Joy to the World

Isaiah 35:1–6 ESV

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. …

Isaiah 35:10 ESV

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaac Watts was arguably the most prolific hymn writer of his day. He is known for writing such timeless hymns as “Behold the Glories of the Lamb” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”

However, Watts is best known for writing the hymn “Joy to the World”—a song played worldwide during Christmas every year.

While he is much appreciated today, during his lifetime Watts was considered by many to be a disturbance of the status quo and even possibly a heretic for the lyrics he wrote. While he wasn’t a heretic, he was a revolutionary.

Watts grew up in a world where the music in every worship service consisted only of psalms or sections of Scripture put to music. Watts found the practice monotonous. To him, there was a lack of joy and emotion among the congregants as they sang. …

Watts’s father issued a challenge. He told Watts that if he struggled with the songs they sang, then he ought to do something about it.

Perhaps he should attempt to write something different. This moment set Watts on a lifelong pursuit to write lyrics that exalted Christ and reminded Christians of their hope in his saving work on the cross.

This desire is evident in the way he wrote “Joy to the World.” Watts was inspired to write the timeless tune while meditating on Psalm 98.

Verse 4 gripped him: “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!” And this is exactly what Watts set out to do. Little did he know that this song would spark a joyful noise that would ring through the ages.

While “Joy to the World” is primarily sung at Christmas, it’s not about the incarnation. Rather, the song tells the story of Christ’s return—his second coming. …

[So why do we sing “Joy to the World” at Christmas time?]

Christmas is not only a time to look back at the grace accomplished in the past. Christmas is also a time to look forward to the grace that was accomplished for our future. When we sing these words we are proclaiming the ultimate joy to be revealed. This is why we can sing ”Joy to the World” at Christmas.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/joy-to-the-world-a-classic-christmas-hymn-reconsidered/

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Our scripture today is the third Messianic picture in the Book of Isaiah. The first of the Messianic pictures was given in Isaiah 7.

You may recall how, as Judah faced her neighbors Syria and Israel attacking her, the prophet warned wicked King Ahaz against allying with Assyria.

The prophet then gave the king a sign - a virgin would conceive and bear a son named Immanuel, meaning "God with us."

The second Messianic picture is found in Isaiah 9. Though Assyria would annex the northern part of Israel - Galilee and great darkness would ensue, Isaiah prophesied that a child would be born - the Messiah, whose name would be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

After this prophecy, Isaiah continued to speak God's judgment upon Israel for their arrogance toward God and their oppression of the poor and needy. In Isaiah 10, the prophet then spoke of God's judgment against Assyria.

God had used this wicked nation to chastise his people, but Assyria in its wickedness determined to conduct a campaign of world domination far beyond what God intended.

Picturing Assyria as a great forest, in Isaiah 10 God decreed destruction so great that a child could write down the number of trees remaining.

In Isaiah 10 God also spoke of a remnant of his people would would return. In Isaiah 11, our text for today, is the third Messianic picture in this book.

This prophecy, however, does not speak so much of Christ’s first coming, but rather of his second coming. The next chapter, Isaiah 12, contains a song of joy God’s people will sing when Christ establishes his reign on earth.

Big Idea: The reign of Christ brings true joy to the world.

Truly, the joy of Christ’s reign will be fully realized when he returns and is crowned King of kings. But even today, we can (and should!) anticipate His kingdom with joy.

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Why?

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We experience joy because of… 

1. The Person of the Kingdom, vv. 1-3a.

Isaiah 11:1 ESV

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Do you see the fascinating contrast Isaiah made here? In the previous chapter - in the verses immediately before this - Isaiah pictured the terrible nation of Assyria as a great forest that has been felled by God Almighty.

Now, Isaiah said, a shoot would come from the stump of Jesse. Jesse, of course, was the father of King David who God promised would always have an heir on the throne of God’s people.

Someone has written:

At some time within his ministry, Isaiah lost all hope for the present kingship. …Perhaps during an actual coronation ceremony or at a festival celebrating the role of the king, Isaiah stepped up to perform the traditional prophetic role of announcing God’s blessing of the king (cp. Ps. 2).

Isaiah’s first words shocked the audience. He did not speak of a Davidic king. He did not refer to the present king. Instead, he pointed to a coming king from the stump of Jesse, a Branch growing out of roots.

Butler, T. C. (2002). Isaiah (M. Anders, Ed.; p. 83). B&H.

Other commentators have noted how Jesus was indeed born to descendants of David. Both Mary of whom Jesus was conceived through the Holy Spirit, and Joseph who served as Jesus’ earthly father, could trace their lineage back to David.

But Joseph and Mary were poor. They were not part of the recognized royalty. They were forgotten. And Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem, in obscurity, and placed in the feeding trough of livestock.

Surely, the great “tree” of David’s reign had been reduced to a stump! But the Messiah would be a Branch coming forth from that nearly dead husk of a tree.

But notice also the six or seven (yes, six sevennn!!!!) -fold character of the coming Messiah.

