WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:06.780 So, for a few minutes, if you have your Bibles, Isaiah 60, page 748 of the Church Bibles, 00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:12.960 we're going to think together about the dawning of God's joy at Christmas, to ask ourselves 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:22.120 the question, what is this joy that God wants us to have? Of course, joy is one of the Christmas 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:27.820 emotions. You know, we're almost there, it's almost Christmas, but probably for many of 00:00:27.820 --> 00:00:33.679 us, we've already had some parties, there's been meals, maybe we've braved the Christmas market, 00:00:33.939 --> 00:00:40.120 we've put on some of our favorite Christmas movies, we have all these little joys as we 00:00:40.120 --> 00:00:46.659 look forward to the great joy of Christmas. Maybe our Christmas memories are tied up with 00:00:46.659 --> 00:00:53.100 that sense of anticipation, the excited waiting, the getting up early, the excitement of presents 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:58.660 and families gathered. We know these joys that are associated with Christmas, but what is the 00:00:58.660 --> 00:01:06.500 deep joy that God wants to bring us that Christmas? That joy that was announced by the angels that very 00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:15.240 first Christmas, that good news of great joy. Not a small joy, not a temporary joy, but a great joy. 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:26.019 What is the joy? It's the joy that comes of celebrating the mystery of God with us, the mystery of the 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:35.539 incarnation. God contracted to a span incomprehensibly made man, as one of our Christmas hymns puts it. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:42.419 It's the promise of a Savior born, God with us, bringing us a joy that we can never lose. 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:50.640 Remember Jesus' words to His followers shortly before going to the cross. In John chapter 16, 00:01:50.740 --> 00:01:59.260 He said to them, you have grief now, John 16 verse 22, now is your time of grief, but I will see you 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:07.460 again, resurrection, and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. So the joy that Jesus 00:02:07.459 --> 00:02:13.599 brings, a joy that can never be lost, never be taken away. And then we come to Isaiah chapter 60, 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:21.479 and it begins with this wonderful image of the coming of God, being like the darkness giving way 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:30.659 to beautiful sunrise, of despair giving way to joy. Verse 2 is a good example. See, darkness covers the 00:02:30.659 --> 00:02:40.840 earth and thick darknesses over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you, and His glory appears over you. 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:48.300 And as Isaiah is invited to look, and as the people of God are invited to look, we're told that there is 00:02:48.300 --> 00:02:58.120 a joy in the coming of Jesus that causes hearts to throb, that causes faces radiant, to cause hearts to 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:06.900 swell with joy. So for a few minutes, we're going to think about this joy that God wants us to have at 00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:13.039 Christmas as we consider the glory of the Lord Jesus in His first coming, but especially, I think, 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:20.219 as we think about the return of the Lord Jesus. Because Isaiah 60 pictures these wonderful realities 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:26.719 that in the coming of Jesus and in the return of Jesus, our whole eternal future is transformed. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:35.460 And ultimately, He brings in new creation. We can have eternal joy, joy that never ends, because there 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:44.460 is eternal life coming. There is an eternal kingdom that He is establishing. And so we can use Isaiah 60 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:53.199 to remind us, and indeed to reawaken us, to that deep eternal joy that we're brought into if we're 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:59.619 trusting in Christ. So very briefly, I think there's three pictures that we find in this passage that 00:03:59.619 --> 00:04:08.419 we can find helpful. The first picture is of the joy of a global kingdom. So in verses 4 to 9, that's 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:13.319 really the focus, the joy of a global kingdom. And that matters, because we place these verses 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:21.699 in their historical context. This is a message given to exiles. So they have been taken prisoner by a 00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:27.399 foreign nation. They have been plundered, they