12-27-05-Fourth Sunday of Advent-Joy
What is your favorite Christmas song/carol? (Silent Night, O Holy Night, Away in a Manger, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Jingle Bells, etc)
Psa 98:4-9 (NIV) Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5 make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—shout for joy before the Lord, the King. 7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.
Isaac Watts read these words in 1719 and wrote the words to a famous song. The music was added by a German composer, George Frederick Handel in 1742. Then in 1836 an American composer named Lowell Mason took music from Handel’s “Messiah” and added the words of Isaac Watts. Together all three contributed to the beloved Christmas carol “Joy to the World.”
“Joy to the World! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing.”
Think for a moment with me about some of our Christmas carols. Many are serious in tone—O Little Town of Bethlehem, We Three Kings of Orient Are, Silent Night, O Holy Night, The First Noel, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, Away In A Manger, etc. Now, that does not mean they are bad carols, because they celebrate the awesomeness of the birth of Christ. But “Joy to the World” is meant to express the spirit of rejoicing at the birth of the Messiah (refer back to Psalm 98:4-9—joy, jubilant is repeated 4 times—I think Isaac Watts truly captured the meaning of that Psalm in this song)!
We have talked about waiting with anticipation and hope for the Light of the World to come. On this 4th Advent Sunday, we want to examine the Christmas story to see the JOY in it. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6) and “He shall reign forever and ever” (to borrow from Handel’s Messiah’s Hallelujah chorus).
Many in the Christmas story were filled with awe and wonder at the birth of Jesus. But there was also great rejoicing. Let’s start with Mary:
Luke 1:46-47 (NIV) And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
This is the beginning of what is called Mary’s song of praise or “Magnificat.” Notice how Mary starts out when Elizabeth blesses her (v. 42-46). Her first words are “my soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Mary’s response to God’s grace is to glorify Him and rejoice in her heart. Now to understand what Mary really said, we need to look at the word that is used for rejoice.
21 ἀγαλλιάω [agalliao /ag·al·lee·ah·o/] v. From agan (much) and 242; TDNT 1:19; GK 22; 11 occurrences; AV translates as “rejoice” seven times, “be exceeding glad” once, “be glad” once, “greatly rejoice” once, and “with exceeding joy” once. 1 to exult, rejoice exceedingly, be exceeding glad.[i]
In fact this word means more than just to be happy. It means to leap for joy, to show one’s joy by leaping and skipping denoting excessive or ecstatic joy or delight. Mary just took off dancing and leaping and skipping all over Elizabeth’s house. Can you picture that in your mind—Mary and Elizabeth dancing and leaping around the room with such joy that they can’t stop themselves until they finally fall down with exhaustion? Why even the baby John leaped in Elizabeth’s womb for joy (v. 44) when he heard Mary’s voice—now that is true rejoicing!
What about the shepherds? Being a shepherd was not an easy life. They were poor nomads living in the open fields. Did these rough men rejoice like Mary?
Luke 2:9-20 (NIV) 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. . . . 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Vs. 16 says they “hurried off” and found Mary and Joseph. The angel had declared to them that the birth of this child was “good news of great joy.” Then to hear the heavenly choir of angels singing, how could they not have been filled with great joy? Then when they saw the baby, it says they went about spreading the word “concerning what had been told them about this child.” What had they been told? This was good news of great joy! Vs 20 tells us that they returned, “glorifying and praising God.” I can imagine these rough shepherds doing a little two-step as they went around the area proclaiming the news! Wouldn’t you if you had been in their shoes?
We Three Kings of Orient Are . . .—what a somber song. Can you hear them trudging along on their camels? Could three wise men rejoice over the birth of baby?
Matt 2:10 (NIV) When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
(NASB/KJV)When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
(Message) Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!
(LB) Their joy knew no bounds.
