You have made known to me the path of life; You fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures in your right hand. Psalm 16:11
The third week of Advent’s theme is joy. This verse out of Psalms reminds us that God is the one who fills us with joy and he does it by offering his presence. We have all heard Philippians 4 telling us to “Rejoice always.” As Christians we are supposed to be joyful, right? Often our circumstances don’t incite joy because we live in a fallen world. Experiencing unpleasantness should be an indicator to us that we need to fight for joy by abiding in God (John 15:5). We feel joy in God’s presence and he is the only one that can fill us with joy.
Joy to the world! The Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King;
Let ev’ry heart prepare him room.
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing.
And heav’n and heav’n and nature sing.
Joy to the earth!
The savior reigns: Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.
Repeat the sounding joy.
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow.
Nor thorns infest the ground,
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.
Far as the curse is found.
Far as, far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace.
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of his love,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders, wonders of his love.
We sing Joy to the World but how many of us actually feel that joy? Do we stop to think why we should have joy? This song addresses four reasons for having joy as Christians. 1.) Jesus loves us so much that he endured hardship to save us. 2.) Jesus is the best king that this world will ever receive. 3.) We are able to repent of our sins and become more like Jesus. 4.) God has given us his Word and many psalms and songs in which we can repeat the sounding joy.
Reason #1: Joy to the World, the Lord is come tells of the joy we have because Jesus came to earth. We are able to celebrate and have hope for this reason alone. If Jesus never came to earth, we wouldn’t be able to have any joy at all. There would be no hope or future for us. Jesus had the glory of Heaven and decided to leave and endure so much pain:
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:3-5
The Lord is come seem like four very simple words but there is so much packed in there. Thanks be to God, the Lord has come. Thanks be to God, that he loves us so much he would endure affliction for our sake. Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Reason #2: Let earth receive her King produces complete peace when we understand that this King is not like other kings. This King is the perfect Savior who does no wrong and loves us. He is always fair, always kind, always just, and always loving. This is a King that we want to serve! Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns and he rules the world with truth and grace paint the picture of how wonderful Jesus is. What a gift to worship and serve a master that is perfect in every way.
Reason #3: Because Jesus came to the earth, we no longer let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground. We can feel his blessings flow far as the curse is found. The third reason to have joy is that Jesus made a way for us to repent and be right with God. We are allowed to have our sins washed white as snow. It doesn’t always feel like a blessing to repent, but it is a blessing because it is the way provided to be made right with God again:
“The redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 59:20
Reason #4: Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy tells of our need for reminders. We can have joy because God gives us his Word and psalms and music to remind us what a great Savior and Lord that we have. At Christmas we remember the joy that we have because Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins, be a mediator for us in prayer, be an example of how to live, and he fully understands our afflictions.
Why do we have joy? Joy to the world, the Lord is come! We have joy because the Lord has come and transformed our lives. All heaven and nature can sing of the glory of Jesus Christ. Praise be to God!
Journal Prompts
1.) What do you take the most joy in: is it a food you eat, a person you spend time with, or a number on a scale?
Read Deuteronomy 28:47, 1 Chronicles 15:16, 16:27, Psalm 16:11, 19:8, 30:11, 33:1, 51:12, 66:1, Isaiah 12:3, 51:3, Luke 1:14, 1:44, 1:58, 2:10, John 16:24, Romans 12:12, 15:13, Hebrews 12:2, James 1:2, and 1 Peter 1:8
2.) Spend some time thinking about why Jesus is a superior King to any other ruler on earth.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We praise your name. We are so thankful for the gift of Jesus. There is none like him and we are the recipients of the grace that he brought. Thank you for making a way to you. Thank you for the cleansing of our sins. Please help us to repeat the sounding joy of Jesus’s arrival this Christmas season.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen