NOVEMBER 19, 2024
“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:11)
There is a great deal of very proper joy that comes to us, but there is only one joy that remains. When children are born into our families, these are occasions for joy. But how many little coffins have been followed by weeping parents and family members? There is joy when a bountiful harvest is reaped that fills the barn, and very properly so; but when the granary is near empty and the yield is lean due to pestilence or drought, where is the joy? The heart is made glad when the doctor gives a clean bill of health, but how about when the news is not so good? There is, however, a joy that remains. Why? Because the cause of it remains. The flow will continue so long as the spring runs: and the joy of a Christian is one that can never alter because the cause of it never alters. God’s love never changes toward His people; the atonement never loses its efficacy; our Lord Jesus Christ never ceases His intercession with God on our behalf. His promises do not change; the covenant is not subject to change. If you rejoice with Christ’s joy today, you will have the same cause for rejoicing tomorrow, and forever, for He says that His joy shall remain in you.
Some interpreters see this text in a little different light, understanding it to mean that when our Lord Jesus Christ joys in us, then we also have joy. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you.” That is to say, according to this interpretation, “That I may rejoice over you, and rejoice in you, and be pleased with you, and that your joy might be full.” I am not certain that this is the meaning of the text, but it is nonetheless a very blessed truth. We are sure that obedience pleases our Lord, and that disobedience displeases Him. A child knows that his father will never cease to love him, he also knows that if he is disobedient, the father will be displeased and grieved. But the obedient child gives pleasure to his father by his obedience, and when he has done so, he receives pleasure himself for having pleased his father. This is a joy to which every true child of God can relate. Does it not bring great joy just to know that we are pleasing our heavenly Father?
We may gather from the text that the joy which Jesus gives to His people is His own joy: “That My joy might remain in you.” None can communicate to another any joy except that of which he is himself conscious. Here is a man who is rich; he can tell you about the joy of riches, but he cannot give that joy to a poor man. So, when Jesus gives us joy, He gives us His own joy. What is that?
The joy of Jesus is, first, the joy of abiding in His Father’s love. He knows that His Father loves, and that He has ever loved Him. He loved Him when He was in the manger; He loved Him when He was on the cross. That is the joy that Christ can give, the joy of knowing that your Father loves you. If you are a real believer in Jesus Christ, just stop and think about that – the Everlasting God loves you! What a wonder! That He pities you, and cares for you, you might understand; but that He loves you – that should cause you to leap for joy. Jesus said, “…that your joy might be full.” That fact should make your own joy full.
Christ’s joy was also the joy of hallowed friendship. Jesus said to His disciples, “I call you not servants…but I call you friends.” (Verse 15) The friends of Jesus are those who are taken by Him into most intimate fellowship with Himself and the Father, to become His constant companions. This is our Lord’s joy, and He makes it ours.
Moreover, our Lord Jesus felt an intense delight in glorifying His Father. It was His constant joy to bring glory to His Father. As Jesus was going to the cross, He said, “Father, the hour has come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.” He took great delight in doing this; it was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the cross, despising the shame. Let that joy be ours also! Let us rejoice that the law is honored, that justice is satisfied, and free grace is gloriously displayed in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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