Joy: Isaiah 35:10

The musical the kids performed this morning offered us a wonderful stroll through the Christmas story. Besides being incredibly adorable, the children have presented us with several biblical truths around the birth of the Messiah. We look back to this account every Christmas, and every Christmas we celebrate His birth.

The Church has long referred to this time as Advent, or coming. It is the celebration of the coming of Messiah into the world. With Messiah’s coming, many things changed. In a world filled with violence and despair, the Messiah brings hope and promised through the prophecies in the Old Testament. Last Sunday we saw how Jesus Messiah has brought the way to God in His Advent.

This morning we will briefly see how the Messiah brings Joy. It brings true joy, joy that even works its way into this difficult year of 2020. This joy, though, is the result of several things we observe in Isaiah 35:10 primarily.

The Advent of Christ brings Joy because it brings salvation—those the LORD has rescued will return

The Advent of Messiah brings joy because His coming brings salvation. The last phrase of 35:9 and the first portion of 35:10 state, “But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the LORD has rescued will return.” Only God’s people, those who have been saved by the wonderful grace of Jesus Christ, can have joy.

This year has presented many difficulties, death and loss of life, loss of jobs, loss of social gatherings, and many other issues. However, even in the midst of this challenging year, Christians should have joy. Now, this joy does not originate from the experiences of the individual, but from the fact that we are saved from death.

Jesus reminds His disciples this. After performing incredible miracles and exorcisms, the disciples were understandably excited. Luke states “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’” Jesus replies, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

The Advent of Christ brings joy because it brings salvation.

The Advent of Christ brings Joy because it brings holiness—it will be called the Way of Holiness

Looking back to verse 8, we see the importance of holiness. Humanity’s need for holiness has been a perennial problem since Genesis chapter 3. We have violated the holiness of God with our sin. God is an infinitely holy God (see Isaiah 6:3). This is why we need salvation, by the way (see Rom. 3:22-23).

Now that God has saved us, He also gives us the righteousness of His Son, our Savior and Messiah, Jesus. Through Messiah Jesus, we who were sinners are now saints and we are progressively growing in holiness. It was a command in the OT as well as a command in the NT (see Lev. 19:2; 1 Pet. 1:15-16).

The only hope we have of becoming holy is Jesus. Without His Advent, not only would we not have salvation, but we would not have holiness, and therefore we would have no joy.

The Advent of Christ brings Joy because it unites us with God—Your God will come

We see a natural progression of salvation and holiness that culminates to being with God. Since being banned from the Garden of Eden, human beings have been separated from God, the author of Life. Though we have attempted to fill that goal, we have failed miserably. As such, we have seen rampant amounts of depression, suicide, sadness, and areas never meant to fulfill human beings sought for.

Augustine, an early church father, once said, “Our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.” Yet, through the Advent of Messiah, Jesus has brought God to us and us to God. His name, after all, is Emmanuel, God with us.

We see this in Isaiah, we also see it at the end of the Scriptures in Revelation. Rev. 21:3 and 22:3-4.

Conclusions

The Advent of Messiah Jesus brings joy. But only if you have been saved by God, growing in holiness, and destined to be with God. If you do not have peace or joy, you need Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, if you have been saved and are growing in holiness, take joy in the ultimate destination that you will be with God. If you go back and look at Isaiah 35, you will see how transformative Jesus is. Deserts become lush gardens, the blind see, the dear hear, and the sinful become holy.