Insolomonsporch's Blog

The Lord’s Joy

“Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God — [to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book.  Heb 10:7 Amp

What can we know, by the authority of the Word, that precipitates the Lord’s joy?  What is the Lord’s joy?  By the word we know it is our strength.  It is central to what the Lord has bequeathed to us – His Joy, His Delight, His Enjoyment, His Gladness (JDEG) Jn 17:13.  It is spoken over and over again in the Word, especially the Books of John and 1John as something we should possess at our core.

Many believers read Hebrews 12:2, “… for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him…”, and thus conclude it is we believers – the prize, that was the focus and source of joy for the Lord.  I would challenge you that it is way bigger than us.

Simply stated, I believe the joy of the Lord can be pinpointed as His obedience to the will of the Father. Obedience was the focus, and the central core to all that Jesus accomplished here on earth as He walked in flesh.  Yes, we are important.  But looming before us as believers and His prize, stands the pivotal purpose of God in sending Jesus. For all time, according to the desire of the Father, Jesus was emblematically bringing forth into the world the capacity for obedience because of His sacrifice on the cross, and thus His life being present in all of us who would receive Him. After all, what good would it do for Jesus to save us if He also didn’t provide for a way to change us – to make a way for us to also now obey? 

Hear these words from Hebrews 10:5-7: “Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer]; … Behold, here I am, ready to do Your will, O God…”.

As important as we are to Jesus, as important as it was to once and for all make a sacrifice to cleanse and perfect us, we the prize is not the source of Jesus’ joy. Rather, His eyes were on the Father – and pleasing Him in His obedience to the Father’s will.  That obedience even unto death is what ushers forth for us an astounding, freeing joy, that each of us can experience and embrace.

The next few posts are going to explore this joy of the Lord.  Hopefully, it will be like opening a fresh can on the topic that will exude a fragrance of joy so pervasive and stimulating, none of us will be the same again! 

Until next time … JOY!