have been ruined, and they are far from home. And so 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:36.819 their great longing, of course, is for return, to be back in the promised land. For them, an end to 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:44.000 darkness is about an end to that sense that they have of being separate from their God, because they 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:50.000 can't worship Him in the temple. It's an end to the darkness of being surrounded in this foreign nation 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:57.160 by false worship. The end to darkness for them is when they stop feeling the effects of their sin 00:04:57.160 --> 00:05:05.360 that has led them to know God's judgment and the exile. But there's a wonderful promise that comes 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:13.759 that kings and nations will tremble at His voice, all creation will rise to rejoice, and that includes 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:20.379 the exiled people of God. So think about the language that we have here. Verse 4, lift up your eyes and 00:05:20.379 --> 00:05:26.680 see your sons come from afar and your daughters are carried on the hip. Here's a promise. God's people 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:35.399 will return to be home with their God. Verse 5, here's another promise. The wealth on the seas will be 00:05:35.399 --> 00:05:40.500 brought to you. To you the riches of the nations will come. This is saying that places that were 00:05:40.500 --> 00:05:46.839 formerly hostile to God and God's people will now come and bring their wealth as a sign of devotion 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:54.399 and loyalty to the true God. Indeed, verse 7 takes it further, all Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you. 00:05:54.860 --> 00:06:03.600 They will be accepted as offerings on my altar. Here is the worship of nations now being so turned 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:11.540 that it's being offered to God and ultimately being offered to Christ. So what God had promised to 00:06:11.540 --> 00:06:18.340 Abraham, blessing to all the nations, what God had promised to Israel in the book of Isaiah, a servant 00:06:18.340 --> 00:06:27.100 who would be a light to all the nations, those promises come true in the coming of Christ. Nations 00:06:27.100 --> 00:06:35.460 will come and His kingdom will go global. And you get the picture in these verses that here is a joy 00:06:35.460 --> 00:06:43.879 that is a shared joy. The joy of the gospel, the joy of belonging to the Lord Jesus is something that 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:50.400 God's redeemed people get to experience. But at the same time, there are new converts who are going to be 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:58.179 part of this kingdom, and there's going to be nations, formerly strangers to God, now devoted to the glory 00:06:58.179 --> 00:07:05.539 of Christ. That's a great picture of the mission of God to bring people in. And this chapter, I think, 00:07:05.620 --> 00:07:13.019 pictures that the climax of the story of God's growing kingdom, and obviously central to that, 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:20.319 is the coming of Jesus and the mission of Jesus. So think about His first coming. We already 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:26.699 mentioned it among the first worshipers, the Magi, people who come from far away to come and to bow 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:35.620 and to bring their treasures, their gold and incense, verse 6. As Matthew, especially in his gospel, he 00:07:35.620 --> 00:07:41.000 likes to do this as he speaks about the growing kingdom. He likes to make observations about surprising 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:45.920 people who are brought in. So God's mission, the mission of Jesus, brings in Roman soldiers. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:52.780 We see it will also bring in Samaritans. It will bring in outsiders who are made kingdom citizens. 00:07:55.420 --> 00:08:01.140 And so we see that from the coming of Jesus, and then the coming of the Spirit, and the growth of 00:08:01.140 --> 00:08:07.920 the church, the church begins to go global. This kingdom that's anticipated in Isaiah 60, we begin to 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:15.520 see it coming to fulfillment, and we're part of that. All the way until we get to His second coming, 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:22.140 go back to the book of Revelation, where we are on Sunday mornings. We can go to chapter 7, verse 9, 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:29.939 and we encounter another worship scene. We encounter this great multitude from every nation and tribe and 00:08:29.939 --> 00:08:36.019 people and language, and they've got their crowns and they're waving their palm branches. We sang about it 00:08:36.019 --> 00:08:45.860 in our opening hymn. This global kingdom, this eternal global kingdom, established and established around 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:52.799 people from all nations and cultures, worshiping the God who saved through Christ the Lamb. 00:08:54.500 --> 00:09:00.480 And so one of the joys that we have at Christmas is the joy that is shared. