The Joy that Remains

John 15:11 – “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

The joy of Jesus isn’t the same as what is commonly understood as happiness or excitement. The joy of Jesus is not the pleasure of a life of ease; it is the exhilaration of being right with God, and consciously walking in His love and care. We can have that joy – we can have His joy – and have it as an abiding presence.

Henry Alford describes the joy of Jesus as, “Not ‘joy concerning Me,’ nor ‘joy derived from Me,’ nor ‘My joy over you,’ but ‘My joy,’ properly speaking…His own holy exultation, the joy of the Son in the consciousness of the love of God.”

George Morrison comments, “Nobody ever asked Him what He meant. They did not look at each other in perplexity. To them it seemed entirely natural that the Master should make reference to His gladness. From this we gather that the joy of Christ was something they were perfectly familiar with.”

That your joy may be full: This is the result of abiding in Jesus’ love, and obedience flowing from that abiding relationship.

Adam Clarke defines the word “full” as complete or filled up: “A metaphor taken from a vessel, into which water or any other thing is poured, till it is full to the brim. The religion of Christ expels all misery from the hearts of those who receive it in its fulness. It was to drive wretchedness out of the world that Jesus came into it.”

Charles Spurgeon beautifully summarizes the joy that Jesus gives: “God made human beings, as He made His other creatures, to be happy. They are capable of happiness, they are in their right element when they are happy; and now that Jesus Christ has come to restore the ruins of the Fall, He has to bring back to us the old joy, — only it shall be even sweeter and deeper than it could have been if we had never lost it.”

Based on The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik.