Everlasting Joy in Zion

(I) Intro: A Paradoxical Question

Connection:

One of the greatest paradoxes in life is that someone can be joyful in the face of death… How can this be? Death is an enemy, a tyrant, and a wretched foe. How can someone face death with gladness and hope? How can someone spend their last moments singing and rejoicing? How can someone be fearless when they breathe their last? How can they have such abundant life, even as they experience the agony of death? These are the questions that we should be asking; and these are the questions that I hope we can answer this AM.

Theme:

Everlasting Joy in Zion

Purpose:

In honour of our dear sister Anne, and in honour of her LORD and God … the purpose of this message is to figure out how she could be joyful even in the face of death. For joyful she was! I never saw Anne at church, or at home visits, when she wasn’t smiling! Even in her suffering and health challenges. Even in her trials and tribulations. Even as her spirit departed this world into the heavenly Zion. So let’s seek to find out how and why this was the case for her, and how and why it can be the case for us as well, who I trust will meet her at the gates of Zion!

Turn to & Read from Text: Isa. 35:10 ESV

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

Remember, as we walk through this text we are asking the simple question: how can someone be joyful even in the face of death? The answer is unravelled right before us in our passage.

(1) The Ransomed of the LORD Turn to God - 10a

Isaiah 35:10 ESV

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return

(1) The Ransomed of the LORD Turn to God - 10a

We notice right away that there is a category of people put before our eyes. This category is that of someone who is ransomed, redeemed or purchased. This is someone who was formerly in bondage, formerly in slavery, and formerly was without hope. But we see that they’ve been redeemed! They’ve been ransomed! They’ve been purchased! And by who? By the LORD! By YHWH! By Jehovah God! The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These who have been ransomed have been bought by God, to belong to God, and to turn toward God!

Formerly they were turned away from God in their sins; now they have turned to God in their salvation! Once they were blind, now they see! Once they were lost, now they’ve been found. Once they were dead, now they are alive. They’ve been ransomed & redeemed by him who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many!

How do we receive this ransom and gift? Through the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Redeemer of God’s people, the Saviour of sinners, the Hope of the world! Jesus the divine Son of God left the glory of heaven and became a Son of Man in order to be our substitute. He lived the perfect life that we should have lived, and he died the accursed death that we should have died. And to seal the deal, he rose again from the dead never to die again, and to ascend into the heavenly Zion to secure living & eternal hope for his people! Those who are ransomed and redeemed of the LORD, are those who are trusting in Jesus for salvation and repenting of their own sins. They are turning, they are returning to God, they are repenting of their evil deeds of darkness, and are returning to the LORD the God of light. They have come to know and to be known by God, to be pardoned and cleaned by his mercy, and to belong to him in body and soul, in life and in death! Paul says this about the ransom in Jesus for those who are turning:

Ephesians 1:7 ESV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

This is the first hint in answer to our question: how can someone be joyful even in the face of death? Here we learn that they must be ransomed by the LORD which happens through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ the Redeemer of God’s people! But this isn’t the only answer that is given… More layers are added! So secondly for this AM:

(2) The Ransomed of the LORD March to Zion - 10b

Isaiah 35:10 ESV

and come to Zion with singing;

(2) The Ransomed of the LORD March to Zion - 10b

Not only do these people find their redemption in Christ Jesus, and cast their only hope in life and death upon his death and resurrection—they also begin a new journey and a new pilgrimage with a new destination. No longer are they living for and in Babylon, in exile, in darkness, and in despair—but rather, they have left their former ways of life, they have rejected their identity in this world, and they have begun their trip to Zion. Not an earthly Zion. Not a pilgrimage to the OT holy land—no—but the heavenly Zion! A pilgrimage to the NT holy land! To the eternal City of God, the celestial city, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Zion, God’s country where Christ the King reigns in the new heavens and new earth!