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:13.080 All of our family gatherings represent a sharing of joy together. We were talking about one of our 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:19.899 slightly more unusual family traditions from my side of the family, from whenever I was little, 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:25.420 our Christmas presents. We had a very low-frills approach to Christmas. All our presents would go 00:09:25.419 --> 00:09:31.559 into a black bin bag, and people would take it in turns to pull out a present and see who it was for, 00:09:31.620 --> 00:09:36.299 and we'd pass the gift to that person who would open it, then they would pick out the next present. 00:09:36.699 --> 00:09:43.139 It's a great tradition, not very fancy, but everybody gets to share in the joy of one another. 00:09:44.199 --> 00:09:51.019 That's so important, isn't it? We enjoy giving and receiving gifts. We enjoy seeing happiness shared. 00:09:51.019 --> 00:09:56.220 And Christmas, of course, is connected to giving, because God has given us His Son as the greatest 00:09:56.220 --> 00:10:04.720 gift. And as we discover that Jesus is the great gift to the world, then our joy is increased as we 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:09.980 share it with others, as we share fellowship with one another. We remember what we have in common is 00:10:09.980 --> 00:10:19.439 that Jesus has saved us, and we have joy as we recognize and see Him at work around us and in our world. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:31.720 In verse 4, these exiles are invited to lift up their eyes and look, to anticipate people being drawn in. 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:38.260 Maybe to fuel our joy this season, it would be good for us to lift up our eyes and look, 00:10:38.700 --> 00:10:44.660 and to learn about what God is doing. One of the really interesting things that's been reported all around 00:10:44.659 --> 00:10:51.899 our nation this year, actually, is lots of ministers say, we're seeing more young Scottish guys becoming 00:10:51.899 --> 00:11:01.219 Christians than we've seen in decades. God is building His kingdom. The church is suffering intense 00:11:01.219 --> 00:11:06.879 persecution in different parts of the world, but is growing rapidly at the same time. 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:15.159 God is building His global kingdom. We've heard reports that God's Word is being translated into 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:21.539 more languages, so He's able to spread through more people groups and is being distributed to more people 00:11:21.539 --> 00:11:28.000 so that they can hear the good news and be saved. As we lift up our eyes and look, we discover God is 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:35.220 still building this global kingdom. And when we're in Jesus, we have the joy of being part of that. 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:42.379 So, that's the first joy that's recorded in our chapter here. It's the joy of the global kingdom. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:53.960 The second joy, here in verse 10 to 17, is the joy of a restored city of God. And to help us to think 00:11:53.960 --> 00:12:01.660 about this, to help us think about the joy of a restored city, we can turn to Paris and to Notre Dame, 00:12:01.659 --> 00:12:10.939 which just recently got reopened five years after that devastating fire. If you saw the pictures of 00:12:10.939 --> 00:12:17.279 the opening ceremony, it looks amazing. And at that ceremony, world leaders were obviously gathered 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:24.639 for this event that became a celebration, a source of pride for the city, for the whole nation. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:33.960 Emmanuel Macron had a few comments to make. He said, of it, we had the will, the hope, the daring to 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:41.100 rebuild Notre Dame and make it more beautiful than ever. He said, Notre Dame reminds us that we are 00:12:41.100 --> 00:12:50.519 bearing the legacy of something bigger than us. So, keep that idea of Notre Dame being built back 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:58.279 better at being a fitting legacy as we come to this section. Because what we have in this section is 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:08.799 this promise that Christ's return promises the final completion of a rebuilt, restored city of God, 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:14.279 much greater and more beautiful than anything that had been seen before. 