The Joy Set Before Him

English is such a weird language.

Can anybody guess how many words there are in the English language?

Well, you’re all right. Or you’re all wrong. The thing is that nobody seems to know how many words are in the English vocabulary.

In part, that’s because it depends on how you define “word.” And whether you count different forms of the same word as different words.

So, run, runs, and running: one word with different endings or three words? Actually, the word “run” can be a verb or a noun, and the meanings are very different, so should they be counted as two words?

The Oxford English Dictionary, which is widely regarded as one of the most complete in our language, includes about 200,000 words.

But according to something called the Global Language Monitor, the English vocabulary consists of more than a million words.

That’s quite a margin of error.

And one of the reasons English has so many words is because it’s always meeting other languages in dark alleys, mugging them, and stealing their words.

Like “ketchup,” which is “borrowed” from Chinese. Or “karaoke,” which comes from Japan. Or “cookie,” which was originally a Dutch word.

Our language is HUGE, and it continues to grow, even as we speak.

With all these words available to us, you’d think we’d have the most precise communications on earth.

But the sheer number of words available to us comes up against what I’ll call the lexicographical laziness of the average English speaker.

We’re often too lazy to try to find exactly the right word. So, we’re usually content to use the word that’s “close enough” to what we mean. And that often causes confusion.

We’ve talked about this before in the context of the word “love.” We use that word to describe our feelings for everything from husbands and wives to songs to food.

Maybe you love bacon as much as I do, but we probably BOTH feel different about bacon than we do about Annette, though we’d say we love them both.

Today, as we celebrate the third week of Advent and its theme of “joy,” it’s appropriate for us to take a look at the meaning of that word, especially as it’s used in the Bible.

I forgot to mention last week that we’re taking a short break from our study of the Book of Galatians in order to focus on Advent. We’ll get back to Galatians in January.

This week, though, let’s talk about joy.

First, recognizing that we’re often lazy and sloppy in our language, let’s make sure we understand a couple of things that joy is NOT.

For one thing, it’s not pleasure. They’re not equivalent.

Pleasure is a sense of happy satisfaction and enjoyment. It’s often good, but it can also be evil. It’s also quite seductive. Ask any drug addict.

And, sadly, pleasure is the primary motivation for a large portion of the population, who see their own satisfaction and enjoyment as the chief purpose for their lives.

But, though we were made to appreciate good pleasurable experiences, we weren’t made FOR pleasure.

Higher than pleasure on the scale is happiness., which can be defined as feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.

C.I. Scofield wrote that the Beatitudes, which he described as “instructions in the art of happiness,” are evidence that God wants His children to be happy.

But happiness is ALSO not joy. Joy, Scofield said, is “happiness overflowing; happiness too full to be used up in mere personal satisfaction; happiness all alive and aglow.” [C. I. Scofield, The New Life in Christ Jesus (Chicago: The Bible Institute Colportage Ass’n, 1915), 76.]

In our lexicographical laziness, we often use these words as if they’re interchangeable. But it’s significant to note that only one of these three emotions — joy — is commanded of believers in Scripture.

And when we begin to understand the connotations of the word “joy” in the Bible, we can see clearly WHY God would expect those who’ve been adopted into His family through faith in Jesus Christ to HAVE joy.

Why did the Old Testament prophets talk so much about rejoicing in their prophecies about the coming of the Messiah?

Why DID the angels who appeared to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem describe their announcement of the birth of Jesus as an occasion for “great joy”? And why does Jesus say the angels in heaven rejoice over the repentance of one sinner?

Well, the first thing to understand is that joy in the Old Testament “is closely related to victory over one’s enemies. For example … when David returned from killing the Philistine, he was met with joy and dancing.” [Brenda Heyink, “Joy,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).]

Let’s take a look at one of the many places where the prophets talk about joy.

This morning, we’ll concentrate on one of the often-overlooked prophets, Zephaniah. It’s the fourth to the last book of the Old Testament, squeezed in between Habbakuk and Haggai.

Now, Zephaniah prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Josiah.

This was during the last half-century or so before the Babylonian invasion that destroyed Jerusalem and sent most of Judah’s prominent citizens into exile in Babylon.

Zephaniah warned the people of Judah that God would soon bring judgment upon them because of their faithlessness and their idolatry.

