Stockton Baptist Church

DOING GOD'S WILL. The prophet Isaiah foretold of the coming Messiah, saying, "He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3). Most certainly, Jesus lived a life of sorrow. He said of Himself that "He must suffer many things and be rejected" (Luke 17:25). The Apostle John said of the Lord, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11). Even the people of Jesus' hometown, Nazareth, rejected Him (Mark 6:3-4) as did His own brothers (John 7:3). Imagine the sorrow He felt each and every day of His last 3 years here on earth! Then, in the Garden of Gethsemane near the end of His life, Matthew 26:37-38 tells us, "And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, 'My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.'" Yes, Jesus truly was "acquainted with grief," just as Isaiah had prophesied. However, despite His unrelenting sorrow, Jesus was a man who also knew joy. In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus portrayed Himself as the shepherd who searched for and found His sheep. Upon coming home, He told his friends, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!" (Luke 15:6). So how was Jesus able to rejoice despite the sorrow and rejection He faced? Isaiah 50:6-7 reveals prophetically of Jesus, "I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint." In other words, Jesus was fixated on doing His Father's will (see John 4:34, 5:30, etc.). Jesus endured the cross because of the joy that awaited Him on the other side (Heb. 12:2)—the joy of lost sheep (sinners) being saved. Are you a lost sheep? May you give Jesus joy this Christmas by trusting Him who gave His all for you!