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61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;1
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;2
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.3
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the LORD;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
8 For I the LORD love justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;4
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.
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,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
2 The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,5
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,6
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,7
and your land Married;8
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
6 On your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set watchmen;
all the day and all the night
they shall never be silent.
You who put the LORD in remembrance,
take no rest,
7 and give him no rest
until he establishes Jerusalem
and makes it a praise in the earth.
[1] 61:1
[2] 61:1
[3] 61:3
[4] 61:8
[5] 62:4
[6] 62:4
[7] 62:4
[8] 62:4
(ESV)
Redeemer Community Church is located in the historic Avondale neighborhood of Birmingham, AL. Our church family exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
For more information on who we are, what we believe, or how to join us, please visit our website at rccbirmingham.org.
If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to Isaiah chapter 61. It's also there in your worship guide. As you're turning there, thought I would read just a few emails I've received this past week. It was I just got lots of encouraging emails about what the Lord is doing in our midst. In particular, how many of you, you you actually did.
Joel Brooks:You wrote down a name of of someone who who was either physically or relationally poor and and and you dedicated yourself that you would make an effort to go and to reach that person. And I got to hear a number of stories from that. So let me just read a few. First off, if you're one of our students here and you had a parent visiting from last week, I heard from a lot of parents saying that it was actually the first time in their life after church they got together for lunch and they discussed the sermon and what that can mean for them as a family. I got these emails from members.
Joel Brooks:One member said the Lord put it on his heart to reach out to one of his neighbors who's suffering from dementia and who he knows is lonely. Another said, I've never actually given of my finances to the church and I let this continue even after I graduated and I got a job. Now, I want to give. I really want to give. This is from a single woman.
Joel Brooks:She just said she doesn't know what or how, but God used last week's sermon to both confirm and ignite something in her to come alongside and support foster parents, whether it's through the giving of her finances or the coming alongside those parents and giving her time. Another one, I struggle to love my mother-in-law whom I am having to care for as she is going through chemo, battling cancer. And I was reminded that loving her is a way I can show love to Jesus. I like this one. It's from a visitor.
Joel Brooks:A visitor who's at the 04:00 service took time to email me and say, I visited Redeemer for the first time this past Sunday. I went to the afternoon service. The couple that was sitting next to me invited me to come over for dinner. I was blown away by the hospitality. And then this one this this gets a little star because it's from an entire home group.
Joel Brooks:They they just kind of wanted to brag. As a home group, they're doing all these things, but here we go. One of the members of our home group is a young single girl who since the Lord calling her to invest in a neighbor who is an older male and who lives alone. Turned out he had a bunch of medical problems. He needs some procedures done, but he could never schedule them because he didn't have anyone to help him.
Joel Brooks:Now our group member and her roommates are all helping him attend multiple upcoming medical procedures. Another one. We have a member who since the Lord calling her to expand her friend group and to invite two other people she just met who are new to the area and they don't have community. Another, member says they work with children of disabilities and felt a renewed sense of God's heart for these children that he works with. And then finally, this home group leader said, my wife, she wrote down the name of a neighbor.
Joel Brooks:And interestingly, this neighbor showed up unannounced to our house that night. I thought of a different neighbor who was a widower, and he's having dinner with us and our family this coming Sunday, which is today. It's just really exciting. You know, had over 2,500 adults at least here this past Sunday. And I was just thinking if that many people actually reached out to the name they wrote on their paper, just what a difference that would make, in our city.
Joel Brooks:And so it really excited me. Thank you for those of you who, who sent in those emails. Alright. So, Isaiah sixty one and sixty two, we don't we're not going to read through all of what's in front of you. We'll we'll get to some of that as we go through the sermon but I'll read parts of both of those chapters.
Joel Brooks:So, we'll begin chapter 61 verse one. The spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes.
Joel Brooks:The oil of gladness instead of mourning. The garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. That they may be called oaks of righteousness. The planting of the Lord that he may be glorified. We'll stop there.
Joel Brooks:We'll go to chapter 62. For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent. And for Jerusalem's sake, I will not be quiet until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness and all the kings your joy and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the lord will give you, will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
Joel Brooks:You shall no more be termed forsaken and your land shall no more be termed desolate. But you shall be called my delight is in her. And your land married. For the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you.
Joel Brooks:And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. On your walls, oh Jerusalem, I have set watchmen all the day and all the night, they shall never be silent. You who put the lord in remembrance, take no rest and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. This is the word of the lord. You'll pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Father, we thank you for your word. We ask that through your spirit, you would just write these things on our heart. I ask that we would have a much greater understanding of who you are and who we are in your eyes. I pray that my words will fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. Lord, may your words remain and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. I I would not consider myself to be unintelligent, but I I granted, I was never a good student. I mean, I struggled all through school. I looking back, if I were to be honest and that I'd look at my elementary school years, I do think teachers actually promoted me just because they didn't want to see me again the following year.