Isaiah 11:2–3 ESV

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. …

It is only in the New Testament that we find the doctrine of the Trinity fully fleshed out, even though the New Testament never uses the term “Trinity”. In the Old Testament, we see mostly God the Father at work.

There are hints in the Old Testament of the Trinity. When God created Adam, He said, “Let US make man in OUR image.”

Furthermore, the Old Testament speaks of the Spirit numerous times. The first instance was Genesis 1:2 where it says the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

There are various scriptures, of course, that insist that the Son of God was also key to the creation of the world. John 1:3-4 and Colossians 1:15-17 both insist that all of creation was made the Son and holds together through the power of the Son.

Furthermore, there are various instances in the Old Testament where it suggests that people saw the pre-incarnate Son of God, rather than just an angel.

One example of this is when the three Hebrew men were thrown in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, but the king saw four men, and the fourth, he said, had the appearance of the Son of God.

With all that said, in the Old Testament, we read of the Holy Spirit coming upon various people to do the work of God. For example, Samson was empowered by the Holy Spirit numerous times to work salvation for the people. But in the Old Testament, the filling of the Spirit was temporary.

In contrast, when Jesus was baptized at the beginning of his ministry, John the Baptist bore witness:

John 1:32–34 ESV

And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

How was Jesus, the Son of God, filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit?

The gifts of the Spirit that Isaiah identifies, then, represent the endowment for leadership that Christ will bring to His Messianic role. In evident contrast with the leadership whom Isaiah has scored time and time again for personal unrighteousness and social injustice, Christ will come with wisdom (seeing things whole), understanding (sensitivity to relationships between issues), counsel (willingness to listen and advise), power (ability to influence by example), knowledge (knowing the facts), and fear of the Lord (centering upon the will of God).

McKenna, D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1993). Isaiah 1–39 (Vol. 17, p. 154). Thomas Nelson Inc.

This commentary focuses on the clearly evident six gifts of the Spirit in Isaiah 11:2. But verse 3 may suggest a seventh gift - a delight in the fear of the Lord.

Someone has written…

If so, the symbolism would suggest that the Messiah was to be perfectly endowed by the Spirit with everything requisite to his kingly task (cf. Rev 5:6).

Grogan, G. W. (1986). Isaiah. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 88). Zondervan Publishing House.

Throughout history, there have been numerous kings, dictators, prime ministers, and presidents. Some have been very good rulers. Many have been terrible, even wicked people. All have been flawed, because they are human.

All of humanity, descended from Adam and Eve, have been born with a sinful nature and have committed acts of sin. So every human being is a flawed individual.

I remember talking to my father about President Richard Nixon when I was a teenager. Nixon, of course, resigned a little over a year before I was born.

The Vietnam War ended in April of the year I was born. When I look back to that time period, it seems like everything was dark and ugly.

My father told me he thought that President Nixon actually was doing a number of good things. But… Nixon was paranoid, worried about others. That paranoia led to his downfall.

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As we anticipate the reign of Christ in our world, however, we can know joy because of who Jesus is. He is filled with the Spirit. He is wise and understanding. He will do his Father’s will.

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This leads us to a second reason why we can experience joy as we anticipate the reign of Christ.

2. The Purpose of the Kingdom, vv. 3b-5.

Isaiah 11:3–5 ESV

… He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

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There is an expression we like to use about the justice system. We say that “justice is blind.” We have various statues or figurines of Lady Justice wearing a blindfold and holding the scales of justice.

By this expression and imagery we mean that justice should be impartial and objective. Justice should not be biased toward those who are wealthy or hold influential positions of power in society.

Justice is not swayed by our personal feelings or opinions. Rather, justice treats everyone equally under the law.

Verse 3 of our text expresses that same concept: “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decided disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge… .”

The idea is not that the Messiah will ignore the facts of the case or what witnesses have to say. Rather, it is the same concept that the Law of the Old Testament teaches.

Leviticus 19:15 ESV

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

No matter how great the society, there is always the potential for corruption in the justice system.

While many judges may do their best to render judgments according to the law in a way that is fair and equitable, there are always some who cut deals in the backrooms, who are swayed by those in power or what seems most politically correct at the time.

Even those who are full of integrity may sometimes make mistakes through errors of judgment or due to the lack of facts.

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When Jesus is crowned King over all the earth, He will judge with absolute righteousness and equity. It will be a wonderful time for the poor and meek who have suffered at the hands of those who do evil.

It will be a terrible time for the wicked who, the prophet pictures, will be struck dead simply by the Messiah’s breath.

Isaiah 11:5 ESV

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

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This truly is a wonderful reason for us to celebrate and anticipate Jesus’ soon return. This sinful world seems to grow more wicked every day, but on the day, all will be made right!

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Consider a third reason why we experience joy as we anticipate Christ’s kingdom on earth.

3. The Peace of the Kingdom, vv. 6-9

Isaiah 11:6–9 ESV

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

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The picture we have here of Christ’s millenial reign is the conditions of the Garden of Eden restored. In the beginning, scripture teaches us that there was no sin, suffering or death. In the middle of the Garden of Eden was a Tree of Life by which eating of its fruit one could live forever.

