“Jesus came into the world on a mission of ministering mercy to the lost, giving His life as a ransom for many (Luke 19:10; Mark 10:4; Matt. 20:28).
And from the beginning He set His feet steadfastly in the path of suffering (Matt. 4:3ff; Luke 4:3ff) which He knew led straight onward to death (John 2:19, 3:14; Matt. 12:40; Luke 12:49-50; Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:1-9; Luke 5:34).
Joy He had: but it was not the shallow joy of mere pagan delight in living, nor the delusive joy of a hope destined to failure; but the deep exultation of a conqueror setting captives free.
This joy underlay all His sufferings and shed its light along the whole thorn-beset path which was trodden by His torn feet.
We hear but little of it, however, as we hear but little of His sorrows: the narratives are not given to descriptions of the mental states of the great actor whose work they illustrate.
We hear just enough of it to assure us of its presence underlying and giving its color to all His life.
If our Lord was ‘the Man of Sorrows,’ He was more profoundly still ‘the Man of Joy.‘”
–Benjamin B. Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1950), 125-126.
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