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Reflections on the different kinds of joy: the Joy of Relationship, the Joy of Fellowship, the Joy of Asking and Receiving, the Joy of Obedience and more!
The Joy of Submission
In the early chapters of Matthew we see the Lord Jesus going up the mountain and preaching what we call the sermon on the mount, giving the beatitudes and so on. Then we see Him going out and doing good, healing and giving life to those who have died. When we get to the tenth and the eleventh chapters, what’s the result of all His preaching and doing good? We’d say, “I hope there’s been a wonderful result of all that work of good and blessing for man.” But, in reality, He is totally rejected by His own people, the Jews. All that He labored for and all the love He showed produced no outward result in the souls of men. Instead they said, “Let’s get rid of this man.”
How did He react to the rejection of Himself and His love? Was He disheartened? Discouraged and cast down? No. He rejoiced in spirit and said, “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth ... for so it seemed go in Thy sight” (Matt. 11:25-26). Where could He get joy like that? All His teaching and preaching and doing good seemed to have produced nothing but hatred and animosity! Yet He could rejoice and say, “I thank Thee, O Father.” It was a joy of submission to the Father’s will. From that point on, the Father sent Him out to do good to all men, no longer restricting Him to just the Jew. He said to all mankind, “Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me ... and ye shall find rest.”
The first rest in that invitation might be called the gospel rest. He says, “Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest.” The second rest in that invitation is connected with joy. “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me ... and ye shall find rest.” It reminds our hearts that the true path of rest and joy is the path that the Lord Jesus took. He accepted everything, every circumstance and every result, in perfect submission from the hand of the Father. It was the path of lowly submission. He came down to earth, and on earth He went down lower still. Will we go down in spirit to the place where He is in Matthew 11 and learn of Him and find rest, joy and peace? “Come down to Me, where I am, and you are going to find rest for your soul.”