Joy: Personal & Corporate
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Joy is hard to define. Some use an acrostic that has nothing to do with joy; others struggle to define it much beyond happiness. Joy is more than happiness, but certainly not less. Joy is permanent, not fleeting. Perhaps the best definition of joy I’ve found is: “the inner transformation of the saved.”
That is, those whom the Lord has saved have unending, everlasting joy in Him.
In Isaiah 12, we see the abundant joys of God’s salvation; the joy of the people who know and who have experienced firsthand the salvation of God.
It’s joy—the inner transformation of the saved—that bursts forth. The prophet Isaiah is letting the people know what they will say in that day when the Lord rescues them and brings them from captivity.
Isaiah knows the people of the Lord will rejoice with great joy; it’s the natural and supernatural response of those who have met the Lord, those who have seen His salvation.
The Magi—that group of wise men who traveled from the east to find the One who was born King of the Jews—we’re told rejoiced exceedingly with great joy upon finally meeting the young child who was Himself God and worthy of worship.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Joy is an emotion. Joy is a response. Joy comes from the deepest part of who you are. It’s happiness, jubilation, but its source is not in circumstance. Joy comes from an awareness of well-being with your Creator. Joy is the product of being known by God and knowing Him.
We have here in Isaiah 12 both personal, individual joy as well as corporate, gathered joy. Personal joy leads to corporate joy and corporate joy leads to proclamation.
Personal Joy
Personal Joy
The English language fails us on a number of fronts, not least of which is differentiating between the singular and plural pronoun “you.” We say “you” and might mean one individual person or a group of people. It’s hard to distinguish which one is meant.
Here in Isaiah (and elsewhere in the Bible), when we read the word “you” it might be singular or it might be plural. We have to turn to other resources to let us know (unless you read Hebrew. In that case, it’d be clear to you and, also, I could really use your help).
Your study Bible might even have a note about which “you” is plural here in Isaiah.
In verse 1, I’ll just tell ya’ll (see what I did there?), the “you” in verse 1 is singular.
1 In that day you will say:
“I will praise you, Lord.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
In that day you will say...
Isaiah is saying, “Each of you individually will say...”
This is made clear by the other personal pronouns in verses 1 and 2: I, me, me, my, I, my, my, my.
These verses describe our own experience of salvation; it’s personal, individual.
Ray Ortlund, Jr. is correct: “There is no secondhand salvation.”
Salvation is, to begin with, immensely personal. It’s an individual experience, an individual reality. It’s personal. You cannot ride on another’s coattails. Salvation must be experienced individually. And when it is, there is accompanying individual, personal joy.
“He is MY salvation…I will trust…the Lord is MY strength…MY song…MY salvation..”
The joyous individual will praise the Lord for the fact that He has turned away His anger and granted comfort.
The greatest wonder in all salvation, Isaiah argues, is that God—your former enemy—would save you and comfort you.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Make no mistake: apart from Christ, God is righteously angry with you. His wrath is directed at you. Your sin warrants the wrath of the Holy God. You are, by nature, an object of wrath.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Jesus is our sacrifice of atonement, our propitiation—an incredibly important word defined as an offering that turns away the wrath of God. God offered up His own Son, Jesus, as a propitiation for sin. Jesus turns the wrath of God away from us and takes the hit for us.
Isaiah says the joyous individual will realize this; namely, that God who was rightly angry with them has now graciously turned away His anger—the greatest wonder in all salvation.
When a person understands the wonder and the weight of salvation, they will joyously burst forth in songs of praise:
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.”
This is an inner welling-up of joy upon remembering what God has done, the salvation God has brought.
This is unrestrained song; the individual breaks out in song. They can’t help but sing. It’s a little bit like the old musicals.
[Play Clips]
It’s crazy, isn’t it? Maria and the Von Trapp children running and riding through the streets singing, dancing and no one around them seems to care or even notice. It’s crazy.
And then, Gene Kelly, walking down the street, happily sloshing in the rain and puddles, wonderfully in love, and he just starts singing. I mean, I guess you had to know it would happen; the title of the movie is “Singin’ in the Rain.”
To enjoy these scenes, we have to suspend belief just enough to play along. We have to let the spell come over us and identify with a governess and some children running around singing nonsensical “Do, re, mi” and a grown man out in the rain, soaking wet and not caring at all, singing his head off.
Those old musicals are downright crazy if you think about it; what’s not crazy is the joyous singing of a person God has saved.
You see, God has put into our hearts the same capacity, the freedom to break out in song as the wonder of His saving love fills our hearts. That, in fact, is what we were created for. In the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, we will glorify and enjoy God with unrestrained song.
Isaiah says, “In that day [each of you individually will] borrow some lyrics from the song Moses sang after the Lord delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians:
2 “The Lord is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
We will echo Moses’ song. Isaiah tells us we will. We will be so overwhelmed with joy at God’s salvation we will even overuse the personal name of God—The LORD, the LORD [YHWH, YHWH] Himself is my strength and my defense—or, as another version translates it:
2 Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.’ ”
When the Lord determined to make Jesus the propitiation for our sins, when the Lord God ordained that His anger for us would crush His Son and not us, when comfort came to us instead of wrath, we came into personal possession of God Himself.
He made it possible for us—formerly His enemies—to have a relationship with us. What JOY!