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:24.399 And that city, which is nothing less than the people of God, stands as a legacy to something much bigger 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:35.819 than us, to the grace of God and to the glory of God. When the people of God are established together, 00:13:35.820 --> 00:13:46.540 together made beautiful by the Lord Jesus to enjoy eternity with Him, that's a legacy to God's grace 00:13:46.540 --> 00:13:51.440 and to God's glory. And again, think about this from the point of view of an exile. 00:13:52.800 --> 00:13:57.840 Because a lot of people that Isaiah is writing to, bringing this message to, they saw their city in 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:08.220 ruins. They left us prisoners, having seen their property taken, buildings destroyed, the temple being 00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:17.920 left as rubble. Sometimes because of the distance of time, we lose the sense of what a trauma that must 00:14:17.920 --> 00:14:25.720 have been. If you have a time, read Psalm 74. It's not one of our, one of those psalms that we typically 00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:31.920 sing, but you get that sense of real trauma and distress as a worshiper reflects on what it looked 00:14:31.920 --> 00:14:42.200 like to see the temple being destroyed by foreign invaders. But we don't need to go back just to the 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:48.440 history books to recognize the tragic scenes of cities being destroyed, do we? It's something that we see 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:55.200 in our news cycles. There is ongoing trauma in Middle East and Ukraine and places like Myanmar. 00:14:55.720 --> 00:15:00.139 But to think about those scenes and to think about, again, what would the longing be if you 00:15:00.139 --> 00:15:08.840 had been taken into exile? You would want to be home to that place where you would know God with us, 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:14.680 and you would want to know that in that place you could live with peace and live with security. 00:15:16.660 --> 00:15:22.680 And to people with those longings, God's Word comes and says, when God returns, when Christ comes, 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:31.059 the city of God will be built back and built back better. Look at some of the details that show us this. 00:15:31.059 --> 00:15:40.500 Verse 10, foreigners will rebuild your walls and their kings will serve you. 00:15:41.739 --> 00:15:47.379 So among those who took great delight in persecuting God's people, 00:15:47.379 --> 00:15:56.320 they will now become worshipers, and they will be part of this restoration process. 00:15:58.860 --> 00:16:03.620 Verse 10 goes on to say, though in anger, this is God speaking, though in anger I struck you, 00:16:03.740 --> 00:16:11.220 in favor I will show you compassion. And so God's heart towards His people, His compassion is shown, 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:16.820 He shows grace, He brings them back, and He changes the attitudes of hostile nations, 00:16:16.820 --> 00:16:25.080 turning them to, to love and serve God. The picture continues in verse 11, your gates will always 00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:30.960 stand open. Now for an ancient city, if the gates were wide open, this is a picture of great insecurity 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:36.960 ordinarily, because then anybody can come in, then foreign armies can come in. But there's a reason why 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:41.560 these gates are always standing open. They'll never be shut day or night, so that, here's the reason, 00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:46.799 so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations, their kings led in triumphal procession. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:54.739 So the gates have to be open. There is no need to worry about security, because there's so many 00:16:54.739 --> 00:17:01.559 people coming to worship. There are so many people, including leaders of nations, coming to acknowledge 00:17:01.559 --> 00:17:08.500 the greater glory of God. They can have security because the situation has been utterly transformed. 00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:20.099 Verse 13, the glory of Lebanon will come to you to adorn my sanctuary, and I will glorify the place 00:17:20.099 --> 00:17:28.559 for my feet. So here we find another amazing scene where the best of foreign wealth and glory is now being 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:38.359 gladly given to rebuild God's temple, His sanctuary, His home among His people. And this place is now 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:45.979 recognized as the city of the Lord. People recognize this is where God is. This is where God dwells with His 00:17:45.979 --> 00:17:55.879 people. And strikingly, the nations want to be part of that. It's the joy of a restored city. God's grace 00:17:55.879 --> 00:18:04.379 is at work here. If you think back in your Bibles, when was the last time we saw the nations coming 00:18:04.380 --> 00:18:12.400 together on a worldwide building project. It's Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel. 00:18:13.760 --> 00:18:18.440 Then the nations came together, the people came together to build this great tower to their own 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:24.500 glory. But now the nations are coming together to make the temple beautiful so that God would get glory. 