Theology

Joy to This Painful World

Author Amy K. Hall Published on 12/25/2017

Perhaps 2017 has been a difficult year for you—heartache, loss, death. Perhaps your pain today is so great that you can’t help but weep. And yet, even in the midst of our pain, today we sing with all our hearts, “Joy to the World!” What joy! What hope! What strength in God! Christmas is a reminder that God is for us; we have nothing to fear and the greatest of joys to gain through our pain. We know the ending of our story, and it is beautiful. John Piper reminds us,

The reason he became man was to die...Good Friday is the purpose of Christmas....

Satan’s ultimate weapon against us is our own sin. If the death of Jesus takes it away, the chief weapon of the devil – the one mortal weapon that he has – is taken out of his hand. He cannot make a case for our death penalty, because the Judge has acquitted us by the death of his Son! ...

So, we are free from the fear of death. God has justified us. Satan cannot overturn that decree. And God means for our ultimate safety to have an immediate effect on our lives. He means for the happy ending to take away the slavery and fear of the Now.

If we do not need to fear our last and greatest enemy, death, then we do not need to fear anything. We can be free. Free for joy. Free for others.

What a great Christmas present from God to us! And from us to the world!

It’s because of the reality behind our Christmas celebration that we truly sing through our tears,

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing,

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found,

He rules the earth with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love.

Your Christmas this year may not be merry, but I pray it will have joy.