“Get Ready For Joy!”
Isaiah 35:10
Pastor Jim Luthy
What is it about us and nostalgia? We like to think back to more exciting times or more innocent times, ponder fond memories, sometimes just escape from the trials of today. Little pieces of cardboard with the picture of our favorite baseball players sell for thousands of dollars. Brady Bunch lunch boxes sell for hundreds of dollars. Ebay is a nostalgic gold mine! We must be crazy.
There is no time of year that causes us to reminisce like the Christmas season. We think back on Christmas traditions we enjoyed as a child, and it makes us either laugh or want to cry. Some think of Christmas’ when they received nothing and had nothing to give and find themselves thankful for what they have today. Others think of Christmas’ they enjoyed before their family broke apart or their child died and they become quite sad. I spoke to a woman just this week who said she will stay home for Christmas and cry because it is the anniversary of her mother’s death. While many of us run around saying, “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” a lot of people find Christmas an annual reminder of painful memories and have very real reasons to say “Bah humbug!”
I like to reminisce, though. It normally brings back pleasant memories. I think back on days when my body was younger, stronger, and healthier and wish I could run up and down the basketball court and jump up to the rim as I once did. I think back on my favorite cartoons as a child or the carefree days of my youth when one of the girls would come up and say, “So-and-so likes you.” That kind of wistfulness provides a spark of joy here and there when our lives are in a rut. But looking backward for joy tends to leave us in that rut. Bruce Springsteen talked about in his song “Glory Days.”
I had a friend was a big baseball player back in high school
He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool boy
Saw him the other night at this roadside bar, I was walking in, he was walking out
We went back inside sat down had a few drinks, but all he kept talking about was
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
Well there’s a girl that lives up the block back in school she could turn all the boy’s heads
Sometimes on a Friday I’ll stop by and have a few drinks after she put her kids to bed
Her and her husband Bobby well they split up I guess it’s two years gone by now
We just sit around talking about the old times, she says when she feels like crying she starts laughing thinking about
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
Now I think I’m going down to the well tonight and I’m going to drink till I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it but I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture a little of the glory of, well time slips away
and leaves you with nothing mister, but boring stories of
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
We also like to reminisce about more innocent times. The Judd’s asked Grandpa to tell them ‘bout the good ol’ days. Generation after generation thinks back on their childhood or on their parents or grandparents lives and wonders if life was simpler, less complicated. What do you think of when I ask you to think about “the good ol’ days?”
If you’re able to do that exercise, then you’ll be able to relate to the people of Judah. Having fallen away from God, the people were scattered among the nations. Some were held in exile in Babylonia, others had fled to other foreign lands. Wherever they were, though, you can be sure they thought of the good ol’ days—the days when the Lord was their God and they were his people. They had altars and monuments that reminded them of those days. Among their memories were visions of entering into Zion three times a year for the pilgrim feasts. They would travel along the highway singing songs of praise to Jehovah. But those glory days would be gone. They passed them by like the wink of a young girl’s eye. The only source of joy they could find was looking back to the good ol’ days.
For some of us, like the people of Judah, the past is the only place we can look to find joy. The prophecy of Isaiah 35 was meant to point a captive people forward. “Your God will come,” the prophet said. “A highway will be there” he noted. And today we will look forward and know that joy is not simply a thing of the past, but is stronger in us as a promise of the future. Past joy does nothing for us because it is lost in our history. Future joy, however, gives us hope each day. It makes a difference to know that joy comes in the morning. Isaiah 35:10 urges us to get ready for that joy.
“…the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
The ransomed of the Lord will return. The people of Judah would once again be God’s people and he would be their God. The use of the word “return” here indicates a change from the current order to a new order. They will turn back to God, he says. Having been scattered by their rebellion, Isaiah was pointing out that those who return would be those who had been spared by God (that’s what it means to be redeemed) and, in turn, stepped away from the rebellion that scattered them, coming back into the land that the Lord had given them.
The promise remains to this day for those of us who have been redeemed, or purchased, by the blood of Jesus. We must turn back to him. Here is a picture of the repentant heart for today, when we confess our sins and come back into the relationship with God we were meant to have. But we also have a picture here of future joy, when those who belong to God enter into the new Zion that he has prepared for us. It is looking forward to that future joy that gives us joy for today. The old familiar order of things in which we currently live will pass away. There will be a new order that will fill us with joy. Are you looking forward to that day?
It is my observation that many Christians lack joy. Last weekend I found myself before God just confessing to him that I did not like the joyless person I was becoming. By his grace, the text this week has allowed me to focus forward again, and he has restored my joy. My problem was that I was looking to people or circumstances to be my source of joy. That kind of a search only leads to frustration and bitterness, and it robs us of the joy God intends for us.
Are you lacking joy? Placing all your energy in changing your circumstances will not help you. First of all, we have no control over all our circumstances. If we are taking command of our circumstances, who are we assuming to be Lord? Us! Besides, we may succeed in changing one circumstance only to find ourselves surrounded by new issues. Changing people doesn’t help either. To begin with, haven’t we learned that we can’t change people, only the Lord can? Our efforts to change people only result in such boorish behavior as manipulation and judgmentalism or destructive attitudes like bitterness and anger.
So I invite you to look with me at the new order—the future joy of Isaiah 35:10.
To begin with, the new order will replace temporary joy with future joy. There are many things we find joyful in this current world, but all of them are temporary. For example, lets consider the joy of Christmas. We find joy in the season. I like to hear the Christmas music or walk arm in arm with my wife in the cold at the Zoo Lights or at Butchart Gardens in Victoria. I enjoy Christmas parties, exchanging gifts, and a day of feasting on food and fun with my family. But you know what always comes after Christmas? December 26. Another day. The joy of Christmas is great, but it comes and then it goes. The same thing goes for other joys of life—the joy of graduating from school, getting married, or having a child. In my memory stands the occasions of winning the big game or succeeding in some project. These joys come and go, but we always find ourselves back into the throes of life. The Word of God promises there will come a day when our joy comes and it does not go away. Isaiah calls it everlasting joy.
