Saturday, April 7, 2012

For the Joy that was set before Him

Hebrews 12:2
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 is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

So what was the joy set before Him?
The text seems to imply that it was to sit down at the right hand of the throne.
That would be joy for me, as I see it.

But He had that before He came to earth.
Why endure the cross to get what He had?
What didn't He have that was worth the cross?

You.
And me.
Us.
His bride.


The night before He died, Jesus had a long talk with His disciples.
He tried to comfort them
.
He told them He was going away, and they wanted to know where.
He said He was going to prepare a place for them.
In His Father's house there are many mansions.
Mansion is an old English term that is derived from the French word for home, or dwelling place.
Jesus was going to prepare a place for us to live.
He went to the cross to prepare that place for us, as a bridegroom would.
That dwelling place is where we are to abide.
During that conversation, He also told them that He was the vine and that they were the branches and that they were to abide in the vine.
If they were to abide in the vine, they were to dwell there.
Is it a stretch then to say that our dwelling place that he was preparing was: in the vine?
Our Father's house is His temple.

Peter 2:5
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house

We are to be living stones fitted together with the Chief Cornerstone.

We are the Temple of God.

There's a story, that when Solomon's Temple was being built, the builders saw a stone they didn't recognize and rolled it over the hill, only to discover that it was the cornerstone, and they had to go to the base of the mount and bring it back up.

The Stone that the builders rejected.

In the book of Zechariah there's a verse that says:
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

The early church had a greeting:
He has risen. 
He has risen, indeed.

2 comments:

  1. Amen, and Happy Easter to you and yours Ed!

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  2. At my church, that's still the greeting :-)

    As for Christ..yes, the joy was bringing US to HIM. Pure and simple. What a man!

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