Preparing With and For Joy

What brings you joy? This time of year is often associated with joy – people experience joy in Christmas. Advertisers would like you to believe that only if you buy their products will your joy – or the joy of your loved ones – be complete.

This is the third week in Advent. We started with hope: the hope of Christ’s birth and Christ’s return. Last week we focused on love: love came down at Christmas in the Person of Jesus Christ, and love lives within us, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, allowing us to love other people, even the unlovely. Today our focus is joy. Joy is one of those Bible words that in some ways has lost its meaning, partially because there are many words that we translate to joy, and they vary in their intensity. Just like we can say we “love” all kinds of things, from our favorite sports team to our favorite food to our spouse, “joy” can also carry different weight.

It’s one of those things where we know we want it, but we don’t necessarily know how to define it. How can we experience joy, especially if we’re unclear about what it exactly is? There are various Hebrew and Greek words that we translate “joy” – and they come in a wide range, from “gladness” or “cheerfulness” to “exultation” or “transport” – meaning someone is so overjoyed that they are lifted to a different level or even existence.

I love the definition I found in the Unger’s Bible Dictionary: Joy is the delight of the mind arising from the consideration of a present or assured possession of a future good. In other words, if you have something good or you know you’re going to get something good, the delight in your mind is called “joy.” Obviously some things bring more joy than others, and some joy is long-lasting while other joy fades.

There are levels of joy, and joy is not just something that is experienced by believers. I believe anyone can receive and experience joy, because God has programmed joy into our hearts. God created us to enjoy his presence, and even in our fallen state, we can still taste joy. In fact, God has given us so much that gives us joy, all with the purpose of pointing us to him. So if you get joy from seeing a beautiful sunrise, the idea is that you will see that sunrise and praise the One who created it.

The problem, however, is that we have become the people who worship that which is created rather than the Creator, as Paul preaches against in Romans 1:25: They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen. We take good things, which God gave to us, and worship them. Instead of enjoying food, we become gluttons. Instead of enjoying people and fellowshipping with them and uplifting and encouraging one another, we use people for our own selfish desires or we worship people – athletes, celebrities, actors, musicians, whoever. Instead of enjoying wine, we get drunk. Instead of using medications to help fight disease, we abuse drugs. We worship the created things instead of the Creator.

And when it comes to joy, we often lodge our joy within the realm of the created. We rely on the external circumstance to bring us joy, and when it doesn’t, we are crushed. In the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Clark Griswold is expecting a big Christmas bonus, enough to pay for the in-ground pool he has already made an advance payment for. When he finds out that his boss cut the Christmas bonuses and instead gave him a subscription to the jelly of the month club, he is furious! (and, of course, all mayhem ensues)

Remember that Joy is the delight of the mind arising from the consideration of a present or assured possession of a future good. So there is a such thing as misplaced joy. When you hold out hope for something and it doesn’t happen, joy is crushed.

Around 730 years before Jesus’ birth, God’s people, Israel, were in exile. They had repeatedly disobeyed God, and now they were paying the price in captivity. Part of their joy had been misplaced; they had trusted so much in their identity as God’s chosen people that they had translated that into “we can do whatever we want with no repercussions” and now they were reaping what they had sowed. They were a conquered people in exile.

But into that context, the prophet Isaiah speaks: (Isaiah 35:1-10) The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Though the prophet is speaking to a people long ago in literal exile and literal captivity, he also speaks to us today. Have you lost your joy? Perhaps our joy has been quenched by sorrow. Perhaps our expectations haven’t been met. Perhaps we are separated from those who brought us joy. Perhaps we are facing illness or our own mortality. This life can be hard and miserable. But Isaiah’s prophecy was true for Israel then and it is true for us today.

Maybe you are in a desert or a parched land or a wilderness; the Bible doesn’t necessarily say that you’ll get out of it. But it does say that the desert and parched land will be glad and the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. In other words, God will transform it from a dry and hostile land into a place of glorious splendor. Even the harsh land will rejoice and shout for joy.

The word that Isaiah uses here for “joy” is a form of the Hebrew word gîl which means: to leap or spin around with pleasure. If you’ve ever seen a little child who is so excited and happy that they can’t contain themselves and they begin to jump up and down and spin around, this is the word picture Isaiah paints. Can you imagine it?  The hard lands, the desert and wilderness, so joyful that they are leaping and spinning with pleasure.

They are not leaping and dancing because they already have seen the fulfillment; they do so because they know it is coming. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. Why is that? Because the earth takes God at his word. The prophet reminds us to say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” (Isaiah 35:4)

God makes the promise that the blind will see and the deaf will hear. The lame will leap and the mute shout with joy. (Isaiah 35:5-6a)

When is all of this going to happen? It has happened! This is a prophecy concerning Jesus! In Matthew 11:2-5, we find John the Baptist in prison, hearing about what Jesus is doing. You might not realize it, but even heroes in the Bible are people, too, and John was experiencing doubt and frustration in prison.

When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

Jesus is saying to John, “Yes, I am the One who is to come.” But he is also saying, “I am the One about whom Isaiah prophesied.”

Isaiah said these things would happen, and in Jesus, they did. He provides the sign to prove that the rest is true as well. Isaiah said that there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness.

To the brokenhearted. To the frustrated. To the broken. To those who cry out, “He is too far away. I cannot reach him,” the answer comes, “You do not have to reach him. He comes to you.” In the Person of Jesus Christ, God makes a sure path for those who seek him, for the redeemed and the ransomed to return to the Lord.

This prophecy concludes with the attitude of those returning to worship: They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)

Though part of this prophecy has already occurred, this part hasn’t yet. But it is the climax of the prophecy: a time when we will be set free from our sins and the consequences of living in a fallen world. We will boldly approach God to worship, for nothing will stand in our way. No sorrow, no grief, no pain, no sin.

There are some who say that there is no heaven, that our duty is to make this world better so that it will somehow become heavenly – the picture from the Enlightenment was that we are getting better and better and that image has been co-opted by many liberal or so-called progressive Christians to say that it is our duty to create Heaven on Earth. While we do have a duty to continue Jesus Christ’s ministry, doing the things Jesus did, our hope and our joy are not in this world or of this world.

Because God makes promises for beyond this life, and, as Paul says, If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (1 Corinthians 15:19). In other words, our hope and our joy is for far more than this life and this world.

So how does this knowledge help us prepare for Christmas and for Christ’s return? Remember that as we go through tough times, that they aren’t the end. There is more; God promises us joy, and if God is God at all, we can believe all of his promises.

So allow God to fill you with joy. Remember that joy is different from simple happiness, which is more or less an emotional response to your surroundings.  Things make you happy. Other things make you unhappy. That’s part of life. Even good things can fail to make you happy. But joy rises above circumstances, focusing on God’s character.

We can find joy in God’s righteousness.

In God’s mercy.

In God’s faithfulness.

In God’s creation.

In God’s Word.

In salvation, which comes from God.

There are people who seem to relish wallowing in their misery. That is not Christian. God actually requires a joyful attitude from the believer. Paul tells us: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4) The final verse of the final Psalm says: Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150:6)

This is how you prepare for joy with joy. Praise God in everything. Prepare your heart for Jesus by focusing on the joy that he has brought and will bring. Shortly after Paul wrote to the church in Philippi telling them to rejoice in the Lord always, he gave them a hint as to how to do this. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

Focus your thoughts on Christ. And know that even if you are going through a tough time, your present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18) What God has in store for us is enough to redeem even the world’s most terrible evils! Recognize that our Advent preparations are also preparing us for Christ’s return!