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The joy of the cross?

One of the most intriguing statements in Scripture regarding Jesus is one that surrounds the time of the crucifixion. Sometimes we may think of the agony He experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane and think that He was unwilling or a coward or walking away. But read what the Hebrews writer revealed: “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross” (12:2).

The joy? Seriously? The cross is what was “set before” Jesus! Or, at least that was what was in His immediate future. Was the suffering of the cross “the joy” on which Jesus was focused? Or was it the joy of fulfilling the plan of God? The joy of pleasing the Father by doing His will? The joy of offering salvation to all mankind? The joy of opening the way into heaven for His faithful followers? The joy of returning to His Father in heaven?

Whatever it was (one of these, a combination of all of them, or something else), Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him! Aren’t you glad that He did? Do you find joy in that which Jesus found joy?