“You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” John 14:28
If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, that I am going to the father, which means our joy is not the joy that the world gives, he said it about peace explicitly, he means it about joy implicitly, not as the world gives, do I give to you joy, oh how different is the foundation of your joy than the world’s joy, infinitely different. Because your joy is joy in the joy of the son in the father, your joy is being caught up into and participating in the joy that the father has in the son and the son has in the father.
I’m returning to my father, I love my father, I find satisfaction in my father, I delight in my father, I treasure my father, this is a vesuvius of joy that is closing, now would you not partake? The world knows nothing of this, nothing, our joy has infinite roots, it is a participation in the very joy of God, in God and mark this remember John 14:31, God showed this love between the father and the son, most clearly at the cross, let’s read verse 31, I do as the father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the father, we see the love of the son for the father in the death of the son for sinners, so that they can participate in the love of the son for the father, and the joy between the son and the father, that’s the essence of salvation to draw us out of all lesser joys and bring us into an experience of the very joy of the son for the father and the father for the son.
There isn’t a greater joy, there isn’t a greater love than that, and I’m showing it to you now. I want the whole world to know this, I want the world to know that I love the father, that’s why I’m dying. wouldn’t you rejoice for the joy set before me, I endure the cross Hebrews 12:2, what joy this joy, I love my father, I’m going home. wouldn’t you rejoice with me in that? yes, you would if you understood you would. That’s why I’m teaching you all things.
Here’s the practical meaning of that going to bed tonight, okay, here’s what you do as you get in bed, you say, father I praise you for the love that exists between you and your son Jesus, let’s praise you that you love each other, so thankful that you’ve revealed to me the love between the father and the son, in the trinity and the Godhead. I praise you for the joy that you have in each other, so I’m mentioning love and I’m mentioning joy you love each other, you delight in each other, and I praise you that you are that way and I realize
Because what pastor John pointed out in verse 31, I realize that this love and this joy is the reason Jesus endured the cross, because he said he wanted the whole world to know him, but he loved the father as he was dying. That’s what he wants them to know, so I realized that this love between you and the son carried him through the cross for my sin, to bring me up out of my little tiny world of selfishness and groveling around this world trying to find some satisfaction. you did that for me and therefore my forgiveness, my righteousness, my life utterly depends on this love between you and your your son father, and I am glad I am glad in your gladness in Jesus and his in you ,and I thank you for giving me a taste of it, amen good night, Jesus see you in the morning, while I go tuttle totally unconscious like a little helpless baby all night long and you can be God for me.
Credit: What Is the Christian’s Joy?
