We Have Many Reasons to be Joyful

Today is the third Sunday of Advent in the liturgical calendar. The theme of the third Sunday of Advent has traditionally been joy; this is the day when Christians have traditionally acknowledged that we have many reasons to rejoice and to be joyful.

One of the greatest reasons to be joyful is the fact that we know the end of the story; we know our final destination, beyond this age.

This present age is not our final destination.

This present age, does not get to have the last word.

If you truly believe that, and you focus on that, then this age cannot and will not rob you of your joy. Let me give you a silly example from my own life this week.

My wife and I just bought a house. I was excited, as you could imagine. But the task of moving is literally my least favorite task on the planet. Whenever you move, for days leading up to the move, it seems like, you’re living in a partially packed home… and then you’ve got to load and unload a truck, which can be physically and emotional exhausting, and then, for days after the move, you’re living out of boxes, trying to settle-in. That in-between season, from the time you start packing, until the moment where you’re really enjoying the new house, that season can be quite cumbersome and annoying.

But, you know what transcends those days of annoyance? Looking forward to having a new home. Knowing that something great was awaiting my family gave me a sense of joy, and that joy strengthen me as I went through the aggravation of moving.

But what if I had completely lost sight of the new home. What if all I focused on, was the messy apartment we were living in, I would likely get pretty cranky. But if I keep reminding myself that a greater thing is coming, if I remind myself that the reason our apartment is a mess is because we’re moving to a newer, better home. If I remind myself of that, then it births joy and excitement in me, and it inspires me to endure through the thing I hate.

I think this illustrates our temptations in this age. We are tempted to focus on the problems in front of us, and if we do that, if we lose sight of the great things God has in-store in the future, then we’ll lose our joy.

This is why God reveals the future through the Biblical authors. We see this in Revelation 21… In verse one of Revelation 21, the apostle John says that he “saw a new heaven and a new earth…” (v. 1 ESV). Then the apostle John follows it up in verse 4 when he tells us that Jesus will “wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And then in verse 5 Jesus proclaims, “I make all things new.” All things will be restored! This is the end of the story, that all things are renewed. We get to be with Jesus, in a place where there is no more crying and no more pain, and no more pandemics, and no more riots, no more injustice, no more chaos, no more toxic political environments.

Church, we are headed for a place where even death has been defeated. That’s our final destination! On this third Sunday of advent, that is a reason to rejoice.

The problem is, we are often tempted to get our eyes off our future hope, and instead we focus on our problems, and our difficulties and our trials. If you’re eyes are fixed on the current problems, then it’s going to be hard for you to believe that you have many reasons to rejoice.

But when you truly believe you have a great future, then your heart will be filled with joy.

Church, we know our final destination. May that knowledge be the source of our joy on this earth, as we await the new earth.