Imperfect Joy and Looking Beyond

If you have a Bible, we’re going to be in Esther 9-10 tonight, we’re wrapping up 7 weeks in this series and I’m excited to see where the Lord will take us between next week and Christmas Break as we dive into the Ten Commandments. But we still have work to do in the book of Esther. Last week we talked about deliverance and we talked about three areas of deliverance that the Jews were delivered from and how Christ delivers us from death, wrath, and the temporary. Tonight, we are going to talk about joy. If you were with us when we went through the book of Philippians back in the Spring and Summer of 2022, we talked a whole lot about this subject and I think that it is an important subject to be talked about today. If you were to do a quick Google search, you would not have to search long or far to see that this generation is not a joyful generation. You yourself may admit that you are not a joyful person. In just the past 3-4 years you all have gone through a global pandemic, global uncertainty between Russia and Ukraine, inflation that seems to have no sign of going down, and I am sure a host of other things within your own life. This is a difficult time in which we live and it is OK for us to admit that. What I really want to do tonight is leave you with joy. And if I physically cannot give you joy I want to at least leave with you a view of joy that can be obtained now and a joy that can be fully possessed in the world to come. So, we are really just going to look at two things tonight: Joy that is for now and joy that is forever. We won’t read all of chapter 9 tonight, we’ll dive into verse 16 but to catch you up on what happens in the first 16 verses, we read that the Jews are able to defend themselves on the day that their enemies came to attack them and the king allows the Jews to defend themselves the next day as well. Esther also has the ten sons of Haman killed and in total, around 800 men were killed just within the city of Susa. Let’s open up in prayer and then we will read Esther 9:16-32

Esther 9:16–32 ESV

Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder. This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another. And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants. Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim. Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth, that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting. The command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.