Because of God’s grace shown to us in Jesus “we stop standing outside the store, looking in wistfully at the treasures in the window; we walk right in and receive more than we could ask or imagine, because this Owner refuses to do business upon the basis of our payment. Everything is free. And we will share Him all together.”
>The pronoun shifts to plural in verse 3:
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
We live in a burning wilderness, and God is all our satisfaction. He opens up to us wells of life-giving fullness, through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Sprit, enough for all time and eternity.
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
When the believer comes to Christ and drinks, he not only slakes his thirst but receives such an abundant supply that veritable rivers flow from him.
>The prophet Isaiah now puts words into the mouths of the community, the rest of the chapter. The unrestrained song of one—the joyous solo of the first two verses—now modulates into a singing community, a great a joyful choir.
4 In that day you will say:
“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”
Corporate Joy
Corporate Joy
In that day you all, all you people, gathered together will say...
The people of Zion are all together given a singular task. Their corporate joy—the joy each of them have individually comes together and in praise, in proclamation, in songs and shouts.
All the people of God are to, together:
Give praise to the Lord
Proclaim His name
Sing to the Lord, shout aloud, and sing for joy
And why? Why should all the peoples of the Lord unite and do this? Because he has done glorious things and this should be known among the nations, in all the world.
What has the Lord done? What glorious things has He done for us?
Well, every people in every age has a long, long list of what the Lord has done.
Our first thought ought to be to give praise to the Lord and thank Him for salvation. This is the theme of Isaiah 12. This is the theme of Scripture, the theme of Christmas: Jesus born to us, Immanuel—God with us, the One who would save His people from their sins wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The Lord has done glorious things, excellent things—nothing any more glorious, nothing any more excellent than turning away His wrath and granting salvation to a miserable lot of sinners.
The Hebrew word for the English phrase “what He has done” is used once to describe God’s general care, but always elsewhere used of His saving work, especially in bringing His people out of Egypt, out of slavery.
The people of God, in their gathered joy, are to proclaim what He has done, and also proclaim his name. That is, they are to joyfully, corporately raise one voice and worship Him for who He is.
The majesty and transcendence of the saving God are to be on our lips.
We are to sing. Our personal joy wells up to song (v. 2) and corporately we are to sing (vv. 5-6): sing to the Lord…sing for joy.
“Sweet hymns of joy, in grateful chorus raise we; let all within us praise His holy name.”
Song is called for, not as an expression of feelings of elation, but as a response to the works of God.
Sometimes, I don’t feel like singing. Sometimes, I’ve had one of those weeks or my thoughts are going in a million different directions. Sometimes, I’m self-conscious. Sometimes, I’m disengaged, distracted, or my heart is cold. Sometimes, I don’t feel like singing.
But what does God deserve for His many works? He deserves my singing, my worship. He deserves the full, glad-hearted, full-throated praise of His people.
Joy leads to singing—loud, joyous shouts of melody and rhyme. Sing out! Sing aloud! Sing for joy!
Every individual and the whole community are alike absorbed in salvation—in its joy and the proclamation of it.
The proclamation of salvation among the nations and to all the world.
This must be made known.
Joyful Proclamation
Joyful Proclamation
Joy is the inner transformation of the saved. Joy doesn’t stay put. Joy is no hermit. Joy is as extroverted as they come. Joy is like that animal who always finds a way out of the kennel or the fence. Joy always finds a way out; it always makes a way out.
Isaiah seems to realize that joy—the joy we have because of the salvation of our God—that joy needs to be spread.
The nations, all the peoples of the earth need to be told. We are to make His name and His deeds known among the nations. That task is far from done. There are hundreds of millions of people who have never heard. Our joy should carry us to the nations. At the very least, our joy in Christ should at least carry us across the street and throughout our neighborhoods.
The joy welling-up in you, the joy of your salvation, the joy of relationship with your God should burst forth like streams of water.
Our corporate joy should flood Rich Hill, Bates County, Missouri, the nation, the world!
Let this be known to all the world!
Isaiah foresees one message spreading over the world, exalting the truth about God, awakening all peoples to the infinite greatness and majesty of God revealed in His saving deeds.
The angel of the Lord announced this to those shepherds that first Christmas morning:
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 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 that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Good news of great joy for all the people—what’s the cause of joy for all the people? It’s the same cause in Isaiah: salvation has come.
A Savior has been born to you.
This joyful news led the shepherds to Bethlehem, running through the fields, into town, around and through the roughly-rocked streets, down the paths and alleyways, until they found Mary and Joseph. They arrived short of breath, with joy in their hearts, and they found Salvation lying in a manger.
The shepherds didn’t swallow their joy; they didn’t keep it all to themselves. They didn’t hide it under a bushel. They let their joy shine.
When they had seen Jesus, the Savior who had been born, what did they do?
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
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.
The joy of the shepherds welled-up inside them and sprang forth, like a river they couldn’t begin to dam. They praised the Lord, proclaiming His name; they made known what the Lord had done.
Like an old musical, I believe the shepherds found themselves singing—through the streets of the town, all the way back to where their sheep were waiting, and for the rest of their lives—singing for joy, singing tot he Lord, for He had done something glorious.
Let us take up their mantle and sing with joy songs about Jesus, songs of salvation, proclaiming His marvelous deeds, until the whole world knows!
“Joy to the earth! 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, repeat the sounding joy.”