“…but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you.” John 16:22
Dear Ones:
If there is one theme that envelopes and surrounds the events leading up to, and during, the birth of Christ, it is joy and gladness. When the angel of the Lord came to Zacharias the priest, told him that his prayers had been answered, and that his wife Elizabeth would give birth to a son in her old age, there was a promise of God: “And you shall have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.” (Luke 1:14) The God of this baby, John the Baptist, would not only give to his parents joy and gladness, but would evidence His own joy by declaring that the baby leaped in the womb of Elizabeth when Mary, the mother of Jesus, came for a visit. Elizabeth would later describe that, “…the babe leaped in my womb for JOY.” (v.44)
When the angel of the Lord came, after the birth of Jesus, and visited the shepherds abiding in the fields at night, his announcement was an amazing one: “Fear not; for, behold, I bring good tidings of great JOY, which shall be to all people.” (2:10) It is important to understand, and grasp here, that the source and very essence of this JOY is God Himself. Before the world began, God laid the down the foundation, plan, and provision, for the redemption of lost humanity. There was in this conception and realization of redemption, the expression of His joy, to not only give that which was good, and the giving of Himself wholly, but the delight to give freely to the helpless and lost. The fact that He is merciful and gracious, brought this gift of eternal consequence, to man. The same God who declared to Israel that He would plant them in the land of promise, with His whole heart, is this Eternal Father who would bring to pass a perfect salvation, at a total cost to Himself, the giving of His Son to die on Calvary for us. In all things living to please the Father, Scripture tells us that the Lord Jesus, “:..for the JOY set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Heb. 12:2) How can the eternal God, bring about circumstances whereby His Son would take upon Himself flesh, be born in Bethlehem, know that He would die on Calvary, and yet have joy in the giving of Him? How can a babe leap in the womb for joy, and this, by the Spirit of God, in the shadow of a cross?
The answer lies in a clearer understanding of Who God truly is. And for that knowledge, we dare not look at men, but only at Him, at Christ. After Jonah had preached to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord, he prayed to the Lord concerning the blessed result of that preaching, which was contrary to what Jonah desired. He wrote: “For I knew that You are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and You repent of the evil.” (4:2) This gracious God, is One who looks at the intended result of His work and actions. He delights to give that which is good, but He always gives that which exceeds man’s expectations and imagination. The joy that God has in declaring the “good news,” the gospel of His saving work in Christ, is immense, and has its full expression in the spreading of that gospel unto the ends of the earth. The greatness of His joy, that overcoming joy in the face of the cross, is fully manifested, and realized, in the giving freely, and completely, all that God in Christ has designed in His love. Hence, the news of Jesus’ birth was indeed, “good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all the people,” and as Zacharias said: “…to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.” (Lk. 1:79) The paradox of joy lies in the fact of its divine presence and power, defying the concepts and constraints of lost men.
Dear Father, Fill us with Thy joy unending. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad