For the Joy set before Him, Christ Endured the Cross and Gave Himself for the Church

For the joy set before Him, Jesus Christ as the Author and Perfecter of our faith endured the cross, despising the shame, for He loved the church and gave Himself up for her, even offering Himself on the cross for both our redemption and the impartation of life. Hallelujah!

This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, The Jot Set before Christ and the Joy Set before Us. Our God is a God of joy, and the Triune God wants to become our joy; the joy of God is becoming our joy.

The Lord Jesus said in John 15:11, I have spoken these things that My joy may be in you and that your joy will be made full.

The Triune God is joy, and His joy is becoming our joy. Regarding the matter of joy, there’s a particular aspect of joy that is set before Him, and there’s a particular joy that is set before us.

In Matt. 25 we have the parable of some who are serving the Lord; He gave them a certain amount of ability, and some of them were faithful to use what they had in His service to bring Him interest.

When the Lord came and asked them to give an account, the Lord told them, Well done, good and faithful slave, enter into the joy of your Master.

There’s the joy of our Master, into which we can enter if we are faithful as slaves of God.

This joy is the Lord’s joy of the kingdom of God manifested on the earth.

The entire earth belongs to the Lord, and we’re here as part of God’s creation, even being created in the image of God and according to His likeness.

We are here not only as redeemed people who live and wait until the Lord brings us to the heavens; rather, we are here to bring in the kingdom of God on the earth, and we live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today to be His overcomers.

When the Lord returns, He will return first in a hidden way, secretly, to rapture His bride, the overcoming ones.

He will return as the Bridegroom to rapture those who have been prepared to be His bride, and then He will come openly on the cloud for all to see.

We want to be the living overcomers who will be raptured by the Lord at His return, at His secret coming.

After He comes secretly to rapture the overcomers, the great tribulation begins; then, three and a half years later, the Lord will come manifestly with His bridal army to engage the enemy at Armageddon, and He will be manifested to abolish human government.

Praise the Lord, one day the Lord will return and He will abolish all human government, and there will be no more politics!

A new age will begin, and that age will be the joy set before us – the age of the kingdom, when we will rule and reign one with the Lord. Amen!

For the Joy Set before Him, Christ Endured the Cross and Loved the Church by Giving Himself up for Her

Heb. 12:2 is a wonderful, encouraging, and mysterious verse in the Bible, having many aspects and implications that are very profound.

On one hand, we need to be encouraged to look away unto Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

No matter what happened and where we are, we simply need to look away unto Jesus. Amen, look away!

This Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, had a particular joy set before Him, and for this joy, He endured the cross and despised the shame. Wow.

For the joy set before Him, Jesus – the Author and Perfecter of our faith – endured the cross, despising the shame.

Why did the Lord Jesus die on the cross? It was not only because He wanted to redeem us so that we may come back to God and be His people who enjoy Him and all His riches.

Christ endured the cross and despised the shame because He loved the church; for the joy set before Him – the church as the bride of Christ and the kingdom of God – Christ endured the cross. Wow.

We need to look away unto this One.

He is the church-loving Christ, the Christ who loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Eph. 5:25); when we look away unto Him, we will see that the church was the joy set before Him, and the church will also become the joy set before us.

For the joy set before Him, Christ endured the cross, despising the shame.

What a shame it was for Him to be put on the cross publicly, for all to see and know.

What a shame it was for Him, the righteous One who never committed any sin, to be crucified, being seemingly powerless to stop this from happening.

He was God becoming man, He performed many miracles, yet He did not save Himself.

He was tempted to save Himself by many of those around Him, and He Himself said that He could ask the Father to send some legions of angels, but He did not do it.

For the joy set before Him, for Him to gain the church as the bride and the kingdom, Christ endured the cross and despised the shame.

When we speak of the cross, many times we tend to shy away from it, for we do not want to have the application of the cross – our natural man and our self fear the cross.

But praise the Lord, our old man has been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6).

We died with Him on the cross.

When Christ died, we also died; this is a fact.

This is why Paul could say in Gal. 2:20 that he has been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer him who lives but Christ who lives in him.

