The Joy of God

A reminder

Another follow-up to my earlier post, "God in the Fire.” In that article I wrote, “The God of the Bible is a God of constant pain.” This is true for at least a couple of reasons.

First, as long as there is sin, He will hurt somehow, as parents hurt when their child goes astray. In the days before the Flood, “The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain” (Genesis 6:6).

Second, God is outside of time. He lives in the eternal now. In some sense, He’s always experiencing whatever has happened, is happening, or will happen.

One of the profound consequences of His being outside of time is that the Father and Son are always, eternally, forever, unremittingly living the grief of being separated from each other as Jesus hung on the cross bearing the sins of the world. And so I repeat, “The God of the Bible is a God of constant pain.”

But as I was working on that post, as I was pondering it even when I wasn’t sitting at my computer typing, something I read reminded me that He is also a God of joy. Deep, profound, unceasing joy. Joy beyond my understanding.

Of course I knew that, but I don’t often think of Him that way.

Joy and sorrow in the Old Testament

In the first few chapters of Genesis I see a God who creates a beautiful, perfect universe including an ideal paradise called Eden. He individually molds two unique human beings who bear His own image, and lovingly provides for their every need and desire. I can easily imagine Him being filled with joy as He views and interacts with His creation.

But then it all falls apart. Adam and Eve sin. The remainder of the book describes how every single person messes up, even His chosen ones. Exodus tells the history of Israel’s doubts and rebellions as God supernaturally frees them from slavery in Egypt, guides them by day and by night, and supplies all they need on their way to the promised land.

In the next three books, the Lord presents His perfect law for them to follow. He provides a sacrificial system as a way for those who stumble to return to Him. Even as they live daily with His miraculous signs and wonders, they constantly, repeatedly break that law and prove that they desperately need that system.

From Joshua through 2 Chronicles, God’s people have a few good moments, but they keep falling short, piling sin upon sin, until He punishes them by sending them into exile. The prophets reveal His broken heart as He warns Israel of the consequences of their disobedience.

Reading through the Old Testament, I find failure and judgment, but I rarely seem to catch a glimpse of a God of joy. In fact, the only direct reference I could find to God’s joy is Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Of course there are many indirect references. The delight He takes in Israel (Deuteronomy 30:9). Their sacrificing to Him and rejoicing because He’s given them great joy (Nehemiah 12:43). David’s statement that the Lord Himself will fill him with joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11). God’s promise in Isaiah 56:7 to give His people joy.

Joy and sorrow in the New Testament

It’s a little easier for me to remember God’s joy when I’m reading the New Testament. But how often do I think of Jesus as a man of joy? Isaiah 53:3 describes Him as “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.” I tend to focus on this aspect of His experience because I feel closer to Him in His troubles than in His triumphs.

There are a few explicit references to Jesus’ joy, though. Luke 10:21 says He was “full of joy through the Holy Spirit.” When He was speaking to His disciples shortly before He was betrayed—knowing that His betrayal and sacrifice were coming soon—He used the words, “my joy” (John 15:11 and 17:13).

Still, I tend to think of Him as being dragged down by the weight of the world, rather than being continually filled with joy. During His years of ministry, I imagine Him grieving over suffering and injustice and hypocrisy and sin. In Matthew 26:36-44, I see Him deeply troubled by His upcoming crucifixion.

So I cherish this reminder that I just happen to stumble across as I’m going through each day with thoughts of His pain lingering in my mind. My God, the God of the Bible, the creator and sustainer of all that exists, the one who sacrificed His only Son for our salvation, is a God of eternal, unbounded, unremitting joy. Even in the midst of His constant sorrow.

My mistake is in assuming (although I don’t openly admit it) that the sorrow somehow diminishes His joy. I tried to think through this in my earlier post, with the analogy of my jug and His barrel. But the Bible gives me a better idea of how to understand a God who feels very real pain, yet is filled with overflowing joy.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:17 that an eternal weight of glory far outweighs his suffering. His “light and momentary troubles” include imprisonments, severe flogging, and exposure to death again and again; receiving thirty-nine lashes five different times; being stoned once, shipwrecked three times, and beaten with rods three times; being constantly on the move; being in danger from rivers, bandits, Jews, Gentiles, and false brothers; being in danger in the city, in the country, and at sea; and being deprived of sleep, food, water, warmth, and clothing (2 Corinthians 11:23-27).

In addition, he had some kind of physical condition that he describes as a “thorn in the flesh,” tormenting him so badly that he repeatedly pleaded with the Lord for relief (2 Corinthians 12:7-8). Like Jesus, Paul also grieved constantly for the sin and rebellion among God’s people (Romans 9:3-4, 2 Corinthians 11:28-29).

Where does a mere mortal like Paul get the inner strength to be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10), if not from a God who right now, right in this moment, and for all eternity, is doing the same thing? I need to remember that.

 

 

Why Should They Believe?

A recent cultural shift

How can we expect our children to be dedicated to the one true God? Bible-believing Christians are a small minority in America. The dominant culture ignores or disdains our primitive ideas. Supporting biblical sexual morality is labeled hate speech.

Our country has changed drastically in my lifetime (sixty-plus years). As a child, my family only went to church at Christmas and Easter, and we rarely talked about spiritual issues at home. Yet I picked up a relatively accurate understanding of Christianity simply by living in America.

It wasn’t specifically taught in my public schools. There were no oral prayers being recited. But the cultural aspects snuck in.

