JOY AHEAD

If we knew of future suffering, would we anticipate it with joy, or calm delight? We look forward to the pleasant times, but dread the nasty experiences.

Does it surprise you that our Lord approached His crucifixion with joy. His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane may seem to contradict this, when He sweat drops of blood as He agonised in spirit over His coming ordeal on the cross.

Earlier Peter pleaded with our Lord not to go on to Jerusalem. Yet our Lord resolutely set out for that city, even the place of the cross. We can only suppose the cost of that journey, knowing what lay ahead.

I can imagine that our Lord foresaw as in a magnificent panorama His reward of the millions of people who would eventually accept His sacrifice for their sin.

Yes, it was for the joy ahead of Him that our Lord endured the cross, with its disfigurement and shame.

In the Forest Lawn cemetery, Glendale, Los Angeles, a diorama depicts thousands of people down the centuries to the present day who trusted the Lord for their salvation. While it is only an imaginary picture, I staggered at the great vista of people representing centuries past and present nations. It previewed the joy of heaven of the great family of the redeemed.

When a woman (or man ) turns from former ways, and in faith and trust receives the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, there is joy all around. We telephone to share the good news, we offer our prayers of praise and thanksgiving , we encourage the new believer. But who stops to think of the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

At a retreat in Switzerland, we met a lady from Kentucky, USA, who trained thorougbred racing horses. She had come as the guest of her friends, who knew how broken-hearted , miserable, bankrupt, unhappy, and fearful was this dear lady. Twice divorced, and her third husband died of a heart attack, she had little to live for,

We became good friends although I understood little of her racing scene. We often talked together, but as the scriptures were explained twice daily ( with magnificent scenic trips each afternoon ) Anne softened. The change in her face and attitude was like a flower opening to the sun. We loved her, prayed for her, till we knew that God was working in her life.

One morning Anne came late for breakfast, so I stayed back to drink coffee with her, while the others went to the bible study in the lounge which overlooked the snow-capped mountains rising from spectacular Lake Brienz.

Anne burst into tears. ‘Oh, Gwenda,’ she said, ‘I have rebelled against God since I was 17. Now I am 60, and I want to repent and come back to the Lord. HE has spoken to me through the studies, especially on submission to God.

A real miracle.

It is hard to describe the tears, the joy, the praise to God, and the relief as we listened to Anne’s testimony on that last night, and encouraged her from our walk with the Lord.

But, consider the greater joy in heaven, and in the presence of the angels, because one sinner repented.

Yes, our Lord bore the pain, the burden of sin, the shame of the cross; but it was His joy that captained the way of faith, bringing it to compl eteness and maturity. For the joy of accomplishing His holiness in our lives, He endured the cross.

‘Let us look unto Jesus.’ ( Hebrews 12:2 )