November 21, 2024

Joy To The World

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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

Pentatonix
Written by Isaac Watts ~ Music composed by Handel

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He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Luke 19:40 ESV

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.
Psalms 96:11-13 NJKV

Joy

Defined by Merriam-Webster as:
1a) the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight
b) the expression or exhibition of such emotion : gaiety
2- a state of happiness or felicity : bliss
3- a source or cause of delight

Based on these definitions, joy is something to be achieved, and is fleeting or short-lived.  But is that how the Bible defines joy?

Let’s start with where our joy come from. Psalm 16:11 NASB says

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

Jesus is our joy!  His birth makes it possible to have constant permanent joy in our lives though the Holy Spirit.  Look at these Scriptures:

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him
Romans 15:13 HCSB

But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is…joy
Galatians 5:22 AMP

…the joy supplied by the Holy Spirit;
1 Thessalonians 1:6 AMP

And the disciples were continually filled with joy
Acts 13:52 NASB

When we believed in Jesus…when our ‘hearts prepared room’ for Him…the Holy Spirit entered our hearts and joy is one of the many fruits He provided.

 Joy is within us – continual joy.

Jesus’ birth is the beginning of constant, permanent joy in our lives. Our joy is not tied to our emotions or our circumstances. Our joy is tied directly to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our relationship with Him.  Joy lives within us.

God brought joy to the world in the form of an infant named Jesus. That joy is still with us today. As Luke 19:40 says, even if we remain silent, the stones will cry out.  Psalm 96:11 reminds us that even heaven and earth sing.

Shouldn’t we, too, then ‘repeat the sounding joy’
as we celebrate ‘the wonders of His love’?

Go, Tell It On The Mountain

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While shepherds kept their watching o’er silent flocks by night,
Behold throughout the heavens there shone a holy light.

The shepherds feared and trembled when lo, above the earth
Rang out the angel chorus that hailed our Saviour’s birth!

Go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.
Go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.

Down in a lonely manger the humble Christ was born,
and God sent us salvation that blessed Christmas morn.

 

Pentatonix
lyrics: John Work, Jr., music: Af­ri­can-Amer­i­can spir­it­u­al

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Go tell!  How will you voice your ‘halleluJAH!’ during this season?  Such an opportunity we have…such open doors to speak of our praise of our great God and tell of His provision of love for all mankind!

The Angel Gabriel was the first to go tell! when he was sent to the young Mary:

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”  But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.  The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.

Luke 1:26-31

An angel accompanied by a host of angels were also sent to go tell! the good news to the shepherds:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.”

Luke 2:8-13

When the shepherds were returning from Bethlehem where they had seen the proof of the angels’ good news, they also had the compulsion to go tell!

When they had seen Him <the Babe>, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this Child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Verses 17-20

Just as the Lord was leaving  and returning to Heaven, the disciples were commanded to go tell!:

Jesus came up…to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

And we, too, have a message to go tell!

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?  And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Romans 10:13-15 NLT

Oh, halleluJAH!  We HAVE heard, we DO know, and we DO believe!  We must go tell!  So whether you go tell! on a mountain, or on a city street, or at the beach…in your workplace, or at your child’s school…in the grocery store, or on that long checkout line at the ‘big box’ store…at the supper table, or as you talk with your kiddos and grandbabies—just go tell

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Lord, we love You so much!  And we are so very thankful for Your perfect Gift of Love to us!  May our full hearts and lips just spill over with praises as we go tell!  (And, Father, if we should feel hesitant or anxious to do so…please encourage us through Your Holy Spirit.  Remind us that we are Your ambassadors!  And we have an awesome message to go tell!  Thank You!)  Praying and praising and asking these things in Jesus’ precious Name.  Amen.