“But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!”
Luke 12:50
How good it is to come out the other side of a trial. Trials are painful, but they accomplish a good purpose. But going through them is no fun. All trials are designed to produce a fruitful harvest of righteousness and they always ultimately improve our lives and increase our joy. How good it is to enjoy the fruit of righteousness which has been born of an accomplished and completed trial.
We live through seasons – seasons of trial and seasons of refreshments and rest. Yet if we still have life we can be assured that there are still trials laid out before us. Sometimes we see trials coming. We may foresee a financial trial – or maybe we experience early symptoms of a progressive illness. In such times we endure stress and dread of what is coming.
God’s grace is sufficient in every trial. He walks with us through them all. Yet we still dread our trials. I’m thankful that I do not know the details of the trials that I have yet to endure. I am protected from dread because I do not know the details of tomorrow’s evil. I trust God that when they come, His grace will flow, and He will meet all my needs. I also have a sense of peace and rest today, in part because I am protected from the knowledge of what I may face tomorrow. For example, I do not know how I will die – whether as an old man in my sleep or with my days cut short in some accident or by some painful disease. I’m glad I don’t know – my God ordained ignorance affords me a measure of peace for today.
But Jesus was not ignorant of His trial. He knew exactly what was coming. His distress was full of the perfect knowledge of exactly what was coming His way. Yet He did not shrink back. He faced, with full knowledge, all the dreadful pains in front of Him. He knew He would be betrayed by one friend and denied by another. He knew that conspiracy and injustice that would put Him in chains. He knew of the beatings, mocking, spitting and beard plucking. He knew about the flogging and the thorns. He knew about the cross, the piercing and stabbing. He also knew about the cup. The cup of wrath had to be drunk, and He knew He had to drink it down.
If I were to learn today that I had cancer and would have to undergo chemotherapy which would cause awful nausea and vomiting, I would have much dread to endure in sickly anticipation of the actual events themselves. In contrast, if I suddenly came down with a stomach virus I might have the same ultimate experience, but without the dead of anticipating the pain. How much more potent the dread Jesus faced as he drew near the time of His death. As He faced the ultimate dread, He did not waver, He did not run away, He proceeded in perfect obedience and willingly endured the cross. The cross did not come upon Him suddenly and by surprise, but rather step-by-step according to His full knowledge and perfect anticipation.
How strong He is. How brave He is. How fearless. How resolute. How admirable and worthy of praise.
He did it and it is accomplished! He underwent that baptism and it is complete. No trial lays before Him – all has been established. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. And now that He has accomplished it, He lives in perfect joy. He had the worst of trials and now He enjoys the greatest of its fruits – forever.
How sweet it is too, that He invites us to enjoy His joy with Him. He is preparing our place. He will deliver us into the fullness of His kingdom where all our trials will be past and only joy will remain.
Thank you, Jesus for your endurance and strength. Thank you for securing our blessings and establishing a waterfall of grace and mercy which abounds for us forever. Grant me grace in times of trial and a view of the eternal weight of glory to sustain me and anchor my hope and my delight in you. Amen.
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