For the joy set before Him, Christ died on the cross, and when He was dying on the cross, we were there with Him and in Him.

As He said in Matt. 16, Christ is the Son of the Living God, and He is building His church; for this, He had to go through death on the cross and enter into resurrection.

Immediately Satan in Peter’s self reacted, and the Lord exposed the gates of Hades and said, Get behind Me, Satan.

For us to follow the Lord, we need to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24).

The cross is not suffering; the cross is not having our brand new car breaking down or scratched in an accident not of our fault.

The cross is termination. The cross terminates us.

The cross terminated Christ; the cross terminated His physical life and existence on earth.

Yes, there is some suffering involved, but the cross terminates us.

Everything that is natural is terminated and cut off by the cross.

If we are willing to follow the Lord and have the joy set before Him be also the joy set before us, we need to be willing to take up the cross and deny the self.

May the Lord bring us through the experience of the divine life stage by stage until everything that hinders our growth in life may be terminated and we would grow unto maturity and know the Body of Christ, having the cross applied to our being.

Lord Jesus, we want to look away unto You from anything else. Amen, look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith! Thank You, Lord, for enduring the cross and despising the shame for the joy set before You. Hallelujah, Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her! We look away unto such a One who loved us so much that He gave Himself up for us. Thank You, Lord, for dying for us on the cross so that You may obtain the church, the joy set before You. Thank You for enduring the cross and despising the shame. We love You, Lord. We are constrained by Your dying love to just love You. We want to follow You today by denying the self and taking up our cross in our daily life. Thank You for including us in Yourself when You died on the cross. Hallelujah, our old man has been crucified with Christ and we now have Christ living in us. Amen, Lord, we love You and we want to live one spirit with You, having the church as the joy set before us!

Christ Offered Himself on the Cross for Redemption and for the Impartation of Life

For the joy set before Him, Christ endured the cross and despised the shame.

His death was like no other; it was a very significant death, for it involved many wonderful things.

Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, offering Himself for redemption and for the impartation of life.

John 19:34 tells us that out of the Lord’s pierced side flowed blood and water; blood was for redemption, and water was for the impartation of life.

The Lord’s blood was shed for our redemption, and His life was released and imparted into us for us to be regenerated so that the church may come into existence.

On the cross, Christ offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins.

Heb. 10:12 says, This One, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever on the right hand of God.

In the Old Testament, the priests in the old covenant (v. 11) stood daily and offered the same sacrifices again and again; these sacrifices could at best cover sins but not take them away.

But praise the Lord, Christ offered himself to take away our sins. Christ put away sin by offering Himself to God as the unique sacrifice for sin.

Heb. 1:3 says that Christ is enthroned in heaven, after offering Himself as the sacrifice for our sins; His sitting in the heavens is a sign and proof that our sins were taken away. Praise the Lord!

On the cross, Christ bore our sins; He bore the sins of man.

When Christ was on the cross, God took all our sins and put them upon Him as the Lamb of God (Isa. 53:6). Hallelujah!

Heb. 9:28 further says that Christ has been offered once to bear the sins of many; we, the many sinners, had all our sins put on Christ, and He bore them all away.

On the cross, Christ died once to bear our sins, and He suffered the death for us on the cross (Isa. 53:5, 11).

Christ bore up our sins in His body on the tree, so that we – having died to sins, might live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24).

Christ died on the cross made of wood, suffering the capital punishment for the execution of malefactors, as prophesied in the Old Testament (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13).

For the joy set before Him, Christ endured the cross and despised the shame.

The sins we commit in our outward conduct were all put on Christ; He died for our sins, carrying up our sins onto the cross so that we may be forgiven by God. Thank You, dear Lord Jesus!

Not only did Christ bear all our sins; He was made sin for us, becoming sin for us.

2 Cor. 5:21 says that Him who did not know sin, God made sin on our behalf. Wow.

God made Christ sin for us. Christ Himself did not know sin in an experiential way by contact or personal experience (John 8:46; 1 Pet. 2:22; Heb. 4:15; 7:26); however, He became sin for us.

