why you are being led through such pain, stop and remember the joy that was won for you. When your heart is broken seemingly beyond repair, and having a joyful heart feels completely impossible, hold tightly to the certainty that your joy does not find its source in you or in the circumstances of your life. Close your eyes the way Christ must have as He hung on that cross, and envision that fierce, immense, untamed joy that can only come from on High. Let that joy fill your heart, and overflow into every aspect of your life. Let it fuel your race, let it humble you, and let it give energy to your gratefulness, thankfulness, and praise to a most gracious Lord and Savior. For one day soon, because of His saving work, we will join Him in eternity and fully experience that joy with Him. There will be no more weights to lay aside, no more besetting sins, no more dark valleys to endure.
What a joyful day that will be.
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