Joy Has Come
The day after Christmas has a way of feeling a little empty. For a whole month everything has been festive and cheerful. Lights on every house. Christmas music following you through every aisle. Advertisers insisting that this will finally be the year you find joy if you can just pull off the perfect present or the perfect moment.[1] You laugh around the table. You trade gifts. You snap the photos and post only the good ones. Then the living room is covered in torn boxes and crumpled paper, and before long all of it’s in the trash. The house gets quiet. The same worries, the same stress, the same heaviness that was in your heart before Christmas is still there after all the festivities.
But the church still sings, “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices.” It’s because God has done something. The joy we sing about doesn’t come from the Christmas spirit.[2] It comes from the Savior. This morning we’re going to look back on Bethlehem in Luke 2, and we're going to look forward in Zephaniah 3:14-17. We’re going to get a little peek behind the curtain of heaven and the inbreaking of joy to our world that is forever in heaven.
Luke 2:8-11 – 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Jesus brings heaven’s joy into earth’s weariness now.
Luke takes us to the outskirts of Bethlehem where there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Shepherds weren’t a respected profession. This isn’t a job you wanted your son to be when he grew up. These weren’t the educated or the powerful. Shepherds were outcasts.[3] They weren’t the kind of people anyone expected to receive a royal announcement from angelic hosts.
Yet that is exactly where heaven shines its light. Luke says an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them.[4] Think about that. Not a gentle glow of half-lit Christmas lights. Glory. The glory of the Lord. And it shone around them. The same glory that filled the tabernacle and left Isaiah undone is now in a field around men who had no status. And they were afraid.
Then comes the message from verse 10.
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”
This isn’t just a suggestion for them to cheer up. It’s a royal announcement. The mention of the city of David[5] reminds us of God’s covenant with David, a promise that a King would come from his line who would rule forever. Now that King has arrived! And the angel gives three titles that explain who this child is.
He is Savior.[6] Matthew says He will save His people from their sins. Rome was real. Oppression was real. But the deepest slavery is sin and death, and Jesus came to save us from our sins by his death and resurrection.
He is Christ.[7] He is the Anointed One. The long-promised King. The One Isaiah said would carry government on His shoulders and bring peace that never ends.
He is Lord.[8] This is the word used in the Greek Old Testament for the covenant name of God. The same Lord whose glory is shining in that field is the Lord who now lies in a manger. The Maker of the stars has taken on flesh.[9] Emmanuel. God really has come to be with us.
The joy of Christmas came to shepherds first. But that teaches us something. The joy of Christ doesn’t come from a change in circumstances. The shepherds remained poor when the sun came up. Nothing political changed overnight. But everything changed because God stepped into the world. Joy is not the absence of trouble.[10] Joy is the presence of God with His people.[11]
That’s why this joy is for all the people.[12] Joy isn’t reserved for the religious elite or the emotionally extroverted. It’s not only for people with perfect Christmas pictures online. Our culture treats joy like something you have to buy or create. If you can plan the right trip or get the right gift or achieve the right milestone then joy will arrive. But that joy fades as fast as the moment passes. Jesus offers something different. Joy is what wells up inside you when you know the King of all the cosmos took on flesh to die on a cross for, of all people, you.
Present joy is but a foretaste of ultimate joy that awaits those redeemed by Jesus.[13]
When you read Zephaniah, you don’t expect it to end in singing. The book speaks about judgment. Idolatry and injustice are confronted. The Day of the Lord is described with urgency and dread for mankind.[14] Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josiah (about 640-609 BC) just before Babylon’s rise. The nation had the outward looks of religion, but beneath was syncretism. They weren’t solely devoted to God alone. Zephaniah declares that every idol and every proud heart must fall before the Holy One, or they will fall. But then the tone suddenly shifts, I think on purpose, at verse 14.
“Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart.”
The prophet calls the people of God to explosive joy. To sing! These aren’t mumbled songs. These are full-hearted shouts. Why such joy after such warnings? Verse 15 gives the reason.
“The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil.”
God Himself removes the legal verdict standing against His people. The Hebrew verbs are perfects, which shows the future is certain. He has done it. Their enemies, whether Assyrian armies then or sin, Satan, or death now are pushed back. The covenant God reigns in the middle of His gathered people.
He comes as King to dwell with His people forever. And fear disappears because the King is there. Zephaniah is looking ahead to the day when God completes His saving work, when His people are entirely free. Now listen again to Luke.
