“…And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith…” Hebrews 12:1,2
Scripture tells us that the Lord Jesus, ‘…who for the JOY set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2) If there is one thing that we gather from the example of Christ, it is that He was not only on a mission, a conquest, but in pursuit of a finished, and established, eternal result. There was in that conquest an overriding joy, and anticipation of something so great and wonderful, that only He could grasp the significance, beauty, wonder, and worth of it. We catch a glimpse of in the Gospel of John when Jesus said, “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which you have given Me, for you LOVED Me before the foundation of the world.” (Jn. 17:24) That which Christ knew, and no other man has ever known, is the fulness of communion with the Father, a fellowship which has no end, and no change, only its complete, perfect experience. There is a joy in heaven, the magnitude and power of which cannot be grasped by man, especially sinful man. It is a joy which Christ knew before the foundation of the world, and certainly before His coming to earth to be born in Bethlehem. It is also a joy which by the salvation that He has brought about, is intended for men to know. For Christ, the sufferings of the cross were on His path in this world, en route to again know the magnitude of the blessing of joy, and fulness of love by the Father. In other words, the highest and most glorious objective that the Son had on earth, and the great anticipation and realization by the Father in heaven, was the impartation of Divine love, joy, and peace that would be realized by the Spirit. THIS is the calling of God to men, for how can love, especially Divine love, desire and will anything less. The Lord Jesus summed it up when He declared: “And this is eternal Life (His eternal life, and that life imparted to saved men), that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (Jn. 17:3) To know God on this earth increasingly, as He is known in heaven, is man’s most blessed and highest experience even though on earth there are very clear limitations with respect to faith. Christ knew the Father on earth in greatest, consistent and complete measure because He had a perfect faith. The call of God to man, in light of the terrible cross of Calvary and the suffering of the Son of God, is that man, by a perfect salvation accomplished by the death of Christ, might be truly able to know his Creator and Redeemer, His eternal life, and this forever. But how is this to be done?
For the believer who has understood that God is sought and found by mercy and grace alone, and that by the appeal to God for His mercy, and the receiving of His grace to repent of sins and believe wholly in Christ to save, God,, by His Spirit, has placed him in a position to KNOW God, His love, joy, and peace. It is a position where one’s living union with Christ by the Spirit, makes daily communion with God increasingly possible, where he derives all from Christ, living by His Life. It is a victorious life, one where the believer abides in Christ, and Christ in him.
How is this to be? By laying aside of every weight, and avoiding the entanglements of sin, setting one’s gaze upon the Lord Jesus, the believer can RUN towards the goal, looking unto Jesus. It is as he pursues primarily fellowship with God, that the very life of Christ by the Spirit is increasingly revealed.
Dear Father, Show us Thy way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.