Hebrews 12:2
For the joy set before Him He endured the cross.
What was that joy?
John 17:24
Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am.
So Jesus endured death on a cross so that we could be with Him. Wow! That's how much He loves us, how much He likes our company and wants to spend time with us, to be with us; and for us to be with Him, enjoying all His glory, all His authority, all the exciting adventures He has planned to enjoy with us throughout all eternity!
I cannot imagine all He has planned to do with us when this time is completed. Our God is the most imaginative Being, having created such a variety of multitudinous objects and beings, everything different from everything else. Even life on this Earth is exciting, when we see with His eyes. How much more enjoyable and fulfilling will our lives be when we are in His very presence, aware of His glorious Being, participating in all the wondrous activities He has in mind for us, what He created us for, just perfect for each one of us.
No matter what happens in the meantime, no matter how the world and the devil and the devil's slaves will persecute, slander and martyr us, none of it will be even comparable to the glory we will experience soon (Romans 8:18). This is our hope; not a wishing of "I hope so," but a settled knowing as fact that what God has promised, He will never fail to do. And He has not appointed us to wrath, so when His wrath falls on those who reject His gift, they may fall at our right and our left, but will not touch us (Psalm 91:7-8). This is amazing. God is amazing.
Let us all be strong in the Lord, and keep in mind our tremendous value and worth to God our Creator, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2), gaining strength from His Spirit living in us to "throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles" (Hebrews 12:1). Then we will be able to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:2), and withstand all that the world will throw at us in these the Last Days.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
