For the Joy set before you!
Hebrews 12:2 2 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.
When we talk excruciating pain, we are talking about a seriously unpleasant experience. In fact as you know that word excruciating has its derivation from the pain experienced from crucifixion. Yet for the joy set before Him, he endured it! I want to look at that more closely. But first let me tell you a story about the story of Scottish evangelist John Harper lest you think ‘yes Jesus could do this but I am a mere man’.
“Harper was born into a Christian family May 29, 1872. He became a Christian 13 years later and had already started preaching by age 17. He received training at the Baptist Pioneer Mission in London, and in 1896 he founded a church, now known as the Harper Memorial Church, which began with 25 worshipers but had grown to 500 members by the time he left 13 years later. When asked about his doctrine, he stated it was simply "the Word of God."
While his spiritual growth followed a fairly direct uphill path, his personal life wasn't so smooth. When he was only two and a half, he fell into a well and almost drowned. At 26, he was nearly swept out to sea [where he could have drowned!], and at 32, he found himself on a leaky ship in the middle of the Mediterranean [where he could have drowned!]. Most tragically, his wife died after only a brief marriage, leaving him alone with their daughter, Nana.
In 1912, Harper, the newly called pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, was traveling on the Titanic with his 6-year-old daughter. After the ship struck an iceberg and began to sink, he got Nana into a lifeboat but apparently made no effort to follow her. Instead, he ran through the ship yelling, "Women, children, and unsaved into the lifeboats!" Survivors report that he then began witnessing to anyone who would listen. He continued preaching, even after he had jumped into the water and was clinging to a piece of wreckage (he'd already given his lifejacket to another man).
Harper's final moments were recounted four years later at a meeting in Hamilton, Ontario, by a man who said: "I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar that awful night, the tide brought Mr. Harper, of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck, near me. 'Man,' he said, 'are you saved?' 'No,' I said, 'I am not.' He replied, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'
"The waves bore him away, but, strange to say, brought him back a little later, and he said, 'Are you saved now?' 'No,' I said, 'I cannot honestly say that I am.' He said again, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,' and shortly after he went down; and there, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper's last convert." He was also one of only six people picked out the water by the lifeboats; the other 1,522, including Harper, were left to die. (Taken from Verse by Verse Ministries- Stephen Armstrong)
Here are two people who were able to face almost certain death in the most challenging of environments, yet they didn’t try and save themselves, they didn’t look at the circumstances they found themselves in. Their future was not a concern to them- and it should’nt be for us!
We read that Jesus “for the joy that was before Him” was able to “endure the cross”. Despite the most horrific of experiences, despite the hatred, despite being on the verge of losing everything in this world, His life, His friends and to all around Him there was no hope left and yet He endured this for the “joy set before Him”
So what are we talking about here?
Lets take this a bit further and look at
Hebrews 12:18-24
The Mountain of Fear and the Mountain of Joy
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Lets just look at these verses from a both a physical aspect and a spiritual aspect.
In the first instance we are talking about Mt Sinai in Exodus, a physical mountain where there was great fear, darkness and gloom, a storm – something we can see and feel. Similarly it’s what we can experience in our lives today. There are times when we could tremble with fear, where we fear death and all sorts of things. We can experience the darkness and gloom of the political and financial uncertainty of this world. There seems no end to the things we can fear or be concerned about. But as Christians, as believers in Jesus the mediator of a New Covenant we come NOT to this mountain of fear, but to the mountain that cannot be seen, not to the Mt Zion of earthly Jerusalem, but to Mt Zion the city of God in the heavenly Jerusalem. And when we come to this mountain, our eyes are opened, like they were with the servant of Elisha who saw “the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around”. Our eyes are opened when we read this word of God! We read and see that we come to the city of the living God, with thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. That’s why we can have joy in the most difficult of circumstances. We have a future that is joyful and beyond comparison with anything we could ever imagine and so we fix our eyes on Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where there is this incredibly joyful assembly.
When we think of our Father in heaven, who do we think about? We do not come to a mountain that is burning with fire, where we tremble with fear- No! We come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant. You come by the grace of Jesus to the love of the Father. Can we even grasp how grasp how wide and how long and high and deep is the love of our Father in heaven.
And why? Because…
Colossians 1:21-22
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
So therefore
Ephesians 3:12
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
So we have a future where there is no fear, but a joyful assembly of thousands and thousands of angels, a joyful assembly of the church and the children of a mighty victorious and loving God. And so our focus in life is not on a mountain burning with fire, or darkness, gloom and storm, we turn to a mountain of light, of immeasurable love of a Father in heaven
Then finally These verses in Hebrews gives us a picture of what happens when you die. My father in law always told us this story of how he went to a church service specifically because they advertised that the sermon would be “What happens after you die”. I’m not sure what he expected, but it seems the sermon was not clear enough about what happens after you die and so he felt he was conned into going to the service! After some time I think he was more forgiving of the poor pastor! But to me this is a picture of what happens when you do die.
We come “to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. [We] come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. [We] come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant..” (Heb 12:22-24)
Can you imagine that…. all that joy with the thousands of angels, all your church family, to God who will not judge you for what you have done wrong but for what you have done right, as a father a child He loves. And there in the heavenly Jerusalem you will see Jesus and…..
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 …... 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39
I want to close on one final point, Paul? goes on to write…
Hebrews 12:28 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
And so while this is prophetic in nature, it applies to us right now. We receive this kingdom that cannot be shaken, when we receive the kingdom of God into our lives, when we build upon the rock, that rock which is Jesus. And when you have experienced that peace that passes all understanding, “when the things of this world grow strangely dim” you know what I am saying is true- you cannot be shaken. The people of this world worry about what is happening now and in their lifetime, it’s a very short time frame. But if are going to worry we should be worrying about our eternal destiny. Who of us here remembers the Punic wars, about 200BC- millions died, or the “Hundred Years War” in the 1300’s where millions died again or the Spanish conquests of the 1500’s where many millions died- very few of us. Or the Justinian Plague of the 500’s where maybe 50 Mil people died! I know nothing about them- I had to look them up! The point I’m making is this, all that is shaking us right now will be forgotten in a couple of generations, but what will not be forgotten is our decision which has an eternal consequence and that is receiving an eternal God into our lives through the grace and acceptance of the eternal sacrifice made by Jesus on that cross. All the drama and shaking in our lives will pass away and be forgotten, but the decision you make about God is eternal.
And so as we look ahead and see what lies before us, we can see the joyful assembly of countless angels, the joy of being part of the church of those whose names are written in heaven and the spirits of the righteous made perfect, the love of the Father, the grace of Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And in doing so we can endure anything for the joy that is set before us
So let’s focus or lives on that joy set before us!