"For the joy set before us..."

Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

I wonder what exactly "the joy set before Him" was. Although I don't completely understand that, I have come to see that since we are to run the race according to Jesus' example, we also should endure whatever cross we are given to bear - for the joy set before us. There is quite a description of what Jesus has in store for those who overcome, for those who endure to the end, for those that finish the race - within His letters to the churches in the second and third chapters of Revelation.

Revelation can be a hard book to understand. I remember first studying it as a teenager in our church youth group. But I had not built much on that foundation over the years, until our Pastor began preaching through the book of Revelation, verse by verse, in the past year. There's still a lot that goes over my head, but there's a lot that's sinking in, and it is a blessing, just as God promised in verse 1:3 - "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near."

In each letter, Jesus tells His churches, and He is also telling His Church, that He knows - He knows them, He knows what they are doing, He knows what their circumstances are; He tells them what they're doing right, and what they're doing wrong; He warns, but He also sets before them the "prize" - what they will receive if they endure, if they stay faithful, if they overcome.

When you put all of those promises together, well, it's just pretty awesome...

To the angel of the church in Ephesus:

"To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God." (2:7)

To the angel of the church in Smyrna:

"Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life." (2:10)

"He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." (2:11)

To the angel of the church in Pergamum:

"To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it." (2:17)

To the angel of the church in Thyatira:

"And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father;" (2:26-27)

"and I will give him the morning star." (2:28)

To the angel of the church in Sardis:

"He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." (3:5)

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia:

"He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name." (3:12)

To the angel of the church in Laodicea:

"He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." (3:21)

And then, there is this...

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer by any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." And He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son." (Revelation 21:1-7)

Oh, how He loves you and me!

Be encouraged, stay faithful, run the race with endurance - for the joy He sets before us.

Amen.


"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)