Joy for Now

What I want us to look at first tonight is the joy that we have now or could have now. But before we do that, we need to understand that there is a difference between being happy and having joy. They are similar in many ways but they are not the same thing. In fact, nowhere in Scripture are we commanded to be happy but we are commanded to have joy. Oswald Chambers said, “The Bible talks plentifully about joy, but it nowhere talks about a ‘happy Christian.’ Happiness depends on what happens; joy does not.” Here is a challenge that I have for you guys, if I were to ask you to define what joy means, could you do it without making any reference to being happy or happiness? I think that many of us would struggle to come up with a definition because in our western culture, we have such a tendency to connect happiness to joy. How should we define joy then? Or maybe a better question is: how is joy connected to the Christian life? To have joy in the Christian life is to be in a state of never-ending blessedness given by God Himself. That is the Christian joy. Yes, there can be earthly joy and yes if you are joyful, you are naturally happy but the world often says that you cannot have joy unless you are happy with the circumstances that you are in. If you look at the feast of Purim that the Jews have in Esther 9, it is clear that they have joy but that joy that they have is a result of the good circumstances that they are in. Would they still be a joy-filled people if they were not spared on the day that Haman set out to kill them? I know that it is arguing from silence but I think that if Haman’s plan was not averted, the Jewish people would not have the joy that they had by the end of chapter 9. Why? Because I think that we do see gladness and joy that is based on physical circumstances. Is it possible that we could see divine joy in the observance of Purim? Absolutely. I am certain that the Jews recognized God’s control in the events that took place. What I want you to see though is how while circumstances may direct our joy, our circumstances cannot be the source of our joy! Why? Because circumstances change. In order for joy to be everlasting, it must find its source in something that is everlasting and never changing. This is why I said earlier that we have to talk about joy that is for now and then joy that is forever. If we want joy for a moment, we can have that relatively easily. But don’t those moments usually end and then we get back to business as usual? One commentator noted that if you look at what happens to the Jews in chapters 9 and 10, after the feast of Purim, life moves on and it moves on pretty much in the exact same way that it was prior to Haman’s plan. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Jews come together and they have a feast that lasts only one day. To this day, the Jews still only celebrate it for one full day. It is a day that is full of gladness and rejoicing and remembrance but what does the next day look like? What does the next week and month look like? You see, this is a picture of what joy often looks like. It is temporary. It is here today and gone tomorrow. This is not the joy that Christ brings to us. What is the joy that Christ brings to us? In John 15:11 Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” The joy that Christ brings to believers is His joy and it is a full joy. There are 2 things that we need to emphasize about the joy that Christ gives to His people: The joy that Christ gives is an abiding joy and it is an abounding joy. The joy that Christ gives is an abiding joy because the joy is found in and brought in by Christ. Christ’s joy becomes our joy. Christ has joy because His work is accomplished, His people redeemed, His name exalted. Our joy is an abounding joy because it has no end. Christ is risen and reigning so our joy can be full. The joy of the Christian is not some little happy moment, that shines only for a small allotted time, it is a blood-bought victory that never goes away! Christ will never die again and as He lives, His joy and our joy lives. Our heart is brought to everlasting joy because our soul is bought for everlasting life! The Christian joy is a joy that is found not in our physical circumstances, not in our abilities, not in our works, it is founded in what Christ has done and the sooner you recognize the need for Christ to be the source of your joy, the sooner you can relish that joy. As you embrace the abiding and abounding joy that Christ offers us now, the more readily you will be able to apply that joy to the circumstances that you are in. Adrian Rogers said, “Happiness is like a cosmetic. It deals with the outward thing. Joy deals with the inward character. Happiness meets surface needs; joy meets our deepest needs. Happiness is like a thermometer. It registers conditions. Joy is like a thermostat. It controls conditions. Now, happiness and joy sometimes come together. Those are wonderful moments. When your life is filled with happiness, the circumstances are good, and in all that you know the joy of the Lord, and happiness and joy are together like that, that’s a wonderful time. But sometimes when happiness goes away, joy is intensified because that’s all you have, and you have to depend upon Jesus. You see, joy is not the subtraction of problems from your life; it is the addition of the supernatural power of God.” To have true joy now, it cannot be found anywhere outside of Christ. Temporary joy can be found outside of Him but you cannot find abounding and abiding joy outside of Him. So, where do you find your joy? It can be easy for you to find it in the wrong places and it can be easy for you to find joy in good things but those good things are accompanied with bad motives or misplaced affections. In Luke 10, Jesus sends out 72 of His followers to minister and they all come back rejoicing in what was accomplished. They say to Jesus in Luke 10:17 “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”” But strangely enough, Jesus does not respond with the same joy that they have. Jesus says in Luke 10:18-20

Luke 10:18–20 ESV

And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

What’s going on here? Jesus warns about misplaced joy. Casting out demons is fantastic but that good work in itself is not to be the fountain of our joy. As good as that may be, that should not be what wakes us up with rejoicing in the morning. R.C. Sproul said, “Here our Lord identified the supreme foundation for Christian joy. Our joy is to come from the assurance that we have redemption in Christ. The greatest joy that a person can have is to know that his name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that he is saved and will live forever with Christ.” What is the source of your joy? Where does your joy come from right now? Can you honestly say about that which you have the most joy in right now will even be here tomorrow? Will you still have it next week? Next month? Next year? Here is my promise to you, whatever you may possess right now, whatever you may think you physically need to be able to say that you have joy, if it is not Jesus Christ, your joy will either never come or it will never last. There will always be something else or something more that will fight for your joy. If you want joy that can last forever, it can only be sourced by something that lives forever. The Jews have this great feast where they can come together with joy and thankfulness and while that one day is in itself a good thing, it cannot be the only thing. The joy of that day must be centered and found in He that offers eternal joy. So, what does that forever joy look like? With the few minutes that we have left, turn in your Bible to Revelation 19.

