Joy
Founded in History Abides as Hope |
Background | |||
|
The first colony of exiles had returned to Palestine. The permission to return had been so unexpected, the circumstances which had led to it so wonderful and so unforeseen, that when it came it could hardly be believed. To those who found themselves actually restored to the land of their fathers it seemed like a dream. It was a joy beyond all words to utter. God, their fathers' God, had indeed performed for them, and even the pagan had recognized his hand. (Barnes' Notes) Recognition / Provision / Worship / Servanthood / Help / Security / Joy / Work / Happiness / Perseverance / Hope / Humility / Obedience / Community / Blessing | |||
God has done it! | |||
| 1 When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, | |||
|
No room was left for any belief but that God had worked it. The result was so sudden, so astonishing, as to eliminate all other explanation. They had been warned that their infidelity to God would lead to their removal from the land of promise. It had happened. But God did not leave them without hope, even in the midst of punishment. The Prophecy | |||
| | Jer 25:12 | 'Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' declares the LORD,' for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. | |
| Jer 29:10 | "For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. | ||
The FulfillmentNow, what God had promised, the people of promise were seeing in truth. God keeps His word. Ezra 1:1-4 1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 2 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 'Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 'And every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.' " The call was for the whole house of Israel to return. Yet only a small group, only the remnant, heard the call and responded. Only those who could see with the eyes of faith, who knew God to be God, could steel themselves to face the obvious trials, knowing He would sustain, He will provide. | |||
The ChurchWe are not so very different today. As all of Israel was invited to return to the land of promise, so all of us were invited to return to the life that Adam knew in Eden. As with Israel in Babylon, only the eyes of faith recognize the true depth of His promise, and - knowing the hardship ahead - yet choose Him. | |||
| Jn 8:34 | Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. | ||
| Ro 6:6 | knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; | ||
| Jn 3:15 | whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. | ||
| 2Pe 3:9 | The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (NKJV) | ||
| Mt 7:14 | "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. | ||
| He has done it all. As then, so now. When we came to Christ, we were like those who dream. We couldn't believe that such a future was truly possible for us. Oh, we assuredly hoped it was so, and God made certain that we would come to know it was so. Even the faith we needed, He faithfully provided. In His mercy, He gave us eyes to see and ears to hear, that we might turn to Him and live. Choose you this day. It seems that forever He has offered that choice to His creation, and forever, it has been only the remnant who truly chose life. All Israel declared their choice of life and blessing that day, but only a few, Moses, Caleb, Joshua, acted upon their confession. Only a few persevered in the face of tremendous trials and impossible odds for the simple fact that God had said to go and do. | |||
Remember Your History, and Rejoice!2 Then
our mouth was filled with laughter | |||
Remember Why You Were Captive | |||
| Jer 22:8-9 | 8 "And many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this great city?' 9 "Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.'" | ||
| Hos 9:1 | Do
not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations! For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. | ||
Remember the Promise of Deliverance | |||
| Hos 6:11 | Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for
you, When I restore the fortunes of My people. | ||
| Job 8:21 | He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, And your lips with shouting. | ||
| Jn 8:36 | So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. | ||
Remember That He Kept His Word | |||
| Ro 8:1-2 | 1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. | ||
| [1.] God's appearances
for his people are to be looked upon as great things. (Matthew Henry) It is not only God's people that will see what God has done. It is not only God's people that will know God did it. Sometimes, it seems like we're the last to know. In our age, the unbeliever still recognized the hand of God, they just try to deny it. They want to call it something else so that they can be comfortable with it. But they know. Deep down inside, they know. He is real, He still reigns, and He is actively at work on behalf of His Church and His people. | |||
Pray | |||
Pray for His Work | |||
| 4
Restore our captivity, O LORD, As the streams in the South. | |||
| As we saw in the calling, only a portion answered. Those that answered saw most wonderfully how God had moved on their behalf. Faith is ever rewarded by the Faithful One. They had seen impossibilities fade. The tales of their fathers were no longer their father's tales, but were now their own. Seeing what He had done at the start, they longed for the greater wonder of His completed work. Seeing how they had been blessed, they did not simply wallow in the blessings themselves, they longed for those who had missed out to be rejoined to the body of Israel. They longed to see the trickle of the returning nation turned to a flood. | |||
| Josh 15:19 | Then she said, "Give me a blessing; since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also springs of water." So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. | ||
| Pr 25:25 | Like cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a distant land. | ||
| It is clear that word got back to those who remained in Babylon. Not only the word of Israel's enemies, but we know that Ezra also sent word on occasion. And God was not silent Himself, speaking through His prophets in that land of captivity. He never leaves Himself without a testimony. Never. | |||
Pray for His Workers | |||
| Ezra 4:23-24 | 23 Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes' document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force of arms. 24 Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. | ||
| The cry for restoration, though, was not solely for those left in Babylon, but also for those on the front lines. We also need to have this two-fold prayer. We need to be praying for the lost to be found, for the harvest to be rich for our God. We also need to be praying for those who are working in the fields, for those who are at the forefront of spreading the Gospel. We must pray for our missionaries, for our Pastors, for our leadership. All of them have fully dedicated themselves to the service of our God. Whether or not there is a scriptural quote one can find to support the thought, logic and experience are sufficient to inform us that those serving on the front lines are those in the greatest danger. Prayer is their great defense, the mortar fire the pins down the enemy, and allows God's army to take the land. | |||
Know Your Past, Accept Your Present, Rejoice in Your Future5
Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. | |||
|
This is either a maxim which they gather from their own history, or it is a fact which they are now witnessing. (Adam Clarke) It has, however, a wider and more universal application, as being suited to encourage all in their endeavors to secure their own salvation, and to do good in the world - for the effort is often attended with sacrifice, toil, and tears. The joy of heaven will be more than a compensation for all this. (Barnes' Notes) We shall now also understand by those who sow in tears not [only] the exiles, but those who have already returned home, who are again sowing the old soil of their native land, and that with tears, because the ground is so parched that there is little hope of the seed springing up. (Keil & Delitzsch) | |||
| |||
| Mt 13:3-8 | 3 "Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 "And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 "And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 "And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. | ||
|
The soil is rocky, impracticable, overgrown with sharp thorns; and it costs much painful toil to break up and gather out the rocks, cut and burn the briers, and to subdue the stubborn soil. (Barnes' Notes) It cost His life. | |||
| Jn 19:30 | Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. | ||
| Mt 5:6 | "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. | ||
| Amos 9:13-14 (RSV) | |||
| 13 | "Behold,
the days are coming," says the LORD, "when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, | ||
| 14 | I
will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. | ||
| Is 9:1-3 | |||
| 1 But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. | |||
| 2 | The
people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. | ||
| 3 | You
shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. | ||
| Jn 1:9 | There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. | ||
| Rev 5:9-10 | |||
| 9 |
And they sang a new song, saying,
| ||
| 10 | "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." | ||
|
©2001 - Jeffrey A. Wilcox |