When Ezra read the law in the verses immediately preceding our text, the first response of the people was conviction of sin. They wept and mourned because the law exposed their lawlessness (Rom. 3:20).

With the help of the Levites, Nehemiah convinced the people to put an end to their mourning and to start celebrating. It was, after all, the first day of the seventh month, which was not only the beginning of a new year on the Jewish civil calendar, but also a new moon and the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets. It was a holy day and was to be celebrated with great joy. He said, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength (v. 10).

But the fact that it was a holy day on which the Jews heard the Word of God and turned to him in humility was only the beginning of their joy. Their joy increased exponentially when they renewed their commitment to observe another feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, which they celebrated later in the same month. By these things they were greatly encouraged in their service of Jehovah.

The joy of the Lord should be our strength, too. Although we no longer observe the holy days of the Old Testament, we have even greater cause to rejoice than they did. Our joy is based on the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ finished the work that he came to do. Therefore, when you face a trial of your faith, Peter instructs you to look to Jesus, who makes you to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory (I Pet. 1:9).

Strength in the Joy of the Lord

But what is the joy of the Lord?

It amazes me how many Christian writers can talk about joy ad nauseam without ever defining what it is. The Tyndale Bible Dictionary does the best. It said that joy is “a feeling called forth by well-being, success or good fortune.” But if this is meant to be a Biblical definition, it falls short in many ways. For one thing, the joy of the Lord is not a feeling that all. Feelings come and go. Sometimes they are stronger than others. But the joy of the Lord is described by Nehemiah as our strength, i.e., our refuge and fortress. Christian joy, therefore, must be something that is unassailable.

Another reason why this definition fails is that it allows for joy only when we are experiencing well-being, success or good fortune. This does not allow any room for what James wrote about joy. He said, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience (Jas. 1:2–3). Sometimes our greatest joy in the Lord comes when we are suffering the greatest adversity. Even when the circumstances of our lives cause us to reel in agony, our souls can calmly rejoice in the goodness of God toward his people.

Biblical joy is the conviction of mind and delight that a believer has when he takes refuge either in God’s past acts of kindness or his promises of future blessing.

Perhaps the best example of this in Scripture is the book of Habakkuk. In the first chapter, the prophet could not make any sense of what God was doing. The Jews were becoming more and more violent. They disregarded God’s law, and judgment was almost nonexistent. Habakkuk asked the Lord why he, a holy and righteous God, would allow such great wickedness among his own people? God responded by saying that he was not going to allow this to continue for very long. He would send the Chaldeans (i.e., the Babylonians) to execute his fierce wrath upon the offending southern kingdom. But God’s answer only increased Habakkuk’s concern. If the Jews were bad, the Chaldeans were even more so. They were known for being ruthless and terrible and cruel. The prophet’s question became, Why would God chasten his own people with a nation that was even more corrupt than they? Not knowing an answer for this, he decided to sit on the rampart, waiting to see what God would do.

At this point, we come upon one of the most quoted verses in the New Testament, viz., Habakkuk 2:4 — the just shall live by his faith. The apostle Paul uses these words to establish the great doctrine of justification by faith alone, but here the prophet means that those who have already been declared righteous before God will live by his promises and continue to trust him even in the most trying times. In the third chapter of this book, the prophet gave a very down-to-earth illustration of exactly what he meant. He wrote, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places (Hab. 3:17–19).

You might wonder how it is possible to rejoice in the Lord when you have absolutely nothing. Everything has been taken away from you and you have no expectation of profiting from your labors in the foreseeable future. But remember that Biblical joy is not based on what we have or even the hope of what we might have, but on the character of God, who delights in blessing his people exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph. 3:20). And we know that he delights in blessing us because he sent his only begotten Son to die in our place on the cross of Calvary!