And so these ransomed of the LORD are now also pilgrims of the LORD. You can’t claim forgiveness in Jesus, without also following Jesus! And where is Jesus? Seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places, on the throne of the heavenly Zion! And so we who are ransomed from our sins, must also seek to be with the Savior! We must march to glory. We must persevere through the barren land—unto the heavenly land flowing with milk and honey!

And Isaiah says that these pilgrims do so with singing! Singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs unto the LORD their God! If anyone is joyful, let him sing praises! Those who have this true homeland can’t help but sing to the Ruler of those lands! As the sons of Korah wrote so long ago in the Psalter:

Psalm 84:5 ESV

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

This is the second hint in answer to our question: how can someone be joyful even in the face of death? Here we learn that someone must reject their hope as being in this life, and they must begin their journey toward the life to come! And what comes of this? Isaiah continues…. and we thirdly see that:

(3) The Ransomed of the LORD Live Forever - 10c

Isaiah 35:10 ESV

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

(3) The Ransomed of the LORD Live Forever - 10c

Those who are redeemed and saved by the LORD Jesus Christ, it is these people alone who find life everlasting! Not only are their sins forgiven, and not only are they following Jesus, they have everlasting life and hope as their prized possession! They don’t simply have fleeting joy on their heads… they have everlasting joy! And if they have everlasting joy, then that must mean that they have everlasting life! Because you can’t experience everlasting joy without living forever to taste that joy! The heads of these saints are crowned with the joy of everlasting life. Jesus Christ bore the death and everlasting judgment that we deserved, so that through faith in his name, we might receive the everlasting life and joy that we don’t deserve! This is good news!

Formerly these people were depressed, perhaps in despair, maybe even in utter darkness. They were exiles. They were far from God. They were removed from God’s promises. They were cut off from God’s people. They were distant from God’s presence. They were walking in selfish ways of pride and vanity. They were walking in the guilt and shame of their sins, which were too embarrassing to admit to.

But now they’ve stepped into the light, and they didn’t find a God waiting to consume them—but a God ready to forgive them. Because they repented, and they were redeemed, and they were redirected unto Jesus! And the natural fruit of such things is everlasting life and joy! They will forever rejoice in the LORD their God, who has lavished them with grace upon grace! They will never die, because they will always live! Oh trust in Jesus and you too can know this eternal life! As John 3:16 proclaims so beautifully and freely:

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This is the third hint in answer to our question: how can someone be joyful even in the face of death? Here we see that in order to do so, one must be freed from everlasting death and brought into everlasting life and joy! But Isaiah adds even more descriptors of this blessed state and experience of the redeemed… so fourthly we see that:

(4) The Ransomed of the LORD Find Gladness - 10d

Isaiah 35:10 ESV

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

(4) The Ransomed of the LORD Find Gladness - 10d

Not only will these people live forever, they will obtain true and abiding gladness, unshakeable joy, and immutable hope! Their gladness won’t be taken from them and their joy won’t be squandered by them! Because in this heavenly Zion, in this heavenly land of glory, there is no sin to wreck our joy!

There are no temptations to dampen our gladness. There is no death or destruction or darkness to quench this delight. It will have all been overturned and subdued under the feet of Jesus Christ. In this eternal Zion God has made all things new, banished wickedness and wicked ones into the eternal fires, and has welcomed peace and righteousness into a world that never ends!

And so whatever grants us holy gladness and godly joy—these things will be without measure in Zion! And we even get to taste and see and get a foretaste of them now as we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, even while we are awaiting the fullness of this glory to come! And this glorious land is one that only sings in the harmony of joy and peace! As Jesus himself promised:

John 16:22 ESV

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

This is the fourth hint in answer to our question: how can someone be joyful even in the face of death? Here we learn that to be joyful in death, we must be joyful in life. We must know that in Jesus there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore! And coming to the last statement in our text, Isaiah has one more thing to add, which seals the answer to our question. So fifthly, we see that:

(5) The Ransomed of the LORD Escape Suffering - 10e

Isaiah 35:10 ESV

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

(5) The Ransomed of the LORD Escape Suffering - 10e

Not only are these people ransomed by the blood of Jesus and repenting of sin, not only are they citizens of the glorious city of Zion, not only are they lavished with eternal life, and not only have they found true happiness and delight, but they’ve also found the cure to every drop of sadness! Whatever causes sorrow and sickness, suffering and sighing, groaning and agony, pain and distress—all such things will flee away forevermore. These people will never sorrow again!

