God's Joy

Zephaniah 3:17

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick


Without due diligence, the religions of the world which begin by talking a lot about God, ultimately end up with little more than a list of rules and regulations. In this regard, the history of Christianity shows that it is hardly any different.

Every so often the conviction hits me; most of our preaching is about what we should be doing to please God, or what we should do to serve His interests in the world. We talk a lot about man, but not too much about God.

In this message, we're going to talk about an often overlooked aspect of God, His joy.

Right away, it would occur to many that it would be humorous, if not silly, to view God as being joyful. The "things" of God are too "seeeerious" for that. Just look at the artists' portrayals of Jesus. We believe Jesus came to earth to experience full humanity, yet very few pictures show Him smiling. Didn't He ever experience that side of humanness? Didn't He know joy and happiness? I am indebted to a Christian philosopher, Elton Trueblood, who many years ago wrote a little book called, "The Humor of Christ." In it, the author searches for possible sightings of smiles on the lips of Jesus. It's been a long time since I read the book, but I remember one example. When Jesus addressed the Scribes and Pharisees, He certainly must have been poking fun at them when He said, "You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." (Matthew 23:24) How can we help but imagine broad smiles on the faces of those who listened, imagining the camel shaped bulge moving down the neck of a proud religious teacher! While His message was serious, certainly His delivery was humorous.

However, if we have trouble seeing Jesus the "Son of Man" as being joyful, it's little wonder that we would have even more trouble viewing God the Father that way. Most of the time He is pictured as a very stern looking, awesome, poker faced, almost mean in the eyes, keep your distance, kind of a personality. Certainly not a God who could smile, laugh or be joyful.

How well I remember the five years I ministered as an Associate Pastor at Highway Tabernacle in Philadelphia. While there, I sat under the preaching ministry of W. Howard Roberson. If I heard him say it once, I heard it a dozen times - "Don't you think that God has a sense of humor? If you're not sure, just look in the mirror!"

Usually, when we think of "joy", we think about the human emotion which is best realized in the presence of God. However, it may surprise you that in the Bible, there are traces of truth which point to God as being One who is also joyful.

I. First, let's look in the "Law and the Prophets".

There is a startling commentary on God's joy found among the list of curses He threatened to impose should the people of Israel refuse to follow His commands. "And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you (NIV - 'it will please him') to destroy you, and to bring you to nought and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it." (Deuteronomy 28:63)

Grappling with this verse, John Wesley wrote, "For though he doth not delight in the death of a sinner in itself, yet he doth delight in glorifying his justice upon incorrigible sinners, seeing the exercise of all his attributes must needs please him, else he were not perfectly happy."

Later in the message by Moses, a promise is given for the time when the people would return to the Lord. ". . . the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers. " (Deuteronomy 30:9):

In Jeremiah 32, God tells the prophet to purchase a field as a way of encouraging him to believe that although at the moment everything looked bleak, there would be a day when the fortunes of Israel would be reversed. "'They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. ' This is what the LORD says: 'As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them.'" (Jeremiah 32: 38-42)

II. Then let's listen to Jesus who talked about His joy being imparted to His disciples. He said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. (John 15:11)

"And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." (John 17:13)

Now, if Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30), when Jesus says "my joy", He could well mean "my Father's joy".

Furthermore, there is a wonderful collection of messages about God's joy in Luke 15.

    1) There is joy over the one found lamb.

    When the shepherd, leaving the 99 safe sheep, finds the one that was lost, Jesus compares the joy of the shepherd to that experienced in heaven. "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." (Luke 15:7)

    Of course we know Jesus as the Good Shepherd, but God in the Old Testament is also known as "shepherd" (Psalm 80:1).

    2) There is joy over the found coin.

    After telling the story of the woman who finally found her dowry coin, Jesus says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." ( Luke 15:10) Most people think that it is the angels who are doing the rejoicing. But it doesn't say that. The rejoicing is "in the presence of the angels". So who's celebrating? Could it be God?

    Whenever there is repentance and conversion, there is joy in heaven. Surely the Father would be involved in this celebration.

    3) There is joy over the returned son.

    This is the final story in this trilogy about joy. Notice, it is the father in the story who throws the party, and then tries to talk the elder brother into joining it. "Let's have a feast and celebrate." ( Luke 15:23) Is there any doubt that this shows God the Father rejoicing?

    So we see that there are several analogies that indicate that God is rejoicing:

    The shepherd rejoices because of his found lamb; The home maker rejoices because of her found coin; The father rejoices because of because of his returned son.

    There's another analogy given in a verse likening God's joy to that of a groom rejoicing because of his bride (Isaiah 62:5 - "as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee"). Certainly if a proud father rejoices because of his righteous and wise son (Proverbs 23:24), certainly God, our heavenly Father, also rejoices when His children are righteous and wise.

III. But the most direct statement we have concerning the Joy of God is found in Zephaniah 3:17.

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17 - NIV)

In the 1970's, when it was popular to put Scripture verses to music, we used to sing it from the King James Version:

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, is mighty.
He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy, with joy.
He will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, is mighty, is mighty.

Look at some of the words used in this verse. The word "mighty" (gibbowr, ghib-bore') means powerful, and by implication, warrior, or champion. It is used of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6: "He will be called Mighty God". This word conveys the idea that He is the powerful conquerer. The next word, "save" ( yasha`, yaw-shah') corresponds with the same idea, it means to free, defend, deliver, help, rescue, or get victory.

Then there are four different words which strongly emphasize the thought we are trying to get across - God is a rejoicing God.

    1. He will "rejoice" (suws, soos), which means to be cheerful, be glad, rejoice greatly, joy, or make mirth;

    2.And He will do it with "joy" (simchah, sim-khaw'), which refers to blithesomeness or glee, (religious or festival): gladness, joy, mirth, pleasure, rejoicing);

    3. When the prophet says He "will joy" (giyl, gheel), he uses a word which suggests that He will "spin around" (under the influence of any violent emotion), usually to rejoice, or be glad;

    4. And the word "singing" (rinnah, rin-naw') is a shrill sound, a shout (of joy or grief), a cry of gladness or joy, singing or triumph.

Now let's go back to an earlier word, "midst" (qereb, keh'-reb). The most basic meaning of this word is "the nearest part". Here, it could mean that God is in the center, or simply that He is in covenant with, or in partnership with, His people. You'll notice that this is the last of four times this word "midst" is found in this chapter:

    Verse 5 - The Lord is a righteous Judge. "The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not"

    Verse 11+12 - The Lord will remove the proud and establish the humble ("the meek shall inherit the earth"). "I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of (or 'in') my holy mountain. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD

    Verse 15 - The Lord will expel all evil. "The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more."

Then comes our verse 17.

Some might say, but this is only for the Jews, and obviously is a promise yet to be fulfilled. Yes, but we believe that the blessings offered to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been extended to all who believe. Yes God has a special plan for His people, and it is not correct to think that Israel has been replaced by the church. However, part of God's plan is that all the nations of the world will be blessed through His people. Certainly part of that blessing is the promise given here, a promise of God's joy.

We accept His righteous judgment, bow before Him in humility, then the promise can be claimed, and the awareness can be ours. Just as we sing "Our God is an Awesome God", we may also sing, "Our God is a Joyful God."

If heaven is "up", then right now God the Father is looking "down" upon us, and there is a smile on His face and mirth in His eyes. And even now He is preparing the party of the ages; soon He will send out the call in the words of Matthew 25:21, "enter into the joy of your Lord." Yes, in this life we know sorrow and heartache, but remember, "weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5) Why? Because God is a God of joy, and we are invited to enter into His joy!

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