“Great” Joy – Advent Encouragements
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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” – Luke 2:10-11
*God gave us everyday joy to accentuate and deepen the experience of great joy. There must be joy before there can be great joy. We must know good before we can know better. God designed his world of joys to prepare us for great joy in his Son. How, then, is the joy of Christmas not just normal but great?
Great Heights – The angel who heralds “great joy” in Luke 2:10 does not come alone: “Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:13-14). Note the great heights of this joy—from the surface of the earth all the way up to the heights of heaven. Such news captures not only lowly shepherds but even the hosts of heaven, who long to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12). And as God’s glory rises to the highest places, so does our joy. In both Matthew 2 and Luke 2, “great joy” comes together with worship and praise. “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20). The magi “fell down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11).
Great Lengths – Christmas joy also goes to great lengths. This is “good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). All the people. Not just kings and high-ranking officials but blue-collar shepherds. Not just Jews, but Gentiles. Black and white. Women and men. Laymen and clergy. Plumbers and dentists. This is no tribal joy quarantined in Jerusalem but great joy extended to all kinds of people, in every place, at every time.
Great Depths – Christmas joy also goes to great depths. Here is a joy deeper than every fear and grief—deeper than every sorrow and pain. This great joy comes into a world of great sin, great fear, great sorrow, great suffering. In fact, this child, who is joy incarnate, will be a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and it will be his great suffering that secures for us the great joy (Isaiah 53:3-6).
From his birth in Bethlehem to his death on a cross, this joy was great enough to endure being born in obscurity and laid in a manger, and having no place to lay his head. He was to be rejected by his own people, delivered over to their authorities, and betrayed by his own friend. But this great joy could not be extinguished. It cannot. It is too high, too long, too deep—even for death itself. And our joyful Savior is now with us to the end of the age, strengthening us in every fear, cheering us in every grief, holding us in all our suffering. Until the day when he unseats every sorrow, he promises, “No one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22).
*From David Mathis, David. The Christmas We Didn’t Expect: Daily Devotions for Advent