Rejoicing in Righteousness Isaiah 61:10; Isaiah 61:1–4, 8–11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24; John 1:6–8, 19–28  

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we’re going to talk about Advent joy, rejoicing in the righteousness of Immanuel, our God who is with us. 

It’s based on our Old Testament lesson, especially verse 10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

This is referring to the ornate robe worn by the high priest in the temple. It represented the righteous glory of God. It is God’s glory to make His people righteous, forgiven for the sake of His Son.

Last week we talked about how Jesus came to earth, joyfully working righteousness. Today we’re going to talk about rejoicing in His righteousness. 

Our Advent Verse today is from Zechariah 9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you, righteous and having salvation!

Rejoice greatly, our God tells us. We respond as Isaiah did, I will greatly rejoice in my Lord. 

Paul tells us in our Epistle, 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

In Philippians 4 Paul says, 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 

202 times in the Bible God tells us to rejoice. That’s not an empty command. He gives us every reason to rejoice; He blesses us in more ways than we can count, covering our lives with His grace, changing our hearts with His love, giving us hope in His sure and certain salvation for us.

2020 hasn’t been the happiest year, from an earthly perspective. And if that’s all we can see, then there isn’t a compelling reason to rejoice.

But if we can think deeper and see higher, then we not only have reason to rejoice, we have reason to rejoice greatly!

If this fallen earth is our forever home, and if it all ends here for us in our graves, then we have every reason to be gloomy and sad. 

But if we’re pilgrims here, traveling through this world, with our God helping and leading us, on our way to a higher place, a place beyond the sky, beyond the stars, beyond the universe; a place beyond time and space, a place in eternity, a happier, more glorious place, where we will see our God face to face, to experience His love and behold His beauty, if that’s your destiny, and in Christ it is, then you have a good and perfect reason to be happy now; to rejoice greatly!

This is a part of the mystery of the Gospel, that even where there’s earthly sadness, even as we grieve, we can still rejoice.

We can rejoice because even when we die, our lives has not come to an end; it’s a new beginning for our souls. 

Even when this world ends, Christ will come again, and He will make it a new beginning for your body, as He raises you in glory.

From a worldly perspective it hasn’t been the happiest of years this year, nor happiest of falls; and it may not be the happiest of winters, but from a godly perspective, our souls have every reason to rejoice greatly, to magnify the Lord, as Mary said to Elizabeth, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.    

Psalm 16:9 says, Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices.

Psalm 13:5 says, I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

Psalm 32:11 says, Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

The upright heart is the heart that repents and believes in God, our Savior. The heart that is declared righteous by faith, can be a loud and joyful heart, a heart that sings and shouts for joy. 

As Zechariah says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem.

In some ways this world needs less noise. There’s so much noise in our world and our news these days, that sometimes we don’t know what to believe; we’re not sure what’s true and what’s twisted, or exaggerated, or just made up.

Jesus brings a better sound to our world; God’s Word is the sound of truth for us; The Gospel is the sound of salvation for us; worshiping and praising Christ is the sound of joy for the world; and praying to God is the sound of our love for Him, and all those for whom we pray.

So as our Epistle encourages us, let us rejoice always, and pray without ceasing. 

This doesn’t mean we should pray 24/7, or every waking moment; that’s not humanly possible.

It means to keep on praying, to not give up; to pray with faith and hope, not doubt and cynicism; to pray with joy, and to pray a lot, knowing how much God wants to bless those who pray, and those for whom we pray.

So rejoice greatly, God’s dear daughters and sons, His dear children. Your God is righteous for you, and He sent His Son, to become your righteousness, that from Him, through Baptism, by the gift of faith, you may receive a righteousness to live by, a righteousness to be clothed in, so that you are presentable unto God, dressed as His holy, forgiven child, that you may be adorned in glory to live and rejoice forever.

So be of good cheer; don’t let the unrighteousness, and injustice, and malevolence of this fallen world drag you down; repent and rejoice in the forgiveness Christ has won for you; let your soul exult, be lifted up to magnify the mighty power and benevolent love that has saved you.

This is the perfect righteousness of God that we rejoice in; even when our world is messed up; even when we’re going through hard, or confusing times. You have the certain promises of the Gospel to hold onto, and never let go of.

An evil fallen world can’t be trusted, but our God can be trusted to redeem this world, to save all who hear the words and promises of Christ, and repent and believe. 

Imagine if we had no Gospel to believe, how much more unbearable it would be to live in this wicked, fallen world; how much less hope we would have, and how short-term and limited that hope would be, how vain our rejoicing would be.

But because we have a righteous God, who shares His righteousness with us, we can live every day knowing that our lives will have a positive outcome; better days are coming, days and joys that will never end.

Until then, spread His joy on earth. 

There’s so much sadness and despair in our world. Christ brought joy and hope to the world; not a manufactured joy, or a false hope, but the joy of His resurrection, and the sure and certain hope that our destiny lies in Him who lives and reigns forever; our lives are tied to Him for all eternity, and so we can rejoice always, with great joy; we’re justified in being so extremely happy and hopeful, because Jesus leaves no doubt about how this life with Him turns out, it leads to an eternal love that goes on and on, and a glorious joy that never ends.  

Let me close our message of righteousness and joy with the blessing our Epistle ends with. 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

And as He does, His peace, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our righteous Lord, who gives us every reason to rejoice, and to rejoice greatly! Amen.