From Earthly Joy to Heavenly Joy

Transcript (edited for readability).

Yesterday, I spoke to you about earthly enjoyment. Today, I want to speak to you about heavenly enjoyment — first of all from the Old Testament, and then from the New Testament. And as I do this, you'll see how the thread of joy runs through the whole of the Bible. It begins in the Old Testament, and then culminates in the New Testament, which, in turn, is a foretaste of things to come.

So: prophecies about heavenly joy for Zion, the city of God, the place of God's presence, in the new age. Now, all the way through Isaiah you get prophecies of joy and exaltation — exaltation which goes beyond joy: exaltation, jubilation, maybe mirth. They run through the whole of Isaiah. I've given you a whole number of them there; that's not exhaustive.

In these prophecies we have a reversal of the normal experience of enjoyment. First of all, the location of it — the location is extended, expanded. It's not just earth, but includes heaven and earth, so God calls on heaven and earth to exult in Zion. Most remarkably, the people who do the rejoicing are expanded. We saw in Deuteronomy, and then in Ecclesiastes, God calls on his people to rejoice. But most remarkably, here in these prophecies, Isaiah tells us how, in the age to come, God will rejoice in his people, and find joy in his people. And his joy will be the cause of even greater joy by his people. So just keep that in mind — that's going to be the central thread of what we are now looking at. God's joy in whom? You. And all the church.

And the focus of joy changes, from earthly gifts in the order of creation, which are exceeding and very great, to the far greater joy in God's heavenly gifts, for our life of faith in the order of redemption. And one of the key verbs and words that's used, in Hebrew, is sus — and in Greek, agalliaō and agalliasis (and here I have a misspelling — there should be only one gamma there), which has the notion of ecstatic, jubilant, liturgical, and eschatological joy. Now, notice those two things together: it's eschatological, it's heavenly, already now here on earth, but it also has to do with worship — it has its place in the divine service. We see that already in the Psalms, particularly in the Messianic psalms. And if I had time, I could spend this whole seminar just on the wonderful theme of joy — the joy of God's people in God's presence, as it is unpacked in the Psalter, and as the people of God are invited to receive it in the divine service.

But take, for example, Psalm 4, verse 7, which speaks about the gift of joy from God — not just into the bodies of people, into the mouths of people, but into the heart of his people. So the psalmist says — and this comes from participation in the divine service, and thinking of the divine service, the psalmist says — "You, God, have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound." In an agricultural community, the greatest joy comes from the celebration of a good harvest, a harvest festival. Now, I grew up on a farm, in a marginal farming country where good harvests were not guaranteed. Likewise, they were not guaranteed in the land of Israel, and every good harvest was a cause of great celebration. So the psalmist says, "You have put more joy in my heart than they" — that's the people on earth — "have when their grain and wine abound." Notice, their wine too — it's not just grain.

Then, in that very important, marvelous Messianic psalm, Psalm 16 — which, if you've never done, is worth looking at closely, doing a close study of the whole psalm rather than just the last part of it, which is the text for Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentecost — we have the promise of fullness of joy in God's presence, through Jesus the Messiah. Now, notice this is David, Messianic, but it's also Jesus, and it's also you. "I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken" — destabilized. "Therefore my heart rejoices" — and in Hebrew, "and my glory exults," my glorified soul, in which God resides with all his glory, exults. "My flesh also rests secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, the underworld, nor will you let your devout one see corruption. You have made known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

As you know, this is a prophetic psalm of David — the text for Peter's sermon on Pentecost, and you'll find it used again by Paul, in his sermon to the Christians at Antioch in Pisidia. By his death and resurrection, God leads Jesus on the path of life that passes through death to life in his heavenly presence. So Jesus goes along that strange way to joy — the way to joy that's not the glory road, the rose garden that gets more and more beautiful, but the path to life and joy that goes through death, to joy in the presence of God. In the presence of his heavenly Father there is fullness of joy for Jesus, and for all of you, his disciples. He goes on that journey for you. He takes you on that same journey. You travel together with him, to reach that place. And that fullness of joy is available to you already, here and now, in the divine service.

The fullness of joy is shared joy, communal rejoicing. Joy always is communal. Grief and sorrow isolate; joy unites, like nothing else that God has given us.