The joy of God’s people, unlike the joy of the world, is not temporary, superficial or artificial. It is not a joy that leaves us when we feel weak and empty. Rather, it is a joy that brings comfort and courage even when we have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Godly joy sustains us and keeps us going.

Obedience in the Joy of the Lord

When Nehemiah told the Jews that the joy of the Lord was their strength, he was encouraging them to be even more obedience to the Word that they had heard. Matthew Henry put it this way: “Holy joy will be oil to the wheels of our obedience.” In other words, the Jews still had plenty of work to do, but they needed the joy of the Lord to lighten their load.

Our attitude toward the things of God often makes all the difference in the world. Without love for God, keeping his commandments is both an unwelcome burden and a punishment. But those who rejoice in the Lord with all their heart will find that his commandments are not grievous (I John 3:3) but pleasant, even when keeping them means that we suffer the loss of property, friends and family. We can bear these things because our joy in the Lord teaches us to take refuge in God’s past acts of kindness and in promises of future blessing. The Lord will sustain us. Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt. 11:28–30).

The holy oil of joy was still flowing on the day following the new moon, according to verse 13. The chiefs of the fathers (i.e., the heads of the family clans), the priests and the Levites came to Ezra once again for further instruction in the law. Now, remember that the priests were on the platform with Ezra the day before, presumably assisting with the six-hour reading of the law. The Levites also were stationed among the people so that they could, first of all, translate the reading into their language, and, secondly, to give it its proper meaning. So, we have to assume that both the priests and the Levites already had more knowledge of the Word of God than the ordinary auditor. But here they show their humility. Instead of resting in whatever knowledge they may have had, they took a new position at the feet of Ezra to be taught by him.

What a wonderful thing it is when the leaders of God’s people hunger and thirst after the righteousness that is revealed in the Word of God! O that the Lord would fill the churches of this land and around throughout world with elders and deacons whose hearts burn to know nothing but the crucified and risen Savior!

As Ezra read the law on this day, the leaders learned that the Feast of Tabernacles was coming up in just two weeks. The details of this feast are laid out in Leviticus 23:39–43. It was a reminder of the fact that the children of Israel lived in temporary dwellings during their forty-year wilderness sojourn after leaving Egypt. And it was particularly appropriate that the Jews of Nehemiah’s day observe it, for they too had just come out of captivity. They wanted to remind themselves that the earthly city of Jerusalem was not their final destination, just as the writer of Hebrews tells us not to seek a continuing city in this world (Heb. 13:14). They and we must live every day simply trusting God to give us with our daily bread (Matt. 6:11).

In obedience to the Word of God, the leaders made a proclamation summoning everyone to participate in the Feast of Tabernacles. They told them to gather branches from the mount (probably the Mount of Olives) and make “booths” to dwell in during the celebration.

Blessing in the Joy of the Lord

When Moses repeated the laws concerning the Feast of Tabernacles in the sixteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, he made it particularly clear that this was to be a joyous celebration. Not only did it commemorate the wilderness wandering of the Jews, but also came at the time of harvest. Therefore, Moses said, thou shalt surely rejoice (Deut. 16:15).

The Jews not only heard the instruction of their leaders, but they joyously obeyed them. The end of verse 17 says, And there was very great gladness.

Look how faithfully they carried out their duties. Those who lived in Jerusalem gathered branches and built tabernacles for themselves either on their rooftops or on the courtyards of their property. Those who lived outside the city also made tabernacles, but they built theirs either in the temple courtyard or in one of its adjacent courtyards. Everyone participated. No one slacked off.

Nehemiah says that this was the first time that the Feast of Tabernacles had been celebrated like this since the days of Joshua the son of Nun, i.e., in a thousand years. This, however, does not mean that the Jews had not celebrated the feast at all during this time. As a matter of fact, we know from other passages of Scripture that they had celebrated it occasionally. They celebrated it, for example, in the days of Solomon (cf. II Chron. 7:9; I Kgs. 8:65). Ezra 3:4 says that the Jews kept this feast in the days of as Zerubbabel, which was less than a hundred years before the events recorded in our text. Rather, Nehemiah’s point is that this was the first time that it had been observed in a particular way.