00:18:24.500 --> 00:18:34.680 And key to it all is God's grace. Verse 15, although you have been forsaken and hated with no one traveling 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:44.839 through a forgotten place, a nothing people, I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all 00:18:44.839 --> 00:18:53.660 generations. God transforms status. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, 00:18:53.660 --> 00:19:03.779 your Redeemer, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Without a shadow of a doubt, this restored city of 00:19:03.779 --> 00:19:11.860 God is a tribute to God's grace and God's glory. He is the God who redeems and saves. He is the God who 00:19:11.860 --> 00:19:17.840 is able to turn shame to honor. He is the one who brings peace in place of war. He is the one who can 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:25.419 bring beauty out of brokenness. That's the gospel. That's the heart of God. 00:19:27.459 --> 00:19:33.599 Now, we think about that in the context of a city. We recognize ruins need to be restored. 00:19:35.439 --> 00:19:42.059 But perhaps many of us, we identify with that longing for restoration at the more personal level. 00:19:42.059 --> 00:19:48.039 And maybe Christmas is one of those times where we feel that longing for restoration. 00:19:50.339 --> 00:19:56.139 Maybe families that are strained may be separated by distance. 00:19:57.539 --> 00:20:04.940 May be separated by past difficulties. Or maybe it's because we feel the sadness of loss. 00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:12.759 We were made for life together. And made for life together with God. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:23.400 And we have these longings to be in this place where we belong and we have peace and we have 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:28.600 security and we know it is safe and it's forever. And God says, you find it with me and in me. 00:20:28.599 --> 00:20:39.819 And he gives us this longing for our true home. And then Jesus comes. And he's announced as our Emmanuel 00:20:39.819 --> 00:20:47.039 is God with us. And he comes and he declares himself to be the true temple. Here is now how we go where we 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:58.039 go to meet with God. And Jesus came so that his body might be broken and his blood might be shed. 00:20:58.039 --> 00:21:04.399 That he would pay the penalty for sin so that you and I could have a restored relationship with God. 00:21:05.539 --> 00:21:11.460 So that we could have that deep reconciliation with God. Peace in our hearts. 00:21:13.480 --> 00:21:20.079 Jesus came to give us life and life to the full. He came that his joy might be in us and that our joy 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:27.960 might be complete. And he is working that restoration program out in his people. 00:21:28.039 --> 00:21:37.539 And that will ultimately be completed when he returns. Again, we go right to the end of the Bible, 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:50.180 and we have that promise in Revelation 21 of the joy of a wedding. And we have Jesus, the bridegroom. 00:21:50.180 --> 00:21:59.920 And the bride? The bride is the new Jerusalem. It's the people of God. A bride made beautiful 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:11.920 by Christ Jesus, that we might live with him forever and enjoy that restored communion that will never 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:22.259 be lost. And so Christmas gives us a promise of that joy. Here is the one through whom we can know a love 00:22:22.259 --> 00:22:31.180 that will never end. He gives us the promise of his presence forever, anticipating a joy that is 00:22:31.180 --> 00:22:39.259 unbreakable. And that takes us to the third picture in this wonderful chapter. It takes us to the joy 00:22:39.259 --> 00:22:45.859 of new creation. So we're asking the question, what joy does God want for us at Christmas? 00:22:47.460 --> 00:22:52.720 You know, we enjoy many good things. Our God is good and kind. We get to experience so many good 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:58.980 things. And it's like he sets up that trail of breadcrumbs that will lead us to the greatest joy, 00:22:58.980 --> 00:23:08.279 joy of eternal life, knowing God. With the promise that when Jesus comes again, 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:17.960 we will see his glory in full display. And in that moment, for the people of God, we will experience 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:26.299 and we'll never lose the world we all want. And this chapter helps us to look ahead to that future 00:23:26.299 --> 00:23:34.839 glory. Look at some of the ideas that we have in this last section. Verse 18, no longer will violence 