We sang “America, America, God shed His grace on thee” and “God Bless America.” Our music classes presented Christmas programs with songs that reflected the original meaning of the holiday, not just the ones celebrating Santa Claus and snow. Our spelling words included omniscient and omnipotent.

Friends talked about God as if it was perfectly natural and reasonable to believe in Him. Everyone knew that BC meant Before Christ. We were a little confused about AD, though. Some kids speculated that it meant After Death. When we were considered old enough, we were taught—in public school—that it meant Anno Domini, Latin for “the year of our Lord.”

Fast forward to today.

I’m chatting with ten-year-old Michael at my church one evening. His parents are faithful believers. He has a good background in the Bible. He doesn’t openly question it, but he seems to have his doubts about the reality of some of its teachings.

Why should he believe it? He’s being bombarded every day with the message that it’s unimportant, it’s outdated, it’s based on superstition, it’s packed with hateful lies.

A historical cultural shift

For some reason Michael asks me what BC means. (He knows very well that BCE stands for Before the Current Era.) I tell him that it means Before Christ.

And then it hits me.

In spite of all our cultural denials, Jesus’ birth has had a tremendous impact on our entire world. I know that, but how many kids in America today have any idea that it’s true?

I point out to Michael that Jesus’ birth was considered so very important that our entire dating system is based on it. People used to number the years according to when the latest king began to reign, e.g. “In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel . . .” (1 Kings 15:9). Eventually they realized that it would be helpful to have an ongoing international system. No more turning back to year one every so often. No more using different dates in different countries.

The decision was made to base the calendar on the same idea (the reign of a king), but to set it up so that it could continue until the end of time without ever starting over. Which king could be chosen? Which one’s reign could never be surpassed by anyone else’s? Only the King of kings. Jesus.

The expression on Michael’s face is one of thoughtful relief. He wants to believe. And yet it often appears to him as if Jesus’ birth was something trivial, something only a minor few actually celebrate on Christmas Day.

But here is evidence that that hasn’t always been true. There was a time when many intelligent people regarded the birth of Jesus as the most defining moment in history.

Jesus’ importance

Jesus is far more important to our world than modern Americans are willing to admit. Our young ones need to know that. We educate them in the facts of the faith, as we should. We encourage them to learn the order of the books of the Bible and to read it for themselves, as we should. Some groups teach them apologetics at their youthful level. A great idea.

But eventually every kid realizes that only one small group believes all this. Does it really matter? How important can it be if most people simply ignore it?

Most of our children (and probably many adults) aren’t aware of the numerous ways Jesus’ birth has impacted our world. One profound impact is presented by Philip Yancey in his blog post, “What Makes Friday Good?”, from March 25, 2019. (The next four paragraphs are based on that article. All of the following quotes are taken from it.)

In America today, one of the most important values upheld by the dominant culture is concern for the marginalized. Those who can claim to belong to one or more oppressed groups are assumed to have a kind of moral authority, which gives them instant respect. Where did this type of thinking come from?

A French philosopher named René Girard did extensive research and “ultimately traced the phenomenon back to the historical figure of Jesus.” The Son of God not only stood up for the marginalized and oppressed, He actually chose to be born into a poor family in a conquered territory, to live as a homeless adult, and to die an unjust death. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection triggered “the most sweeping historical revolution in the world, namely, the emergence of an empathy for victims.”

In contrast, up to that time most cultures supported “a social order in which the strong have a right to dominate the weak.” “Winners, not losers, wrote ancient history, and the myths from Babylon, Greece, and elsewhere celebrated strong heroes, not pitiable victims.” The Old Testament was the only exception to this rule, with its emphasis on helping the helpless, its willingness to tell the history of a nation’s failures, and its powerful expression of God’s love for those who mess up so badly.

Even apart from His saving grace (which is, of course, the most important message in His Word), Jesus’ birth was important. Jesus’ life was important. Jesus’ death was important. The resurrected Jesus continues to be important. “Today, if you Google indices that measure such values as economic freedom, press freedom, charitable giving, earth care, gender equality, quality of life, human rights, and lack of corruption, you will find that with very few exceptions Christian-heritage nations receive the highest ratings.”

The values that our current cultural elites consider so very important are based entirely on Christian theology. Those values didn’t originate with Jesus’ birth, though. He simply embodied them in a way that no one else had ever done before. The God of the Bible has been the same God for all eternity.

In the Old Testament, He demonstrated and demanded empathy and care for widows, orphans, the poor, immigrants, and anyone else who might be vulnerable to abuse by the powerful. Those commands had a real impact on Jewish life and character.

It wasn’t until the crucifixion, though, when “the victim became a hero by offering himself as a willing victim,” that people were motivated and enabled (with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit) to do as God has always done. Not perfectly. Not consistently. But for the first time in history, it became a priority for one group (Christians) to care about the weak and the oppressed.

One of the messages our kids are hearing everywhere today is that Jesus and the Bible are trivial and irrelevant, or even dangerous. Maybe one way we can counter that idea is by understanding for ourselves and passing on to them the truth that Jesus is the most important person in history. Jesus’ birth was the most important event in history.

That importance can be seen not just in how we date our calendars, but in the powerful impact for good that still flows from His life today, even among those who don’t believe in Him. Even among those who detest His followers. God is continuing to fulfill His promise to Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his offspring (Genesis 22:18). The one whose birth we celebrate on Christmas Day.