But much of Zephaniah is devoted to a time still in our future, the time of the prophetic Day of the Lord, the period in which God will judge the whole earth for the sins of mankind.

For much of the first three chapters of this book, Zephaniah describes God’s coming judgment for the corruptions and faithlessness of the Jews, His chosen people. Those chapters also describe God’s plans for judging the Gentiles of the earth who have rejected Him.

And then, in the second half of the last chapter of this prophecy, God says through Zephaniah that there will be a remnant of both Jews and Gentiles who will escape His judgment and rejoice because of their faith in Him.

Let’s read this passage together. We’ll pick up in verse 12 of chapter 3 in the Book of Zephaniah.

Zephaniah 3:12–20 NASB95

12 “But I will leave among you A humble and lowly people, And they will take refuge in the name of the Lord. 13 “The remnant of Israel will do no wrong And tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue Be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down With no one to make them tremble.” 14 Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more. 16 In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp. 17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. 18 “I will gather those who grieve about the appointed feasts— They came from you, O Zion; The reproach of exile is a burden on them. 19 “Behold, I am going to deal at that time With all your oppressors, I will save the lame And gather the outcast, And I will turn their shame into praise and renown In all the earth. 20 “At that time I will bring you in, Even at the time when I gather you together; Indeed, I will give you renown and praise Among all the peoples of the earth, When I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” Says the Lord.

Throughout the Bible, we read of God showing favor to remnants, even in the midst of judging the larger group.

Think of Noah and his family, the remnant of mankind, spared the destruction of the Great Flood. Or, think of the second generation of Israelites, which was allowed to enter the Promised Land, even though their parents had been judged for their lack of faith in God.

Here, Zephaniah describes a remnant of Israel that will be spared from the great judgment of mankind in the events of the Day of the Lord, the period of judgment in the end times.

What is it that sets this remnant apart from those who will experience God’s judgment? They “take refuge in the name of the Lord.” In other words, they trust God. They put their faith in Him.

And the world they will inherit, along with Gentile believers, will be one in which sin no longer reigns.

They will no longer live in fear, as many of the people of Judah did during this time, while they watched Babylon growing stronger and threatening them.

There will be no more war, no more enemies, no more disaster. There will be no more exile or oppression. There will be no more handicapped people or outcasts. There will be no more shame.

And what does God say through Zephaniah is the proper response to this prophecy? Rejoicing! Joy!

“Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion!” Shout “in triumph,” in fact.

Remember, joy in the Old Testament is closely related to victory over one’s enemies.

That’s certainly at the heart of what Zephaniah, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is describing here. From the beginning of Israel’s existence, the Jewish people have faced enemies who wanted to wipe them out.

The Old Testament Book of Esther describes one man’s failed plot to wipe out the Jews. And history is full of other examples, right up to today, of people who hate Israel and hate the Jewish people so much that they want to wipe them from the face of the earth.

And the prophetic promise here of a world without such enemies is surely worthy of rejoicing.

But there’s more going on here than that. And we know this, because Zephaniah talks not only of the judgment of the Gentile nations that sought to harm Israel, but also of God’s judgment against Israel and Judah, against the Jews who had turned from faith in Him.

And he talks about the sinlessness of the remnant that remains after His judgment is complete.

See, here’s the thing: The Jewish people’s greatest enemy wasn’t Babylon or the Assyrians or the Nazis or the modern terrorist states determined to annihilate Israel.

The Jews’ biggest enemy is the same as ours: sin. It’s sin that separates us from God. It’s sin that separates us from the blessings to be found through trust in God and fellowship with Him.

It’s sin that brought death into the world. It’s sin that has caused even the earth itself to groan under the curse we brought upon it.

Sin has enslaved us. Sin has damaged or destroyed our relationships — both vertically, with God, and horizontally, with one another.

Sin has set us outside of the kingdom of God, with no way for us to work our way back in. Sin has left us in darkness.

And so, it’s appropriate that when the unique and eternal Son of God came to us as a baby born in a manger in Bethlehem, the angels announced His incarnation to shepherds watching their flocks “by night.”

Lost in the spiritual darkness of our sinful lives, living apart from the light of God’s glory and grace, and unable to do anything to help ourselves, we needed a savior to fight this battle for us.

And Jesus — the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world — came to do just that.