Joy Forever

Eric Ortlund says that in the feast of Purim, the Christian can see a hint, a hint that is imperfect but unmistakable of the joy and the feast that awaits the Christian forever in heaven. In Revelation 19:6-8 John writes:

Revelation 19:6–8 ESV

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

I want you all to understand just how significant these verses are in order to do that, you need to know the context of Revelation 19. One chapter earlier, we see the fall of Babylon. This is not the Babylon of yesteryear. The Babylon of Revelation 18 I believe represents not only the Roman Empire of John’s day but the world. I believe that what is being emphasized in Revelation 18 is that all that is ungodly will be torn down, destroyed, and judged. The evils of this world will one day finally and fully disappear. In Revelation 19, we see in full what the Jews receive at the end of Esther 9. We see the great and final rescue of the People of God. The full and absolute deliverance of God’s people and the fullness of joy that was promised now completely realized. What happens in Revelation 19 is the future reality of God’s people. Evil is judged, sin is destroyed, the Bride comes to the Bridegroom where joy is completed. The joy that we have but a taste of now, we will taste in full. As we stand with our Risen Savior, we will know and experience a joy that cannot be removed. A joy that we will never know the end of. On that day, we won’t know anything but joy. We won’t know anything but eternal blessedness. I believe that when we are with the Lord, our days on this earth will be but a day on Heaven’s never ending calendar. I’ve said that our time here is like the pregame tunnel before the Super Bowl, the real joy, has not even been touched yet. Never again will we think back to this time, never again will we think of that which we left here, never again will sin or pain have anything to do with us. All around will be joy unthinkable yet fully realized. As we look ahead to that, we are reminded that if we are in Christ, it is already ours now. It is kept in Heaven for you because Jesus is waiting in Heaven for you and where He is, where His joy is, we shall be also. My favorite Puritan, John Owen wrote, “God is what He is, the matter of our chiefest joy. Whatever befalls them (Christians) in this world, whatever troubles and disquietment they are exercised withal, the remembrance of God is a satisfactory refreshment unto them. For there they behold all that is good and excellent, the infinite center of all perfections.” What Owen is saying here is that the Lord is perfect in all of His ways and He is the source of all joy and when we find ourselves distracted with outside pleasure that is only temporary, we can find not only relief but satisfaction as we turn our eyes back to Christ. So we have a lot to look forward to. We have a lot that we can find joy in. Are the days that you are living now serving as a reminder that you need Christ. You need joy but you need joy in the right Person. We can be thankful in the good things, we can be aware of the bad things, we can be happy with the gifts that God has given us but we must re-prioritize where our joy and hope comes from. If your joy and hope is in this life only, that’s a sad existence. Ground yourself in He that is Eternal. Ground yourself in the One that is to come. Ground yourself on the One who with the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.

Between the Now and Then (Esther 10)

What I want to do before we close is read Esther 10 as we finish this little book:

Esther 10 (ESV)

King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.

What should we think of we these last few verses? I think that we see a reminder of who God makes us now and where He is leading us to. When Esther begins, Mordecai is practically a nobody, same as Esther. But by the end of the book, Esther is queen and Mordecai is second in rank to King Ahasuerus. What a turn around! What we know is that the day is coming when, our King, our Lord and God will raise us up, out of bondage and nothingness and set us in a place of significance. The day is coming when Christ shall bring us to where He is and we will reign with Him forever. Until we get there, we need to be like Mordecai and seek the welfare of those that are around us. We need to love God and love our neighbors and we are going to see how this gets played out in our series on the Ten Commandments next week. There are ways that we need to live in light of the joy that we have now and the joy that we will possess forever. I want to end our night with this quote from Octavius Winslow. Winslow said, “The religion of Christ is the religion of joy. Christ came to take away our sins, to roll off our curse, to unbind our chains, to open our prison house, to cancel our debt; in a word, to give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Is not this joy? Where can we find a joy so real, so deep, so pure, so lasting? There is every element of joy—deep, ecstatic, satisfying, sanctifying joy—in the gospel of Christ. The believer in Jesus is essentially a happy man. The child of God is, from necessity, a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought-of, untold, and endless blessedness. With such a God, such a Savior, and such a hope, is he not, ought he not, to be a joyful man?” Are you a joy filled person? Has the Gospel of Jesus Christ so impacted your heart and your life that you can be nothing but joyful? Can you say with the Apostle Paul, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me”? Has Christ taken away your sin? Has He turned your mourning into dancing? Has He given you a joy that is not of this world but is real and belongs to the next? Don’t look for joy in temporary circumstances, find your joy in the Giver of joy and know that the joy that He gives does not rest on the temporary but rests on His own eternal nature. Let’s pray.