They will never sigh in frustration. They will never groan in their trials. They will never weep and lament. They will never cry out in desperation! Because there is nothing to weep over! They have been saved! God has brought them to Zion with singing. They are partakers in eternal life! They are delighted in God and his gifts! And they will feast forevermore!

All that burdens our hearts has been cured, resolved, or banished from our sight. There are no thorns or thistles in Zion. There are no cancers or diseases in glory. There are no lonely souls in heaven. There are no spiritual depressions and backsliding saints above. That is the world of the spirits made perfect!

Heaven is a world of perfect love for the redeemed, as we glory in the Triune God, in his goodness and greatness to us his children! He will wipe away every tear and remove all sorrows! And for us, death will be no more, nor anything that brings discomfort. And we shall reign forever and ever, in the presence of Jesus who is the Great Physician! As the Bible promises regarding this everlasting City:

Revelation 22:3–5 ESV

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

This is the fifth hint in answer to our question: how can someone be joyful even in the face of death? Here we learn that in order to do this, we must know that, for the redeemed, death doesn’t begin our sorrows but rather that it ends them! That death brings us into the land of the living, and that Jesus will resurrect us unto immortal bodies and souls, when the creation is set free from its bondage to corruption. And so at last we are ready to answer the question and ask how we stand in relation to it this morning, as we contemplate death itself and life beyond the grave:

(A) So let’s Answer the Question and Apply it to our Hearts:

We ask the question again in light of all that we’ve just read and seen in Isaiah 35! How can you be joyful even in the face of death? The answer: only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Only through the good news of salvation, freedom, deliverance, and redemption in the LORD! These people can indeed be joyful in the face of death, because where oh death is your sting? Christ has defeated death! Christ has atoned for our sins! And Christ has risen on our behalf. Christ has made our citizenship to be in the heavenly Zion—the land of true life, peace, righteousness and joy! Where God will be our God, and we will be his people, world without end! This is the only way be joyful in the face of death! Are you one of the ransomed of the LORD? Have you been redeemed in Jesus? Oh come to him even now, turning from your sins, and casting your only confidence in the Savior—and you will become an heir of this everlasting life in Zion!

Do you know who was joyful in the face of death? Anne Stevens! She faced that foe of death with her eyes on Jesus, with living hope, singing amazing grace, resting in the LORD her God, and upheld by the Holy Spirit. She died joyfully, because she died an heir of heaven!

Will you die well? Will you die with joy? Will you find Zion awaiting you up above? Or will you find the gates of hell greeting you down below? Will you ascend into life by God’s grace, or descend into death in God’s wrath? How you respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way that you can answer that question honestly. Don’t go on until you rest your only plea upon the King of Zion!

Praise be to God for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Come to Jesus, ye ransomed of the LORD! Now let’s finish with a final thought for this morning:

(C) Christ Alone Ransoms us from Sin and Death and Brings us to Everlasting Joy in Zion—So Trust in Him for your Salvation, and Return to the LORD!

May the words of the old hymn be the anthem of our hearts, even in the face of death:

Savior, since of Zion's city I through grace a member am, let the world deride or pity, I will glory in Thy name. Fading is the worldling's pleasures, all his boasted pomp and show; solid joys and lasting treasures none but Zion's children know.

How can you be joyful even in the face of death, like our dear Anne was? Only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And know that when Jesus returns, and brings heaven to earth, and resurrects us unto glory—then we will fulfill our text from Isaiah in the fullest and truest sense:

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.

Oh I hope to see you there! Anne will be there. Will you? Only through Jesus by amazing grace! May this hope bear us up as we grieve, and give us strength to endure as we await our everlasting life in Zion!

Amen, let’s pray!