Now, what's the implication of that rather mysterious phrase — David says, and Jesus says, that in your presence, that's in the Father's presence, there is fullness of joy? Well, the implication is that all our joy here on earth is partial, incomplete. God doesn't discount the joys that we have, but fullness of joy — joy rounded off, completed, fulfilled — is to be found in the face, the presence, of God the Father. Not here on earth, but in heaven. And then, at God's right hand, Jesus the Messiah, the exalted Christ, king and priest — particularly priest, and I wanted to get that in, because that's important for Hebrews — at God's right hand, Jesus conveys to the church the gifts, the heavenly gifts, that bring fullness of joy and eternal pleasures: the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and all the other heavenly blessings that we have in and through the Holy Spirit, all spiritual gifts and graces. There, at God's right hand, the exalted Lord Jesus exults in God the Father, with the fullness of joy, in order to share that fullness with his church here on earth.

Now, how is this going to be given? How is God going to unpack this for his people? Notice it's a prophetic psalm — we read it backwards; I've been speaking forwards. Okay, let's now do a quick journey through some of the key passages in Isaiah — it is a quick journey, so watch out, we're going to do some racing.

Where and how does God give his people fullness of joy? No surprise, after last night — it has to do with a meal. A heavenly meal that celebrates the most remarkable event in human history. It celebrates the death of death. Can't get any better than that. Let's just listen to it again — you probably know it well. "On this mountain" — that's on Mount Zion, Jerusalem — "on this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all nations a feast of rich food" — the Hebrew actually is "fat meat" — "and a feast of well-aged wine," vintage wine — "of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up, on this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples," or the veil that is spread over all nations. "He will swallow up death forever," or permanently. "The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. And it will be said on that day: behold" — here, in this meal — "this is our God; we have waited for him to save us. This is our God, we have waited for him; let us rejoice and exult in our salvation."

Eucharistic joy. Eucharistic exaltation. The feast that celebrates the death of death — how the great gobbler, the one who gobbles up human life, is gobbled up. What's the time of the feast? It's in the new age, after the day of judgment — the day when God finally deals with sin and death. It's in the new age which, as we know, looking back, strangely occurs at the death and resurrection of Jesus. Do you realize that's where the last judgment occurred, strictly speaking? And what's the site of the feast? It's Mount Zion, the city of God, heavenly Jerusalem, the church — as the city of God. Look at Hebrews. Who is the host of this feast? It's the Lord God. He hosts this feast. He invites people to eat and drink in his presence — eat and drink the best food, fat meat, at least in those days the best food, and the best drink, vintage wine.

And who are the guests of this feast? I would expect it to be God's people, Israel — but it's people from all nations on earth. And the food for this feast is choice meat and vintage wine, the best of wine — the wine to make glad the hearts of God's people. And what's the reason for the feast — what does this feast celebrate? It celebrates God's victory over death, for all people on earth, as well as the vindication, the justification, the salvation, the deliverance of his people. And the purpose of this feast is the celebration of victory — it's a victory feast that celebrates God's victory over death, and our deliverance from death, and we celebrate that with gladness and rejoicing. "This, in this feast — this Eucharistic feast — is our God; we have waited for him; let us rejoice, and let us exult and rejoice in our salvation."

Well, what's the nature, the character, of the joy that's given to us by God in this liturgical feast, in the divine service — the divine service in which we have the Eucharistic meal? We go to Isaiah 51:9–11: "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of God. Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab into pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass through or over? So the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with joyful cries; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain exaltation, jubilation, and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

Now, the key to this passage is the imagery that Isaiah takes from Canaanite mythology. It's rather daring — he turns Canaanite mythology on its head, and uses pictures that come from Canaanite mythology, the imagery of the victory of the sky gods over the forces of chaos, on earth and in the underworld. Now, everywhere in the ancient world you had three classes of gods, and this is still the case in many parts of the world — for example, if you go to India and study Hinduism. There are the sky gods — they are the gods of order: the sun, moon, stars, astrology, all that kind of stuff, sky gods up there. And then there are the earth gods, usually goddesses, the fertility goddesses — they are the earth gods. And then there are the gods of the underworld — they are the nasty, creepy-crawly ones, the gods or powers of chaos and darkness, evil — you see that clearly, particularly in Egyptian religion.