00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:42.379 be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls salvation 00:23:42.379 --> 00:23:50.700 and your gates praise. A people saved by God, living in a world without violence, without war, 00:23:50.700 --> 00:23:59.240 without injustice. Verse 20, your sun will never set again, your moon will wane no more. The Lord will 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:07.880 be your everlasting light and your days of sorrow will end. When we live in God's presence, there will be 00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:17.740 no sadness, there is no suffering. Verse 21, then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the 00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:25.740 land forever. This was the great hope and promise that God's people longed for, that we could live 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:33.900 in God's land, in God's place, with God forever. When Jesus comes again, there's no more insecurity. 00:24:35.240 --> 00:24:43.400 There's no prospect that our joy will be removed. Verse 19, the sun will no more be your light by day, 00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:49.900 nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you. Why? Because there's a greater glory. 00:24:50.700 --> 00:24:58.000 For the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 00:25:02.500 --> 00:25:11.420 This has never been seen in history. No society has experienced this kind of life, 00:25:11.420 --> 00:25:18.960 nor will we ever. No amount of progress, no amount of education, no amount of technology will ever 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:27.240 secure it, but Jesus will, and Jesus does. Look at how this chapter ends. Having made all these wonderful 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:37.740 promises, it ends this way, I am the Lord. In its time, I will do this swiftly. 00:25:37.740 --> 00:25:48.880 God is committed to bringing this total renewal, to bringing in the new creation, the new heavens, 00:25:49.140 --> 00:25:57.099 and the new earth. And He promises to do it, as He says in verse 21, for the display of My splendor, 00:25:57.460 --> 00:26:04.640 so that we would see and be satisfied forever in the glory of our God. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:13.220 God is an incredible prospect. Some of us, maybe in our past, some of us this year perhaps, 00:26:13.320 --> 00:26:18.340 have written wish lists for Christmas. Maybe we write letters to Santa. Some of us are maybe 00:26:18.340 --> 00:26:23.420 realistic, and we set our bar low. Some of us are really optimistic, and we shoot for the moon. 00:26:23.420 --> 00:26:33.800 But if we could collectively write a list of, here are the great longings of humanity, 00:26:34.800 --> 00:26:41.180 you know, that goes more than beyond the latest gadget or whatnot, what would we include on that list? 00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:49.160 Surely we would include world peace. Surely we would include living in a place where every 00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:56.160 human being is valued and has dignity. Surely we would write down that people want an end to sadness 00:26:56.160 --> 00:27:02.019 and pain and death, and we want all relationships marked by love and joy. 00:27:02.019 --> 00:27:06.639 Those are the great longings in every human heart. 00:27:08.819 --> 00:27:15.859 Now, if we imagine, and with John Lennon, there's no heaven. If we imagine there's no intervention from 00:27:15.859 --> 00:27:21.599 God, if we imagine that things just keep going, that He never comes to be one of us, then those lists, 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:28.500 those longings, they're just pie in the sky. But when the angels announce good news of great joy 00:27:28.500 --> 00:27:32.220 for all people, because a Savior has come, because Christ has come, 00:27:33.099 --> 00:27:38.039 and when the Savior declares, I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in the 00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:44.119 darkness, but have the light of life. When the Savior dies, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the 00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:49.099 world, and when He rises again in victory, now what we have is guarantee 00:27:49.099 --> 00:27:59.439 of unimaginable, unbreakable joy coming for us, those who are in Christ in the new creation. 00:28:01.559 --> 00:28:14.579 That list, that will be our reality for all eternity. So, there is deep joy, lasting joy, eternal joy 00:28:14.579 --> 00:28:27.539 in Jesus. So, as we consider Him, may it be a joyful Christmas for us all. May this be a season in which 00:28:27.539 --> 00:28:37.699 we look up, see what God is doing, look up to remind ourselves how great our God and Savior is, 00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:42.799 that the gospel would cause our hearts to throb and swell with joy. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:52.339 knowing that He is the Lord, and in His time He will do it swiftly. Let's pray together.