October 23, 2026 -- Day Twenty-three of Joy: John 17:13-16

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13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. John 17:13-16 ESV
 
Just before Jesus’ arrest, He prayed. His disciples heard His prayer. John the disciple, inspired by the Holy Spirit, recorded it for us. It is the longest of Jesus’ recorded prayers. It is one of the most eloquent depictions of the believer’s anticipation of future joy. Briefly, let’s recap this journey of joy. We have joy now; the source of this joy is our Father. We have a foundation for joy which is the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. Today we focus on our future joy. We have a glorious anticipation for greater joy. It stays with us now, no matter what the world throws at us. It is a joy that is preserved and strengthened the more we contemplate the world to come.
 
Jesus prayed that His disciples then, and His followers today, would have His joy. What is the Jesus joy? The very joy He prays for, longing for His followers to share it? Jesus’ chief joy is His relationship with the Father in heaven; added to this is His joy as He is in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Jesus prayed that His followers would be welcomed into such divine community. It is the fulfilment of God’s holy purpose to walk with His people. Remember the description of the Garden of Eden, before Adam and Eve’s fall. God walked with Adam and Eve in Garden in the cool of the evening.
 
The joy Jesus would share with His followers is that all who know and love Jesus will experience intimate communion with the Father and the Son. That is, believers would know God as the Father Who extravagantly loved and loves His people with love so powerful that the evil one never could stop it from reaching us. The Holy Spirit will increase the believer’s capacity for joy in and throughout all eternity.
 
Jesus’ joy is so strong that the real and dark troubles of this world could not knock the joy out of Him. Consider the fact that Jesus was about to be betrayed by the kiss of a former friend-disciple. A disciple who’d witnessed Jesus’ miracles. Heard Jesus’ teaching. Experienced Jesus’ compassion. Even so, he’d given himself over to evil and betrayed Jesus. How profoundly painful. Jesus would be mocked. Whipped. Spat upon. Humiliated. Crucified. He has joy that would abide in Him despite all of that because He is, was, and ever will be united with His Father in heaven. That is the joy Jesus prayed you and I would have. Know. Delight in. Savour.
 
Jesus prayed that His joy would be fulfilled in every believer. He prayed “my joy fulfilled in themselves”. It is an alien joy that will replace the total depravity now infecting and infesting every believer. There will be a joy to come that is wholly untainted and unstained by our original sin nature. We will be set free. We will experience joy that is now beyond our ability to describe it. In fact, that joy is beyond our current capacity or ability to understand. We are so bound up in our sins, so aware of our constant need for confession; however that joy to come includes the wondrous promise that we will never need to confess sin, ever again. We will be incapable of sinning. There will be no unholy impulses. We will be blameless. Pure. Our affections and desires will be focused wholly on God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit! What a holy and glorious concept that is. The anticipation of it fills us with joy.
 
Ah, Holy Father, let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Answer the wondrous prayer of our Lord and Savior Jesus, that His joy be fulfilled in us.
Spirit of God, prepare us, even now, for the weight of anticipated joy. Stir in us both the gift of joy and the spiritual discipline to be Christians who rejoice in our Lord. Amen.
 
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