No one can take your
joy in Jesus Christ from you.
John 16:22
The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the grave changed
everything. And His resurrection still changes
things today. The disciples were
distraught at the death of Jesus. They did not leave Calvary shouting, “wait
till the third day, Jesus will raise from the dead with victory, wait and see,
He will live again, just as He said!”
No, they did not shout that, rather, they left Calvary defeated,
dismayed, discouraged. They had NO joy
as they left Calvary. In fact, when the
women approached the tomb of Jesus early on that first Easter Sunday; they came
expecting to dress the dead body of Jesus with additional burial spices. They did not come expecting the tomb to be
empty and Jesus to be raised and alive.
They were still in mourning: grief and loss filled them, and hope and
joy eluded them.
Their joy was gone as they left Calvary. Their joy was gone, because the source of
their joy was gone: He was dead. They
had been separated from their source of joy.
However, with the resurrection of Jesus, their joy was reestablished,
renewed because the source of their joy was alive again. They had been reconnected to the source of
their joy.
Jesus had spoken words to prepare his disciples for His
death hours before He went to Calvary.
In John 16:22, Jesus spoke these words, “Therefore you now have sorrow;
but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.” At Jesus’
resurrection the disciples’ joy was renewed.
Jesus was alive with victory over sin, death, hell and the grave. And with that victory there is a joy that is
the eternal possession of every believer.
The scripture says, “no one” will take your joy from you. But that “no one” also includes: no thing, no
power, no virus, no financial setback can take that joy from you. This is the promise of Jesus Christ. In today’s consumer language, we would call
this promise an “unconditional guarantee”.
Here is
the Divine Logic of such an “unconditional guarantee”. The disciples’ joy came from being with
Jesus. Our joy today comes from being
with Jesus. The resurrection means that
Jesus is alive now and at the right hand of God the Father. Additionally, the resurrection means that
Jesus will never die again; He is eternal in His power and in His person. And therefore, Jesus will always be present
with every believer, every moment of the present, and every experience of
eternity. Implied in Jesus’ statement
that no one will ever take your joy from you, is the fact that not only will
Jesus live forever, but that you, in Christ and “in joy” will live forever as
well.
No one can take your
joy in Jesus Christ from you.