Joy in the wilderness
Photo credit: Lynette Priebbenow
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Isaiah 35:10
On Sunday, we will light the ‘joy’ candle in our Advent Wreath. This far into the Advent season, it can be hard to feel joy. The school year is winding down, the shops are full of frantic activity, the media is filled with pressure to buy more, do more, outshine the neighbours… and it can feel hollow, overwhelming, pointless. For many the year has been long, and exhaustion has crept in. Where is the joy in all this?
The readings for the Third Sunday in Advent speak beautifully and powerfully into this space. In Isaiah 35:1-10, we read of the ‘wilderness and the dry land’, our desert times, when we struggle with ‘weak hands’, ‘feeble knees’, and ‘anxious hearts’ in the wilderness of sin and death, a place of burning sands and thirsty ground, haunted by jackals.
But the glory of the Lord is coming! Into this bleak and fearful place, blossoms will burst forth, water will flow, bringing life in abundance, with healing and restoration for the blind, deaf, mute and lame, so that all may see the Saviour, hear the good news and sing and dance with joy.
And through the middle of this new life, Isaiah prophesied that a highway would come, the Way of Holiness. Jesus is that way – the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)! He came so we can say with confidence,
“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.” (v4)
Through His death and resurrection Christ has made the way clear for us. He has redeemed us. We are given His righteousness so that ‘even if [we] are fools, [we] shall not go astray’ (v8). This is a big relief for some of us! Travelling through the wilderness on His holy way, we are protected from all attack (v9). As we return to the Lord on this royal highway, we have good cause to rejoice – for we will be crowned with everlasting joy, and our ‘sorrow and sighing shall flee away’ (v10).
In Matthew 11:2–15, John the Baptist has been falsely imprisoned, and sends his followers to ask Jesus if He is truly the One who is to come. Jesus quotes Isaiah’s prophecy,
“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Matthew 11:4-6.
Jesus confirms that John is also the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy: ‘A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God”’ (Isaiah 40:3). Imagine John’s joy, his relief! The Messiah has indeed come as was promised, and all John’s years in the wilderness, and now in prison, have served their purpose.
Imagine John celebrating and praising God - maybe even jumping with joy, just as he did in his mother’s womb thirty-odd years beforehand when Mary and Jesus came near (Luke 1:41). At Christmas we realise anew that God physically drew near to us, being born in human form and living among us, and even now calls us to draw near to Him.
This joy, which comes from drawing near to Christ, from the recognition that all God’s promises of redemption have been fulfilled and will be fulfilled for us, is the true joy of Christmas.
This joy comes from realising that we can put down the loads we are carrying, the anxiety, the fear and the pain, because Christ came to take it all for us. It comes from remembering that we can lean on Him, that He will carry us through the wilderness on His Way of Holiness.
And when we are suffering and joy seems hard to find? The Apostle James encourages us
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
James 5:7-11
We pray, in the words of the great Advent hymn:
O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
LH 2 O Come O Come Emmanuel, Stanza 3,
from the Great O Antiphons, 12th-15th century,
Tr. John Mason Neale 1851/1859