Listen up, little ones
Listen for the words joy and endured.
Reading
Hebrews 12:1-3—For the Joy Set Before Him
Keys for kids
- Jesus had joy in mind as he endured the cross.
- Jesus found joy in doing the Father’s will.
- Jesus found joy in saving his people.
Questions
- What was shameful about the cross?
- How could Jesus find joy as he went to the cross?
- How are we to respond to Jesus?
Notes
(See last day for authors. Today’s notes are from a commentary on Hebrews by Richard Brooks.)
What was it which, more than anything else, spurred Jesus on during his earthly life and ministry? It was this: ‘who for the joy that was set before him’. This it was, in the light of which he ‘endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’. This requires some careful unpacking. …
How, then, could Jesus so bear all that was involved with ‘the cross’ and ‘the shame’? We are told here that it was ‘for the joy that was set before him’. So what was this ‘joy’, and how was it ‘set before him’? It was far more than just being ‘the other side’ of the Calvary experience, in the sense of getting it all over with, getting through it. It gathers up several things. Surely it was, at least, ‘the joy’ of doing the Father’s will (10:7), and of accomplishing all the work that the Father gave him to do (John 17:4); ‘the joy’ of saving his people, those given to him by God in the divine counsels of eternity (2:13b); ‘the joy’ of ‘going to him who sent me’ (John 16:5), and of being glorified ‘in your [the Father’s] own presence with the glory that (he) [Jesus] had with him [the Father] before the world existed’ (John 17:5); ‘the joy’ of his coming exaltation, which is referred to at the end of 12:2, ‘and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’ (see our comments on 1:3)—his ascension (John 20:17), coronation (Psalm 24:7–10), heavenly intercession (Hebrews 7:25), and exaltation (Philippians 2:10–11); and, beyond all of this, ‘the joy’ of showing his people his glory (John 17:24) and ‘the marriage of the Lamb’ (Revelation 19:7).
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 16d, 88a
Prayer
- Pray that you will find joy like Jesus did in doing God’s will.
- Pray for the hearing of God’s word preached this Sunday.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.