Now, we have four terms here which have been taken from Canaanite religion, from the gods of the underworld, the gods of chaos that threatened human life on earth. The sky gods — say, Baal and El, the high god — did battle with these nasty ones and established order on earth. That's the basic story — it's much more complicated than that, but that's all you need to know.

You have Rahab. Rahab is the sea monster — sea, chaos, underworld. Now, rather daringly, Isaiah identifies Egypt, the state of Egypt, with the underworld — Egypt is the place of death. Pharaoh doesn't represent the sky god, Amun-Ra, but he represents Seth, the devil. And then it's also — Rahab is identified in the book of Job with the sorcerers who conjure up Leviathan, the chaos monster, and unleash chaos here on earth.

The second term is the dragon — the dragon, not a friendly dragon, but a nasty dragon, the serpent Leviathan, whom Ezekiel identifies with Pharaoh. And then you get the central figure in Canaanite mythology: Death, with a capital D — Mot, in Ugaritic, in Canaanite language. Mot is the Canaanite god of the underworld, the enemy of humanity, because he does his greatest damage by gobbling up life on earth — not just human life, but all life, animal life, plant life. He is anti-life — Mot — and he wants to gobble up everything. He is depicted in a number of places as all mouth, like a great big frog with a mouth, gobbling up all life, the enemy of humanity.

And then there is the great deep. It's not just, you know, down there, but it's the underworld as the place of death, darkness, disorder, chaos.

Now, we have two things here in this prophecy of Isaiah. First of all, you have a great prayer for God to finally intervene and clean up all the mess here on earth. And then you get the promise that God will do it. So first, the prayer for God's intervention: "Awake, O arm of the Lord" — that's God's mighty arm, which is identified, later on in Isaiah, and connected with Jesus, the suffering servant. "Awake, O arm of the Lord, put on strength" means show your power — intervene, act, clean things up. So the prayer is for God to defeat Satan and all the powers of evil, to redeem his people from death and destruction, as he did when he delivered them from the land of Egypt. And most remarkably, the prayer is for God to lead his people through the sea, to Zion. Now, through the sea — the sea is the place of death — so to bring them on his way, the holy way that goes down into the underworld and the place of death, and brings his people, as Jesus himself goes through death, to life in God's presence.

And then you have the promises: "The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with joyful cries; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain exaltation and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." The promise is that God will bring his people back to himself. God will redeem and ransom his people, and he will make a new way for them to come into his presence in Zion, with rejoicing — the way by which God comes to his people, and the way, the holy way, by which he brings his people back to himself. Very important image in Isaiah, if you want to follow it through.

And when he does this, he will give everlasting joy to them in Zion. Now, notice the term "everlasting" — this doesn't have to do with happiness, which comes and goes, but joy that is everlasting, eternal, heavenly. And it will be on their heads — now, what's the figure of "on their heads"? What covers your head covers the whole of you, forever. So the joy will be like a crown, a wreath, a gift that God gives to his people. So we have here a prophecy of our participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus, so that we can enter God's presence in his heavenly city, the place where he lives — the way, and that involves the way through the sea, death, hell, to the presence of God in his heavenly city. It's a prophecy about the church, as a place for everlasting joy and exaltation — eschatological exaltation — already here and now. So what's the church? It's the place for joy.

Now we get the most amazing twist. A number of prophecies turn all normal human ideas on their head. In paganism, in the whole of the Old Testament, the normal thing is for people to rejoice in their gods — that's the pagan people — or for Israel to rejoice in the Lord. Now you get the twist. The cause — this will change in the new age, because that will be the time when God will have good reason to do what? To rejoice in his people. And his joy will be the catalyst for their even greater joy and rejoicing.

Just listen to this promise of God's exaltation over Zion, in the age to come, as his beloved, darling bride: "You" — that is, Zion, the city of God — "shall no longer be termed Forsaken" (Azubah), "and your land shall no longer be termed Desolate" (Shemamah), "but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her" (Hephzibah), "and your land Married" (Beulah). "For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as a bridegroom exults over his bride, so shall your God exult over you," his beloved bride.

