"Joy" Series

It was the joy of the Israelites. Although as a nation they rejected Him, still, He was no less the fulfillment of all their hopes. He was the glory of their nation. He was the very purpose for their existence. He was the vindication for all their suffering and oppression and rejection by other nations throughout the ages. They had kept the Law and they had held dearly to the promises made to their father Abraham, and now they could say, “Emmanuel; God with us”. This news was the joy of the Israelites.

Finally, it was to be our joy - the joy of all people. This brings me to the third point: WHAT THE MESSAGE MEANS TODAY.

Although the Jews in Jesus’ day, and even today, have held that the coming of the Messiah would be for the Jews only, there is much scripture (both Old and New Testaments) that contradicts that theory.

I won’t attempt to list all the passages for you to support that claim, but here are a few examples:

First, as I mentioned earlier, God’s promise to Abraham was that through his seed (Isaac), all the nations would be blessed. The terms “people” and “nations” throughout scripture, and the designation “Greeks” in the New Testament, are synonymous with the term “Gentiles”.

So when God told Abraham that the ‘nations’ would be blessed, even Abraham understood that the Redeemer would come, not only to the circumcised, but to all everywhere who would believe on Him.

In Matthew 8:11 and Luke 13:29, Jesus is recorded as saying that “...many will come from East and West, and recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven”.

It is made very clear in the Epistles that the gospel was sent first to God’s chosen people, the Jews, but because of their rejection of the Messiah, the Jewish nation was side-railed and the good news went out to the Gentiles. We are living in the time of the Gentiles now; but when that time is fulfilled, the message will go out again to the Jew, and the Bible says that the whole nation of Israel at that time will be saved.

Nevertheless, although it is made clear that the gospel was first for the Jew, the abundance of evidence throughout the Bible is that God’s good news of salvation has always been available to the believing heart.

So on the night of the birth of Jesus, before the nation had an opportunity to reject Him, or even be made aware that He had come in the flesh, the angel announces that this good news is of a ‘great joy for all the people.

Later in this same chapter, (a portion we’ll study in a couple of weeks), the godly Simeon holds the infant Jesus in his hands and calls Him, “...a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people, Israel”.

So folks, it is our joy also. The good news of Christ’s coming in the flesh was a joy for God, a joy for the waiting nation of Israel, and it is a joy for we who did not know; were not waiting; were not searching; but by God’s marvelous grace, the good news came to us also.

That’s what this good news means today, and here is what it means for YOU today.