In that time of paradise, animals did not hunt, kill, and eat each other as we experience today. Neither did Adam and Eve eat meat.

There was no animosity between one animal and another or between the first humans and animals. Eve was not frightened to be accosted by the serpent.

It was only after Adam and Eve sinned that death entered the world.

Romans 5:12 ESV

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Sin changed everything. It changed man’s relationship to God, to animals, and to the world in general.

The serpent was cursed and its relationship to the woman would be one of hatred. Of course, this is symbolic of Satan who had spoken through the serpent.

One day the offspring of the woman - the Messiah - would bruise the head of Satan, and Satan would bruise his heel - the Messiah would be crucified.

Women from that time one would experience pain in childbirth. And the ground was cursed because of Adam’s sin. Through hard work, sweat and tears, we toil to gain a living.

Genesis 3:21 tells us that God made clothes for Adam and Eve from animal skins. We infer from this that animals were thus killed and offered as a sacrifice for Adam and Eve’s sin.

Interestingly, it was not until much later - after the Flood, that we read in Genesis 9:3

Genesis 9:3 ESV

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

Sin spread quickly. Cain, jealous that Abel’s offering pleased God and his did not, murdered his brother. Cain then went away from his parents and began a new settlement where his descendants were known for their hostility toward others.

Many years after Adam and Eve first sinned…

Genesis 6:5 ESV

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

God wiped out nearly all of humanity with the Flood. But scripture tells us that even shortly after Noah and his family disembarked their boat, humanity gravitated to sin again.

And so our world has descended into the darkness of sin and wickedness ever since. There have been various times of spiritual awakening and revival. But truly sin, suffering, and death have continued to wreak havoc.

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Our hope, our anticipation of joy, is that one day Christ will return to earth. He will establish His kingdom of justice and righteousness. And the world will experience again an Edenic-like paradise.

But did you realize that not only we, as God’s people, look forward to Christ’s reign, but the universe itself anticipates His coming?

Romans 8:18–23 ESV

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

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Yes, Bible scholars question if our scripture in Isaiah 11:6-9 should be taken literally or merely figuratively. But as one commentary states:

Many Bible students interpret these verses nonliterally, because they suppose such changes in the animal world are not possible. However, because the Messiah is “God [is] with us” (7:14) and He will be dwelling with His people, it need not be difficult to envision these changes in nature. Though the curse of sin will be removed to some extent it will not be totally removed until the end of the millennial kingdom when finally death will be abolished (Rev. 20:14).

Martin, J. A. (1985). Isaiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1057). Victor Books.

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Can you imagine such a kingdom of peace and harmony? Truly, it escapes our imagination. Yet we anticipate it with joy.

Consider a fourth reason to express joy as we anticipate Christ’s coming.

4. The Program of the Kingdom, vv. 10-16

Isaiah 11:10–11 ESV

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

In verses 12-15, the prophet speaks of how Christ will destroy all those who oppose him on the final day. Then we read in verse 16…

Isaiah 11:16 ESV

And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Throughout human history, since the time that Adam and Eve sinned and instead of coming to walk with him in the cool of the day, hid in the bushes because they knew they were naked…

and since the time God put angels before the entrance to the Garden of Eden to bar humanity from eating of the Tree of Life…

God has enacted a plan of redemption by which he would gather all those who would trust in him for life. God called Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob. God created a covenant with the people of Israel in the wilderness.

Then, in the fullness of time, God sent His Son to reveal to the world that everyone who trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior will be saved.

In these verses of Isaiah 11, we see God’s plan to gather his people to himself realized. Yes, these scriptures probably most directly speak of Jews who will finally recognized Jesus as their Messiah and turn to him.

Yet it would also suggest that all of God’s people - Jews and Gentiles - alike will be come together to worship him and live in the peace of the Messiah’s kingdom on earth.

Can you imagine such a wonderful day of fellowship as God’s people worship our Lord and Savior together?

Big Idea: The reign of Christ brings true joy to the world.

In Isaiah 12, the prophet speaks of the joy that God’s people will experience during Christ’s millenial reign:

Isaiah 12 ESV

You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Yes, I get it. During this Christmas season, we love to sing of our joy that we experience because God became flesh and was born a baby and placed in a manger. Truly, we have joy because the Lord has come.

But when we consider what life will be like during Christ’s reign on earth, we will know great joy because the Lord IS come!

Yes, sometimes, people live with some fear for the end of time. The tribulation pictured in Revelation is sobering. That too many of our friends and family are not living for Jesus is scary.

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Yet, while we may feel some concern for the unknown and for the lost, truly we can and we should live with expectancy for the future.

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Yes, we should live fully in this moment, seeking to extend the Kingdom of God in our world today spiritually by sharing the Gospel with others and seeing hearts and lives changed by God’s grace.

We must not be, as the expression goes, “so heavenly-minded that we are of no earthly good.”

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At the same time, we should live for the future God is planning. For a world that is suffering due to sin and death, Christ brings life, peace, and righteoousness.

So I challenge you this Christmas to face the future - not with fear, but with joy for our Lord is come!