But what made this observance of the feast so unique? First, as I mentioned earlier, the two main parts of the Feast of Tabernacles were the commemoration of the wilderness sojourn and the celebration of harvest. As the people settled in their land, the harvest aspect became more important to them than the wilderness aspect, thus the practice of dwelling in booths for seven days was ignored. Second, notice that Nehemiah emphasized in verse 17 that all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths. Just as the practice of dwelling in booths fell by the wayside, so it was also only a minority of the people that celebrated the feast at all. According to Nehemiah, this was the first occasion in a thousand years in which the entire community of Jews kept the feast. And third, the Jews kept the feast with unprecedented joy. They were so thankful for all the goodness that God had shown them that they not only rejoice, but rejoiced with very great gladness.

They had good reason to rejoice. They were celebrating four things: God’s deliverance of them from the Babylonian captivity, which paralleled the exodus and wilderness sojourn of God’s people in the days of Moses; the harvest, which even though it was small because of the famine, still demonstrated God’s love and care for his people; the completion of the wall around Jerusalem (and note, by the way, that the entire Feast of Tabernacles was contained within these walls); and finally, that God had overthrown the evil desires of their enemies to prevent them from doing the Lord’s work.

How many reasons, congregation, do you have to rejoice in? One of the songs that we used to sing in Sunday school when I was a child is Count Your Blessings. The first two verses go like this:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings — name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings — ev’ry doubt will fly,

And you will be singing as the days go by.

The chorus continues:

Count your blessings —name them one by one;

Count your blessings —see what God hath done.

But how often do we really stop to count our blessings? We sail through life taking so much for granted, seldom having the conviction of mind and delight in God’s goodness that drives us to take refuge in his past acts of mercy and his promises of future blessing.

Jesus said, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full (John 15:11). Paul wrote that we should rejoice in hope (Rom. 12:12), and that we should rejoice in the Lord alway (Phil. 4:4). Likewise, John wrote his first epistle so that your joy may be full (I John 1:4). Of course, I could cite scores of other verses because the Bible says a lot about joy, connecting it with such things as faith and hope and love, but the ones that I’ve given to you show unmistakably that God wants you to rejoice. In fact, he wants you to be full of joy — not giddiness, not leaping around in some kind of pretend happiness, but the real joy of knowing that his shalom, his peace, rests upon you because you have taken refuge in the blood of his Son.

As those who have been redeemed by the mighty work of God’s Son, you should always rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory! May the Lord make it so with each of us!

The last verse of our text today tells you how to continue in this joy. Someone once asked Billy Sunday if revivals lasted. He replied, “No, neither does a bath; but it’s good to have one occasionally!”

The reason why many reformations, revivals and awakenings do not last is because they either do not begin with the Word of God or they do not continue in it. But not so with the reformation here in Nehemiah. Ezra read from the book of the law when the people came to him on the first day of the month. He read it the next day when the chiefs of the fathers, the priests and the Levites wanted more in-depth instruction. And when the people came together again to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, he read from the book of the law every single day.

Now, keep in mind that Moses only required that the entire book of the law be read every seventh year. Since the people were starting anew in a sense, it was appropriate to begin with the law. But even more than that, they hungered for the law, taking advantage of every possible opportunity to hear it.

Beloved, if you want to have even greater joy than the people did in Nehemiah’s day, you have to bury yourself in the Word of God. If you want your wife and children to have this joy, nothing will make it so except the reading and studying of Scripture. If you want our congregation to grow, we must make sure to exhort one another constantly to plant ourselves firmly in the Word of God.

Christian joy begins and ends with the knowledge and delight that God loves us as his very own. Let each of us, therefore, look to him to give us a joy that nothing in this world can take away. Amen.