Can you picture these 3 kings dancing and leaping around in the middle of the night? I’m sure they struck up the band and had some kind of party. Imagine what the people traveling with them must have thought. “Why, they had been out in the hot sun too long—they had finally lost it. How foolish to take off following some star to see a King who was going to be born.” But the 3 Kings were overjoyed (ecstatic) with the fact that the star that they had followed for so long, had not left them. Then they knew that their journey had not been in vain and they would see the King of the Jews. Can you imagine what a party they must have had on the trip home? As each one recounted how he had presented his gift of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the King of Kings, they would have been so full of joy that they just celebrated all the way home.
As we have looked at each of these people involved in the Christmas story, we have seen how joy has overtaken them and they could not contain it. I wonder today when we hear the Christmas story if we are overcome with that same kind of joy?
For many this is a sad time of the year. Maybe due to the death of a loved one, or a divorce, or simply because they have the winter blues. Did you know that there really is such a thing? It’s called Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD, and is a type of depression that occurs during the winter months. One of the most recommended treatments for SAD is increasing your exposure to light. Since the disease's symptoms are triggered by a lack of light, spending more time outside in natural daylight may help get rid of the symptoms.
It is tough to find joy when you are hurting so bad due to the losses of life, but what about the rest of us who may not be going through a difficult time in our lives? We may become depressed over the commercialism and taking of Christ out of Christmas. We may just be overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle, parties, work, family plans, etc until we become like Scrooge and declare “bah humbug!” Or are we overflowing with joy over the birth of our Lord and Savior? Are we able to celebrate the Advent season with joy in our hearts like Mary, the shepherds, and the 3 wise men?
A couple of weeks ago, we looked at Isaiah 9 and saw the “great Light” that was promised. Let’s look for a moment at a verse in this same passage that we did not look at a couple of weeks ago.
Isaiah 9:2-3, 6 (NIV) The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before You as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. . . . 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God (El Gibbor), Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In vs. 3, the word joy or rejoice is used 4 times—4 times in one verse that must be significant. It is very clear that Isaiah saw the birth of the Messiah as a reason to rejoice. Not only to be glad or happy, but to be ecstatic—as people who have seen a great harvest come in, or as men who have won a great battle would rejoice as they are dividing up the spoils of war—whooping and hollering, leaping and dancing—just like Mary!
I believe that as we meditate on the fact that God fulfilled His promise to send our Savior that we can find joy each day, no matter what circumstances we face. As believers the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). Joy is one of the fruit of the spirit that God develops in us (Gal 5:22). We are told to count it all joy, when we go through trials and tribulations (James 1:2). In fact, scripture tells us that in His presence is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forever more!” (Psa 16:11)—This is G. G.’s favorite verse.
I Peter 1:6-9 (NIV) In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Now I want you to know that the word we saw in Luke 1:47 for rejoice is the same word that is used here for rejoice. That means that when we go through trials and grief, we are to dance and leap around with abandon like Mary! Is that crazy? Maybe, but it is true that no matter what we go through, the purpose is to refine our faith—proving it’s worth and genuineness—so that we can learn to give praise, honor, and glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We can have confidence that He is at work in us bringing our salvation to pass. Then according to vs. 8 because we believe in Him we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy—filled to overflowing so that we cannot contain it. Maybe it is not physical leaping and dancing, but an inner peace and joy that knows no bounds and sometimes spills over into the physical. This joy is not just being happy, but a deep confidence that God will do what He has promised He will do—no matter how bad it looks. When we show this kind of joy to the world, then they will know that our faith is real and they will want to know our Savior.
In these scriptures, we have seen the phrase “great joy,” or “exceeding joy” just as we saw in Isaiah 9:2 that the Messiah would be a great Light. The angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.“ The good news is that there is a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Our Savior was born in Bethlehem, over 2000 years ago. He is the Messiah, the anointed One of God, who will redeem us from the darkness of our sin. He is the Lord—God Himself come down in the flesh to fellowship with us. He is Immanuel—God with us, no matter where we are or what we are going through. This is the message of joy that we can have this Advent season!
Joy to the World!
Joy to the World! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the World! The Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love.
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v v: verb
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
[i]Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (G21). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.