God exulting over you — not just being pleased with you. Now, that's not good enough — not just being happy with you, that's too weak. He is jubilant, exultant over you. He's madly joyful with you. This is the result of God's vindication of Zion, the justification of his people, Zion and her citizens. This is after God, through his suffering servant, pays the debt, clears the register, so that there's nothing bad in his people any longer. So God delights in Zion, the church, the city of God, in the age of redemption. And the picture is that Zion, his city, is his crown and his diadem. Now, this is the usual royal regalia, which shows the nature and the power of the king — they're very symbolic. But God's not going to put a crown on his head — instead, he's going to hold his regalia, the things that show what kind of king he is, in his hand, and show it to all the people on earth. So who shows the world what kind of king God is? It's his people, the church, in Zion.

And notice the picture of the church, Zion, as the bride of the Lord. Now, one step further — let's go. Where will this happen, and when will this happen? When will God rejoice, without reservation, in his people? We go now to the second-to-last chapter of Isaiah, which tells of God's rejoicing in Zion, when he creates a new heaven and a new earth. This won't happen in this order — not in the order of creation, but in the order of redemption, the new age, the new world.

This is what God says to his people: "Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. No more shall be heard in it" — that's in Jerusalem — "the sound of weeping and the cry of distress." This is the most amazing and remarkable vision — the vision of God's creation of a new heaven and a new earth, and part of his new creation of a new heaven, a new earth, is the new city of Jerusalem, which Isaiah says has no need for a temple, because the whole city will be the temple of the living God. In that city, God's glory won't be hidden away in the holy of holies in the cloud, but it'll be for all people to see, in the city of God.

So God creates Zion and her citizens as an eschatological place of rejoicing and exaltation for him. In that place, and at that time, God will rejoice and exult in his people — his people will be the greatest object of his joy. You remember that at the beginning of the Bible, God created the heavens and the earth as a home for humanity, all plants, all animals — he created the earth, with the whole cosmos, as a home for humanity, a habitat for humanity. In the new heavens, the new earth, he creates a new place, and he saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. In the new heavens, the new earth, he will have a place where he will be able to enjoy his people, and there his people finally will rejoice and exult in what God has created for them, and in what God has made of them, remarkably.

And then we will have a union of earthly joy and heavenly joy, divine and human rejoicing. And there'll be kind of a circuit of joy: God rejoicing in his people, his people rejoicing in God, which increases God's joy, because what does God want of his people? For them to enjoy him — and that increases joy and joy, and it goes round and round, and grows, and grows, and grows.

Okay, last prophecy — the most remarkable one even. What will be the source of joy in the age to come? The prophet Zephaniah, chapter 3, speaks about Zion's rejoicing in the presence of her Savior, the Savior who will be present with his people in order to rejoice over his people. Just listen to this wonderful, wonderful prophecy: "Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your condemnation, he has swept away your enemies" — not "your enemies you are there," there's a typo there — "the King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil," disaster, chaos. "On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: 'Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.'" Don't be discouraged. "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

What's the purpose of salvation? It's for God to dwell with his people — where? Here on earth. For what purpose? So that — I would expect the prophet to say — so that they can rejoice in the gift of their salvation. No, it's even better than that. He does this so that he can enjoy his people. We have here a prophecy about the church as the place for divine and human rejoicing in the age of salvation. They come together — they are inseparable, God's joy, human joy.

We have here the proclamation and the promise of three things in Zion, the church, in the age to come. First of all, in the age to come, the age of redemption, salvation, God's people will have no reason to be discouraged or afraid, because there will be no evil, nothing to be afraid of. And the worst thing of all — his people will not have to fear God's judgment, because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and there will be no enemies of the church, the people of God, any longer.

Second thing, even better: you have the promise of God's presence in the midst of the church, as its Savior — he's not up in heaven, but he's in their midst. And then, most remarkably of all, you have God's assurance of his love for them, by his joy at being with them. He will sing his love song over them — his love song, which expresses his joy, his delight in his people. He will exult over his people, he will quiet them with his love, he will renew them with his love song.

So we have here a prophecy which is also now a call to us, who belong to the new age — a call for the church to rejoice in its salvation, and to exult in its Savior, who exults over them, by singing his song of love to them. The love song of Jesus, for his church. We'll hear more about that after the break.