John 17: 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
The moment was approaching in which Christ would be rejected, accused, spit upon, beaten horribly, and then die upon a cross. The righteous, sinless Son of God had known before Creation that this moment would come. Adam’s choice had not taken the God-head by surprise. Omniscience knew that Adam would sin; but also knew that there would be many born who would accept God’s gift of salvation wrapped within His desire to share His love, His Joy and His Glory with those whom by free will would accept His offer of salvation and choose to seek Him. So the moment had come that Christ must bare the penalty of sin for all of mankind upon the cross with the one thing most terrifying and painful for Him, that He must be separated from God the Father (His very soul) and God the Holy Spirit (His very spirit) and He would be plunged into Hell. If Hell is eternal separation from God’s love, joy, and glory; then Christ was plunged into a hell that He could never have prepared for and could never have experienced brefore. That torment was the greatest for Him. The soul of God (the Father) could not look upon sin for He is perfect righteousness and could not have any part with sin; so as Christ took on man’s sin, man’s guilt, and man’s suffering–God was forced to forsake His son–until the work was finished. Yet, on His way to the Garden where only hours later He would be betrayed and the walk toward the moment in which that very dark hour would begin; Christ prayed for all who would accept this gift of salvation. His desire is that they know the truth and be sanctified through the truth of the word of God. When one knows the truth, that the only true joy that our hearts, minds, and souls can truly feel is based upon a relationship with our creator. All other joys are merely counterfeit. All conflict, sorrows, pains, and trials on this earth become meaningless trivialities when we recognize that they cannot steal the Joy we have: founded upon a relationship with our creator and our Savior. What Joy is mine because I know Him! What Joy is mine to know that He loves me, unconditionally! What Joy is mine to know that His love is so great that He cannot leave me in the regenerate state in which He found me; but rather is always about the work of my Sanctification, that I may become the beautiful bride for Christ that He already sees me to be. He sees my greatest potential and is ever about the work of my reaching the point that I will realize them. He sifts out the chaff, removes the blemishes, destroys one by one the strongholds of sin that my heart desires and rips from my hand the counterfeit joys that I tend to cling to; that I might find this wondrous Joy that I know in Him alone.If I may, I would like to quote two statements from the writing of Jonathan Edwards who is able to express this much better than I can, though these truths have become glaringly evident in my heart.
Jonathan Edwards > Quotes
“God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any, or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.”
― Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 17: Sermons and Discourses, 1730-1733
“God’s purpose for my life was that I have a passion for God’s glory and that I have a passion for my joy in that glory, and that these two are one passion.”
― Jonathan Edwards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQJ1zb-HcEk&playnext=1&list=PL492D7877FFA036D3&feature=results_video