ADVENT JOY
What joy!
To think—before the foundations of the world—this moment. This time in history when we find ourselves smack-dab in the middle of the already and the not yet.
Christ has already come. In Him we live and move and have our being, but He is coming back.
The not yet has us waiting—confident and hopeful of Christ’s return.
We join the ranks of those who waited long before we arrived on the scene. Those who knew of what was foretold, believed, lived by faith, but died without seeing it’s fulfillment.
Waiting in faith
Hebrews 11 recounts the stories of a few of those faithful saints and then states,
13These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Living by faith
As believers in Christ we have seen the Promise. And not just seen, we have received from Christ’s fullness. We know what it is to be sealed by the Spirit of the living God—to be in Christ, and yet we wait.
We wait for Christ’s return and the fulfillment of God’s spectacular plan.
Like the saints of old, we are pilgrims passing through earth as strangers and exiles. We desire that “better country”—our heavenly home.
Advent is all about faith. The faith that waits, watches, and lives aware of the wonder that is, and that is to come.
And the same faith brings joy and peace because it sets right our relations with other people, and with all externals. If I am living in an atmosphere of trust, then sorrow will never be absolute, nor have exclusive monopoly and possession of my spirit. But there will be the paradox, and the blessedness, of Christian experience, ‘as sorrowful yet always rejoicing.’ For the joy of the Christian life has its source far away beyond the swamps from which the sour drops of sorrow may trickle, and it is possible that, like the fabled fire that burned under water, the joy of the Lord may be bright in my heart, even when it is drenched in floods of calamity and distress.
MacLaren’s Exposition
Phil Wickham gifts us with his version of Joy to the World—give it a listen.
Biblical joy is explained in this short video by the Bible Project.
An ADVENT PLAYLIST is available on Spotify here.
You cause me to know the path of life; In Your presence [is] fullness of joys, Pleasant things [are] by Your right hand forever!
Psalm 16:11 Literal Standard Version
Acknowledging that we are living in the already and not yet infuses life with a gracious perspective—for ourselves and others. Best of all, we can rejoice in what is and in what is to come as we set our minds on things above.
Remember, we are all one day closer to Home.
Go forth, faithful one, with the joy of the Lord in your heart. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