Luke 2:13–14 – 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
The angels aren’t singing willy nilly. There's content to their joy-filled proclamation. They’re singing the beginning of the future Zephaniah saw. The birth of Jesus is the inbreaking of that coming day. This means our joy lives in that tension. The gospel is true today. On the other hand, the world still groans. We bury loved ones. We battle temptation. We see injustice. We feel the weight of sorrow. Creation is still waiting for its full liberation.[15]
So Scripture teaches us to rejoice now and long for what is still to come. We rejoice because Christ reigns. We long because His reign has not yet filled the earth. We are sorrowful and always rejoicing at the same time.[16]
Think of the difference between Christmas lights and the sunrise. Christmas lights are beautiful, but they’re temporary (unless you’re lazy…). You turn them on and you turn them off. Gospel joy is like the sunrise. You may sit in darkness for a while, but once the first hint of light appears you know it will keep growing until the whole sky is filled. Malachi said the Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. (Malachi 4:2) We sing of that in “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” which was written by Charles Wesley. Its final verse goes:
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"
Present joy is real, but it’s not final. It’s a foretaste. A sample of the ultimate feast to come. When the King returns, the joy Luke announced will overflow until it wipes every tear from every eye.[17]
God’s own joy guarantees and energizes ours, now and forever.
If there is a verse in the Old Testament that feels like a small doorway into the heart of God, it is Zephaniah 3:17. Listen to it with fresh ears.
“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.”
Every single line here is a promise. And together they show us why our joy is secure. Walk through it with me.
“The Lord your God is in your midst.” This is the message of the incarnation. Emmanuel. God didn’t stay at a distance. He entered our world. He walked among us. He sat at tables with sinners and touched the unclean and drew near to the brokenhearted. Jesus came close enough to carry our sins and sorrows.
“A mighty one who will save.” He rescues. On the cross Jesus fought for us. He bore our guilt. He broke the power of death. He disarmed the forces of darkness.[18] He rose with authority over sin and darkness. When we say He saves, we mean He saves completely. The name Jesus literally means “the Lord saves,” for that is precisely what He came to do.
“He will rejoice over you with gladness.” Many believers struggle with this. We can imagine God tolerating us. We can imagine Him being patient with us. But rejoicing? Celebrating? The father in Luke 15 runs to his son, embraces him, and calls for a feast. That’s joy! That story shows us the heart of God. He rejoices over the people He has redeemed.
“He will quiet you by his love.” This is the picture of a child trembling until a parent gathers them close. The circumstances may not change at once, but the fear begins to loosen because a stronger love is near. God’s love settles the noise inside us. The Hebrew can also read “He will renew you in his love,” hinting at the Spirit’s transforming work.
“He will exult over you with loud singing.” This almost stretches the imagination. The God who commands us to sing now sings over His people. The One who wrote the music of creation lifts His voice in joy over those He has redeemed.
Heaven is joy-filled. In Luke 15:7, Jesus says, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Nehemiah told weary people in Nehemiah 8:10 that the joy of the Lord is their strength. Not their joy. His joy. God’s joy doesn’t waver. His joy isn’t fragile. His joy has already triumphed in Christ.
Receive and radiate incarnate joy.
This is lived counter-cultural apologetics. A skeptical world expects Christians to mirror its outrage. Instead, we must mirror God’s singing. His joy. No matter the circumstances that surround us.
What began in that manger has never stopped. Jesus still reigns. He still saves. He still walks with weary people. He is still drawing history toward the day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is Lord.
So receive the joy He brought and brings. And then radiate that joy to others.
Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
This was quoted by Peter at Pentecost in Acts 2:28 to prove Christ’s resurrection.
Acts 2:25-28 – 25 For David says concerning him,
“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
[1] Ecclesiastes 2:11 warns that chasing pleasure apart from God is “vanity and a striving after wind.”
[2] Romans 14:17 — “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
[3] Mishnah Kiddushin 4.14 lists shepherds among occupations considered untrustworthy and of which no person should train their sons to become.
[4] Exodus 24:17; Isaiah 6:1-5 show similar theophanies glory producing fear.
[5] 2 Sam 7:12-16; Psalm 89:3-4, 35-37
[8] Κύριος (LORD) in LXX renders the YHWH (יהוה) over 6,000 times; cf. Phil 2:11
[9] John 1:3, 14; Colossians 1:16-17
[10] John 16:33; 1 Peter 1:6-8
[11] “In His presence there is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11
[13] Ephesians 1:13-14 calls the Spirit “the guarantee of our inheritance.”
[14] Zephaniah 1:14-18; Amos 5:18-20; 2 Peter 3:10
[15] Romans 8:23, 30; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