Christ became sin for us and took away the sin of the world (John 1:29) so that the problem of sin might be solved. Thank You, dear Lord!

Whether it is the sins in our outward conduct or the sin in our nature, Christ solved the problem of sin on the cross.

Furthermore, John 12:31 says that, when Christ died on the cross, He cast out the ruler of the world and judged the world that he rules over and usurps.

When He was on the cross, Christ’s work included the casting out of Satan, the ruler of this world.

Satan thought that he nailed Christ on the cross, so now He is finished; however, by doing this, Satan caused himself to be cast out.

Christ used the cross to cast Satan out and judge the world. All these are on the negative side, on the side of our need for redemption and the judgment of Satan.

On the cross, Christ offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sin and sins, and He cast out Satan, the ruler of this world.

On the positive side, John 12:24 says that, when Christ died on the cross, He died as as the one grain of wheat to release and impart His life into many grains to produce the many believers in Christ. Praise the Lord!

On the positive side, through His death, Christ released His divine life to regenerate and enliven us to make us the many children of God composing the church as the Body of Christ.

We are the many grains produced in Christ’s death and resurrection to be blended together into a loaf to be offered to God.

This loaf is church, the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:17).

All we can say is praise the Lord for His death on the cross!

For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross and despised the shame, and He accomplished marvelous work on the cross!

Praise You, Lord Jesus, for Your marvellous death on the cross. Thank You for offering Yourself on the cross to be the sacrifice for our sins. Thank You for taking all our sins upon You and bearing our sins on the cross for the taking away of sins. Hallelujah, by faith in Christ, we are released of our sins. Thank You, Lord, for being made sin for us; You who did not know sin were made sin for us so that we may become the righteousness of God in Christ! Thank You, dear Lord Jesus! Praise You for offering Yourself for us on the cross, for You had the church as the joy set before You! Hallelujah, on the cross Christ cast out the ruler of this world and judged the world! Wow, amen, Lord, You cast out Satan through the cross and You judged the world under Satan! Praise the Lord! Thank You, dear Lord, for falling into the earth as a grain of wheat to die for the release of the divine life. Hallelujah, we all were regenerated by the life released by Christ in His death to be the many children of God blended together to be the Body of Christ. Praise the Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 760-779, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Enjoyment of Christ and our Growth in Life unto Maturity (2023 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 6, entitled, The Joy Set before Christ and the Joy Set before Us.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Christ’s crucifixion accomplishing the eternal redemption of God, a portion from, Life-Study of Job, Chapter 16, by Witness Lee,
  – The Difference Between Sin and Sins—Two Problems with Two Solutions, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – New song on, Christ Loved the Church, via, hymnal.net.
  – Through the Cross to New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Christ loves the church, a portion from, The Glorious Church, Chapter 3, by Watchman Nee.
  – Why Did Jesus Have to Die on the Cross? Read more via, Bibles for America blog.
  – His Mercy Reached Me, a testimony via, The Church in Dallas.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Himself He could not save, / For He the Surety stood / For all who now rely / Upon His precious blood; / He bore the penalty of guilt / When on the cross His blood was spilt. / Himself He could not save, / What wondrous love is this! / In love Himself He gave, / There ne’er was love like His! / Such love should melt a heart of stone, / Till praise flows forth to Him alone! (Hymns #105 stanzas 3-4)
  – Praise Him! praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer, / For our sins He suffered and bled and died; / He, our Rock, our Hope of eternal salvation, / Hail Him! hail Him! Jesus, the Crucified; / Loving Savior, meekly enduring sorrow, / Crowned with thorns that cruelly pierced His brow; / Once for us rejected, despised, and forsaken, / Prince of Glory, ever triumphant now. (Hymns #235 stanza 2)
  – Once Thou wast the only grain, Lord, / Falling to the earth to die, / That thru death and resurrection / Thou in life may multiply. / We were brought forth in Thy nature / And the many grains became; / As one loaf we all are blended, / All Thy fulness to proclaim. (Hymns #203 stanza 3)