for the Joy set before us

Yeshua is the head and cor­ner­stone of the Kingdom to come. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, having been raised from death. On Him we are to fix our eyes and get ready for inevitable chal­lenges on the path and suf­fering asso­ci­ated with them. We need pas­sion, which is pri­marily, as per the meaning of the word, a readi­ness, will­ing­ness and ability to suffer. We need per­se­ver­ance to not lose hope, faith or heart while fighting the good fight. We cannot slacken, take time off or recover from the fight until it is won. This is a big ask. What will see us through? How will we be able to follow the right path and run the race with all our might? Will, self-con­trol, dis­ci­pline? From per­sonal expe­ri­ence I would say, I don’t think so. Luckily, the author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us what moti­vated Yeshua Him­self to carry through: the joy set before Him!

Really, can it be so easy? The accuser asks, you are seeking joy, while you’re in this mess called your life? But it is not self-pleasing joy, deferred grat­i­fi­ca­tion, it is the pull heav­en­ward, toward the light, let­ting the shadows fall behind me, focusing on Him my sense and pur­pose rather than my own con­fu­sion and sin and short­com­ings. It is the ray of light on my path that guides me like a pilot in fog, it is the hope that despite my fee­ble­ness and failure He, my Lord, can use my life.

What does this joy look like for you? Do you envisage a wed­ding ban­quet as per Matthew 22? Some blissful state in a celes­tial realm? I firstly envisage seeing Him, meeting my master, as a brother, in the air as per 1 Thess 4:17. For the first time being in person with Him whom my soul loves. Then descending onto the after­math of a planet wrecked by some lit­er­ally earth-shaking end times events, rolling up my sleeves and get­ting to work: together, full of pur­pose, in love, without any doubts, for the first time being useful to my full poten­tial, not slacking or strug­gling with moti­va­tion or being con­fused about pri­or­i­ties. It’s not gonna be a cushy office job. As per Mt 25:23, the elect who have over­come and proven trust­worthy will be in charge of large bud­gets. Yes there will be joy also, it is the same Greek word χαρᾶς (charas) here as in Hebrews 12:2. But it won’t be blissful inac­tivity or 24/7 par­tying. I envisage the wed­ding ban­quet to follow some time after, maybe some 1000 years after, when every­thing is pre­pared and brought back to a state pre­sentable to the true King, the Father of our Lord. For the time being, some 10 cen­turies maybe, I expect an awe­some mix of admiration/worship, manual and seden­tary labour, plus daily com­mu­nion and quality time with the redeemed. The joy is not just to cel­e­brate, it is also to find true meaning in work, which in this world is always tar­nished by greed, mixed motives and the lack of per­spec­tive and sound lead­er­ship. The more I try to imagine what this will be like, the more joy I feel in antic­i­pa­tion, and the more my daily admi­ra­tion, work and com­mu­nion on this side are affected pos­i­tively also. Will there still be engi­neering? Com­puters? Paper? Desks & work­places? I reckon there will be a flow of work with more verbal com­mu­ni­ca­tion and more reliance on the Spirit and imag­i­na­tion, more depen­dency, clarity, significance. 

Just in fact while I was pretty mis­er­able about my life, this thought sud­denly cropped up. So even if I don’t feel it, I can claim the joy set before me, not because I deserve it or am even remotely worthy of it; but because God willing, it will lead me to live a life that resem­bles, at least in essence, the life Yeshua led. 

 

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