DO you ever think, dear reader, of the joys of Christ? He was indeed the “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”; and as such He endears Himself to those who come to Him, but He had His joys. We read in Luke 10:21,21In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. (Luke 10:21) “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee O Father... that thou hast revealed these things to babes” (that is, to little children). What things, we may ask? The things connected with the Person of Christ. Two things were before our Lord at that time, the overthrow of Satan’s power over men; and, on the other hand, that the names of His disciples (whom He regarded as the little children) were written in heaven. They were registered there and that was a joy to Christ. Is it so with you, dear reader?
If we now pass on to chapter 15, there is the record of another joy, the finding of a lost sheep which He, the Shepherd, lays on His shoulders rejoicing. It is an overflowing joy, for He calls on others to rejoice with Him. “There is joy in heaven”. In Exodus 15. there is a song of rejoicing. It is sung by Moses (whom we may there regard as a type of Christ, the Captain of salvation) and the children of Israel. Jehovah had triumphed gloriously; He had in mercy led forth the people He had redeemed, and guided them in His strength to His holy habitation. He had “led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm” (Isa. 63:1212That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name? (Isaiah 63:12)), and we may say that His people rejoiced in His joy.
Let us look now at the passage in Nehemiah. Jehovah had brought back a remnant of His people from Babylon, and in the face of enemies and opposition, the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. Nehemiah then gathered the people together, and their genealogy as Israelites was proved. They were God’s Israel. To this assembly Ezra, the priest, read the law of the Lord from the morning to the midday. It was a sorrowful time and the people wept. They must have been conscious that it was breaking the law of God, which had brought them into captivity and desolation. But that which marked the moment was the joy of the LORD, and if the Lord rejoices sorrow must be silent. It was His joy to bring back this remnant to Jerusalem and they must not rob Him of that joy. The people are exhorted to let that joy be their strength. How God delights in mercy! (Mic. 7:1818Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. (Micah 7:18)). All was weakness with Israel, but the joy of the Lord was to be their strength.
This leads me to speak of another joy of Christ which we find in Psalms 122 It is a song of David the Beloved. “I was glad” (the Spirit of Christ speaks) “when they (the remnant of Israel) said unto Me, let us go into the House of Jehovah”. It is a joy of Christ to lead the heart of the feeblest believer into participation with His own joys ― His joy is to gather to Himself and to God out of this world of sin. It is said of Him when in the world, “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself”. What a mystery of love! Do you, dear reader, understand this mystery? Christ went into death itself in all its horror to make a way out of it, and reconcile him who believes to God. Listen to the Father’s utterance of joy ― “This my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found, and they began to be merry”.
Come with me to one more scene in John 4. Jesus must needs go through Samaria, and this ‘needs be’ took Him to Sychar’s well. We know the story of His interview with the Samaritan woman there, and of its outcome. She got a taste of living water from the lips of Jesus, and went away to tell others of Him. At that moment His disciples Caine back from their visit to buy food, and “prayed Him, saying, Master, eat.” He said unto them, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of” ― the secret comes out, His heart had been satisfied by doing the will of Him that sent Him. It was His Father’s will that He should find that stranger at the well, and open to her the fountain of the Father’s love which flowed through His lips to her. Blessed Lord Jesus! What a joy was thine! Meat to eat that others knew not of, and the fields of this world were to yield a harvest of precious grain for the joy of the Son of the Father’s love.
Christian reader, cannot we who have been won by the grace of Jesus go in the strength of such meat, as we taste of the joy of the Lord Jesus in our own souls? Surely we can.
T. H. R.