Some temporary joys leave us in everlasting pain. It is common among us to look for joy in places that not only do not last, but they take us captive to that moment of pleasure. The hit of some drug often is an open door to a lifetime of addiction. Engaging in the joy of sex with someone other than your husband or wife leads to a lifetime of regret. You might enjoy the attention. You might enjoy the affection. You might enjoy the moment. But it is all joy that does not last, and despite all its promises it is never worth it. The temptations to find joy in revenge or drunkenness or gluttony or conning someone or driving like a madman will have the same lasting, debilitating effect. God promises us a better joy. Everlasting joy.
Future joy will not only be everlasting, it will also be overwhelming. “Gladness and joy will overtake them.” Have you seen the commercial where the guy takes his first drink of Samuel Adams beer. “Whoooooooweee!” he yells. The guy playing darts next to him jumps and throws a dart in the backside of another guy playing pool. I think when we walk into heaven and see the glory of our Lord Jesus and receive new bodies, we will be overwhelmed with joy. Our response is going to be “Whooooooweee!” It will be so much better than drinking a really good beer, and it will never cause us to do things we regret or leave us with a hangover.
Finally, get ready for joy that replaces all our sorrow and all our sighing. Think for a moment where all of our sorrow and sighing comes from…sin. First and foremost, it is our own troubling sin that causes a great deal of our sorrow and sighing—maybe even most of it. Our own selfish actions separate us from God, estrange us from our loved ones, and bring consequences of pain and escalating trouble. Out of our own actions come divorce, debt, unwanted pregnancies, prison sentences, the wrath and anger of other people, and all sorts of other ills. When Jesus comes, however, he will separate us from this body of sin. Our sin nature will once and for all be put to eternal death, the guilt of our sin taken upon the cross by Jesus himself and our body of sin completely restored and made holy by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. What a day that will be!
Our sorrow and sighing is also the result of a sinful world. We know that many of our troubles have been heaped upon us by a world gone mad with sin. Children are abused. The poor are oppressed. Innocent people are victimized by violent crime and slippery conmen. In a world of sinners, even the most obedient of saints is not exempt from sin’s pain. In future glory, we will enter a kingdom where sin is no more. We will enter into a perfect place with a perfect God who makes us perfect people. The hurt and pain that others have caused you will be no more.
Much of our sorrow and sighing also comes from sickness and death. But hallelujah, Jesus conquered sickness and death on the cross! The slow ravenous curse of cancer will be no more. There will be no more mourning at Christmas over the loss of a beloved mother or son. That lifelong arthritis or paralysis or Chrone’s disease or Multiple Sclerosis will no longer keep you up at night or home during the day. There will be no more death and no more dying. Jesus will wipe away every tear that has stained your cheeks on that day.
See, I have set before you joy. Keep it before you and you will find the strength to live triumphantly. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that it was the joy set before him that enabled Jesus to endure the cross and scorn its shame. And now he sets that joy before us. Pastor Alan Perkins called it “lasting joy” and compared it to the dissatisfying joys of this world:
“Lasting joy, the joy that Paul and Jesus talked about, is of a very different type. It is heartier and more resilient. It prevails in all kinds of conditions; and it will sustain us, not only in ordinary circumstances, but in the midst of hardship and sorrow. It’s built on a different foundation, one that’s reliable and enduring. What is that foundation? The foundation for true, lasting joy is constructed of the promises of God, backed up by the love of God, the power of God, and the truth of God. They way we maintain our joy is reflecting upon, and relying upon, these promises.”
Jesus said, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.” The future joy of tomorrow is the sustaining joy of today. It causes us to endure. It enables us to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds, because the joy of becoming like him is greater than the trouble of our trials. The joy of the Lord is our strength.
That joy also frees us to serve today. We have joy and we want to pass it on. Paul told the Corinthians that he worked with them for their joy. The work is not a burden. Passing along the joy is a pleasure. It is wind beneath our wings when we fix our eyes on Jesus and his precious promise of future joy.
And that joy compels us to worship today. When we stand in glory and our eyes are opened to all the pride and selfishness he has cleansed us from, it will be our joy to worship him. The everlasting and overwhelming joy of his kingdom will well up in us and burst out with spontaneous and unending praise. Every time we get a taste of that joy in this life, it will compel us to praise. We have the privilege of practicing today that future joy of unbroken and unending fellowship with Jesus. The one who restores our joy by separating us from the sins that rob us of our joy will be the object of our worship and the source of our joy.
Joy is not something to be grasped or pursued. It is ours according to his covenant with us. We need only to recognize it as the blessed state of all who are redeemed. We taste it in this life when we take time to fix our eyes on Jesus. We will know it in full when the Lord returns for us and separates us completely from these bodies of sin and this world of sin. He will take us into his perfect Kingdom for all eternity. Oh what a joyful day!
I want to set joy before you. I want everyone here to take this Almond Joy candy bar and take it home with you and put it in a place where you will see it regularly—the dash of your car, your dresser or nightstand, or even alongside your stack of cereal bowls. I’m asking you not to eat it for one week. During the week, every time you see that almond joy I want you to consider the joy that Jesus has put before you. Consider how your faith in him for that day effects the circumstances of your life. Let the meditation of your heart take you away to that future glory and strengthen you for the day. Get ready for joy. Let it be in you today.
