Joy Beyond The Cross

by Rev. Roger Smets

“Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross”. (Heb. 12:2b)

When one considers the horrible and excrusiating pain that Jesus endured on the cross, the question cannot help but surface, “How could He do it?” How could He bear such pain in His body?  The answer is in Hebrews 12:2b. What was that “joy” that was “set before Him”, the joy  that He managed to keep His focus on as He was being sacrificed like an animal on the tree?  It was the joy of knowing that He was, through His blood, providing redemption, a way that all of mankind could be forgiven of sin and made right with God. It was an “inner joy” that only Jesus would ever know. Praise God for this “joy” that was “set before” Jesus that enabled Him to “endure the cross.

Truly, Jesus looked beyond the cross and saw you and me, in need of a Savior to forgive us and cleanse us from all our sin. As the hymn so eloquently said it, “Oh what a Savior”!