When I was a child, our family always attended the midnight Christmas Eve service at our church in Missouri. Our duty was to arrive around 10:30, light the luminarias, and help prepare the sanctuary for the service. The service was scheduled to end at midnight, with the final song being “Joy to the World.” As a pastor for 25 years, I led midnight communion services on Christmas Eve, once again, always timed so that shortly after midnight, we sang “Joy to the World” as a congregation. This week, our mediation is on Joy.
Christian Joy
Several years ago, I began underlining “joy “ in my Bible in orange. How often the word appears in the Old and New Testaments is incredible. In secular life, joy can be defined as an emotion evoked by well-being, success, good fortune, or the prospect of possessing what one desires. From a biblical perspective, the meaning is more profound. In the Bible, joy is always connected with God’s presence and favor.
Joy involves the presence of God. Jesus is “God with us,” and the Spirit of Christ today is God with us. This is why in Galatians we read, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). Christian joy is not a human feeling; it is a divine gift.
Joy in the Old Testament
The prophets often compare the current situation of Israel with the joy it will experience when God sends his salvation on the land. In Isaiah, especially, the theme of divine joy is explored. For example, when God sends his salvation,
The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom, rejoice greatly, and shout for joy.
…
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution, he will come to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert (Isaiah 34:1-6).
The coming of the savior of God’s people is a cause for joy—a divine, not human, joy. This is a joy in which the oppressed, the sick, the emotionally wounded, the elderly, and all those denied justice and peace will find a joy frequently missing in our fallen and broken world.
Joy in the New Testament
If in the Old Testament, joy is a gift of God showing his favor to his people, in the New Testament, another feature is added: it is a joy that withstands difficult circumstances. The author of Hebrews puts it this way:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:1-2).
The joy Christ gives is a joy that overcomes suffering and trouble—even enduring a cross and defeating its suffering and shame.
On the night before he was crucified, Jesus promised his disciples a wholeness that was utterly different from what the world could give (John 14:27). In James, the author puts it this way:
Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet all kinds of trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full impact so that you may be perfect, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).
In other words, the trials and testings of this life can and will be overcome in Christ—and are a source of a more profound joy than mere physical, emotional, or mental well-being.
Conclusion
This Christmas Eve, I will not be leading a worship service. I am now retired. Likely, I will not even attend a service at midnight because of circumstances beyond our control. Nevertheless, we will sing or remember the words of Isaac Watt’s carol:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let Earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the world, 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.
He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders, of His love.
Amen