Advent Week 4: Joy

Today we celebrate Week 4 of the Advent Season.

Eric brought part on (hope).
Week 2 was (peace).
Week 3 was (love).
Today Week 4 is (Joy).

Remember that the term Advent means Arrival. Thus the celebration of the fulfillment of the (Arrival) of the Messiah. We refer to this as the first advent. His first arrival.

It was prophesied, it was hope for God's people, his birth delivered them peace that the long-awaited true King of Israel was finally here. They temporarily realized that the everlasting love of God for them was found in a little town in proverbial Timbuktu in a manger of all things.

Born not to a physical King and Queen, not in a palace, not in pomp and circumstance, but rather to a Carpenter and a teenage girl, in a stable, and in quietness and in obscurity. “Video”

When we think about it, I think that it’s fair to think and say. That was a rather strange way to save the world, wasn’t it.

To us perhaps it was, but to God the Father it was the unveiling of his great plan of redemption. That very knowledge in itself is sufficient reason for the Angelic host to have proclaimed “Joy to the World.” With hope and peace and love.

It was more than a sufficient reason for Sir Isaac Watts to pen the lyrics 1719 of “Joy to the World”. These words I believe were a Spirit-led interpretation of Psalm 98 celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

 Psalm 98

Joy to the world the Lord has come, let earth receive her king, let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing 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.

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground, he comes to let his blessings flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.

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.

The melody was created by the great composer George Freidrich Handel.

Words of hope, peace, love, and obviously joy.

Because of the first advent, we can have these emotions in reverse order as we look forward to the Lord's 2nd Advent. It brings us “joy” in believing that a brighter and better day is coming, and we “love” the Lord's promises of his millennial reign, which btw I feel that the words of Joy to the World lean more to the 2nd Advent of Christ’s earthly reign, it brings us “peace” to understand that the true King of Israel and this world will bring sin and disobedience before God will end and we have the “hope” and the same type of anticipation of his 2nd Coming that Gods people Israel had in the Messiahs first arrival.

Between now and the 2nd advent the event called the rapture or the first part of the 2nd Coming will occur when every blood-washed and saved Christian will be caught up in Gods abiding place of heaven for 7 years worshipping the Trinity and I believe preparing to join Jesus as his 2nd advent unfolds where we will rule and reign with him for 1000 years!!

God the Father desires our minds, our hearts, and our souls to have hope in Christ, to experience the Peace of salvation offered by the Holy Spirit, to embrace the unmerited love and grace of the Savior, and to have joy unspeakable.

The NT scripture is a great wealth of reference on the word, sentiment, and emotion of joy. Another term I suppose we could use in association with the term Joy is Happy as a noun. We could also use the adjective Joyful and the adverb Happily.

Whether we use nouns, verbs, or adverbs,  I see them all as emotions and actions.

 In John  15:11 Jesus said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.” Our joy in this life is the joy of Jesus, notice he said “my joy” not joy like mine that was a big deal. He alone, his joy alone is the joy that we all can have if we let it.

Paul’s letter to Rome:

Romans 15:13

“May the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

To Galatia- Galatians 5:22&23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, against such things there is no law.”

Notice what the first 3 listed are. 3 of the 4 advent messages.

These are but a few of the scripture on the joy of advent and the true joy of the advent of Jesus Christ.