Continuing in our Passion series entitled Joy From Sorrow, you will remember that in last Sunday’s message we saw Jesus ride into Jerusalem and declare himself to be the messiah, the prince of peace, using Zechariah’s prophecy, in preparation for his final steps to the cross. But why was this necessary? Was there no other way in which God’s wrath against our sin could be appeased?

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Isaiah, who was called the prince of prophets, prophesied some 700 years before the coming of Christ and the events we looked at on Sunday. His prophesies were during the time when the ten northern tribes would be taken into captivity by the Assyrians and also prophesied that the two southern tribes would be captured and then taken into exile by the Babylonians some 150 years later. So that by the end of the 6th century BC, all of Israel, all 12 tribes, would experience God’s judgment because of their relentless sin against him.

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So how does this all fit into the idea of Joy? In the midst of the doom and gloom, God’s covenant decree would be realized through a payment for sin. God has not nor will he ever wink at, or, overlook sin, in fact, sin is such an abomination to him that he must judge it with an outpouring of his great wrath. The answer is of course a payment, a sacrifice, one who would take on himself all the sins of God’s people and thus satisfy, once and for all, the wrath of God. Isaiah describes this sacrifice in chapter 53, where we see the prophecy concerning his servant, the messiah, yielding himself to this sacrifice by crucifixion and thus implementing what we shall call this evening, the Endurance of Joy! It is this endurance of the sorrow that would eventually bring the joy. We read this in Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV)

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

It was the joy that was set before him; the joy of forever sentencing Satan and his kingdom to everlasting doom; the joy of eternally completing redemption’s plan in obedience to his father; it was this joy that gave him the endurance to delve into the deepest of sorrows, the cross, the separation from his father, and the agonizing death he experienced. So read with me that account of Christ’s endurance this evening…