He came to live among us as a man — and yet, still God — experiencing the trials and temptations everyone experiences, and yet without sinning.

In His perfect obedience and trust, He showed us what such a life would look like.

And because of His sinlessness, He was able to give Himself sacrificially at the cross. He took upon Himself your sins and mine — and their just punishment — so all who follow Him in faith can be saved and have eternal life — life the way it was always meant to be, in the presence of and in fellowship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And in His resurrection from the dead, Jesus became the firstfruits of the resurrection, the proof that God can and will keep His promise of eternal life for we who’ve turned to Jesus in faith.

At the cross, He was victorious over sin. And at the empty tomb, He was victorious over death itself.

And His victory was so certain that the angels said His very birth to a poor virgin and her husband in a backwater part of Judea was reason for rejoicing, for great joy.

The angels were celebrating Jesus’ eventual victory over sin and death even as He lay there in a manger in Bethlehem.

But what did Jesus have to say about joy?

It’s interesting to note that He had very little to say about it early in His ministry.

And during the portion of His ministry when the crowds following Him were increasing in number and it looked as if they might be ready to accept Him as the long-promised Messiah, not a word from Him is recorded about joy.

“But as He went on, drawing ever nearer to Calvary, and as the burden of the shame and sorrow and sin of the world began to gather in awful darkness over Him, He speaks ever more and more of His joyfulness, and in His closing admonitions and instruction there is a constant reference to the deep joy which filled His being. Just when the tide of sorrow is rising highest, the joyfulness seems to rise above it and triumph over it.” [C. I. Scofield, The New Life in Christ Jesus (Chicago: The Bible Institute Colportage Ass’n, 1915), 78.]

Indeed, the writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us that we should fix our eyes on Jesus, “the author and perfecter of faith, who for the JOY set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Surely, the cross wasn’t the source of Jesus’ joy. In fact, the cross — and the sins He took upon Himself there — were shameful, and He despised the thought of them.

But the cross was the weapon He would use to conquer sin and death. And therefore, He looked forward, even to His agonizing death on the cross, with joy.

He looked to the cross with joy, knowing that there He would take upon Himself the punishment we all deserve for our sins. Knowing that He would pay the cost of our sins with His own blood so that all who turn to Him in faith can be forgiven and justified before God.

In other words, He looked to the cross with joy, knowing that in the moments of what would look like God’s defeat, He would vanquish mankind’s greatest enemy, sin.

Why was the angel’s message to the shepherds a reason for great joy? Certainly because God had come to sojourn with mankind.

But more than that, they rejoiced because of the cross that lay at the other end of His journey on earth. They understood that, without the cross, the manger would have been just a lowly bassinet.

Why do the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner repents? Because they, too, understand that a great victory has been won for us.

So, why do WE so often content ourselves with simple happiness or even pleasure, when JOY should be our default position, even in the midst of trials and tribulations?

Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit that Paul mentions in Galatians, chapter 5. As such, it’s expected of Jesus’ followers, “because it is the natural result of having received salvation.” [Brenda Heyink, “Joy,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).]

“But since it is a gift which may be interrupted by sin, every believer is called upon to share in the joy of Christ by a daily walk with him and a daily practice of rejoicing in the knowledge of him and his salvation.” [S. S. Smalley, “Joy,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 616.]

Folks, if you’ve turned to Jesus in faith, joy SHOULD be your default position. Joy SHOULD be one of the traits you’re known for. Joy SHOULD be the thing people see when they interact with you.

If it’s not, perhaps it’s your daily walk with Jesus that needs attention.

Some of the unhappiest and least joyful people I know are people who’ve made a profession of faith and then turned away from Jesus. And many of those are the same people who ultimately decide that pleasure is the greatest goal in life.

“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die,” they say, right along with King Solomon, who spent much of his life looking for fulfilment in anything but God.

But even Solomon seems to have finally understood that all those other things were vanity, empty, devoid of any meaning or significance.

“The conclusion, when all has been heard,” he writes at the end of the Book of Ecclesiastes, “is: fear God and keep His commandments.”

You can pursue pleasures and happiness for the rest of your life, but you’ll never find real fulfilment in either of them.

Only God offers true and sustained joy through the victory His Son gained over sin and death.

Do you have that joy? Have you repented and turned to Jesus in faith? REAL joy awaits.