Joel Brooks:My struggles, they they came full front actually when I went to seminary. I struggled incredibly with Greek. I struggled even worse with preaching. And I shared this before one time, but during an exam, my preaching exam, not only did I know the answers to the questions, I could not understand the questions. I kept trying to read the questions over and over and I could not make any sense of them.
Joel Brooks:Have you ever had that feeling inside of you that deep down you're just kinda drowning and you can't get out? Like you cannot surface? That's the feeling I had in that moment. I would not be diagnosed with dyslexia until I would hit my mid forties. So I had no idea what was actually the matter with me.
Joel Brooks:I just thought I was a complete idiot. And that my entire life was gonna be nothing but a joyless struggle trying to get through this stuff. And by the way, no lie at all. I'm look I'm as I was looking at my notes, I have spelled dyslexia different every single time in my notes. Not intentionally, every time.
Joel Brooks:I I I don't know how you spell it. They they should have named it like Bob's disease or like something where somebody like me could actually spell it. Anyway, as I as I sat there and I I was looking at the test, I thought, what do I have to lose? I'll write my own questions. So I slap, I just marked through every one of the questions there, wrote my own, answered them, and I turned it in.
Joel Brooks:I came home and I told Lauren, well, you know, it's time for plan b with our life. And I'm thinking we're gonna like travel with a carnival or something like that. But my professor, doctor Robert Smith, he not only didn't fail me, he gave me a 98. He gave me a 98. I I just couldn't believe it.
Joel Brooks:I I asked him about it and he said, you know, yeah. He should have failed me. It's like, I I I should have failed you. But, he said, when I look at you, I could see the potential. He said, I knew what you would become if grace was given to you.
Joel Brooks:He could have given me law and it would have squashed me. But instead, he he gave me grace because he he saw what I I would become. And and after you know, he he gave me, he he told me those words, he gave me that grade, he then he prayed over me, he prayed a blessing over me in which he just affirmed God's calling for my life. I've never been blessed like that and I will always remember his He he looked right at me with a look of absolute love and delight as he spoke those life giving words over me. And it really, it helped set a trajectory for my entire life.
Joel Brooks:So why am I telling you this? It's because what we see here in Isaiah is that, but on a grander scale. There's actually a whole lot going on in chapter sixty one and sixty two. There's a whole lot, but but really if you were to just boil it down to its essence, it's this. When God looks at you, he doesn't just see your your failures.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't just see your sin, your mistakes. He sees who you will become because he made you. And he sees who you'll become through his grace just coming into your life, and then he speaks that over you and God's word does not return void. It's not just a promise. When God speaks his word, it's a certainty.
Joel Brooks:And because he can look at us and he can see what we will become, he is filled with delight. I I don't know what image you have in your mind of of God and how he looks at you. Maybe you think God looks at you like you're a disappointment. That he looks at you like failed again. Maybe you're you're not you know that critical.
Joel Brooks:Maybe your thought is, well I know he loves me but it's not like with this deep real affection. There's no real joy in it. You could not be more mistaken if that's what you think. When God looks at you, His heart is flooded with delight. Remember, He created you.
Joel Brooks:He knows with absolute certainty who you will become. Chapter 61. It begins with a little bit of a mystery. We're not quite sure who the speaker is, which is uncommon if you're going through Isaiah. You remember it's it's a poem and a lot of times the speaker changes, sometimes even mid sentence.
Joel Brooks:It's it's pretty confusing. But this one, it's really hard to figure out. It's not God. He's not the speaker when he says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because they're talking about the Lord in third person. God in third person.
Joel Brooks:We also know that this isn't the servant of the Lord because, well, the songs of the servant ended in chapter 55 and nowhere is the word servant mentioned anywhere in here. We know it's not Israel because this is a person who blesses Israel. And we also know it's not Isaiah himself because Isaiah cannot do the miraculous things that this person is gonna do. And so you're left just wondering who is this speaker saying these words? Well the mystery was solved centuries later in Luke chapter four when Jesus preaches his very first sermon.
Joel Brooks:So in his first sermon, we we read this. And Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and he found the place where it was written.
Joel Brooks:So he's given Isaiah. He goes through it to find this one text right here. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled up the scroll, he gave it back to the attendant and he sat down.
Joel Brooks:And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Would you have loved to have been there for that moment? Man, I get I get chill bumps when I think about that. I mean, Jesus, he reads those mysterious lines there in Isaiah that people have been wondering all this time.
Joel Brooks:Who's the speaker? Who's actually saying this? And Jesus, he reads it, slowly hands back the scroll and looks at everyone and he says, it's me. Isaiah was recording my words. And these words are being fulfilled right now in your presence.
Joel Brooks:The people listening to him, they didn't know quite how to respond. It says somewhere like they were saying some good things about him, but then just a few sentences later, they're trying to throw him off a cliff. I mean, right off the start, it's it's it's pretty divisive words. But here's what I want you to see. Jesus' very first sermon drips with joy.
Joel Brooks:It's glad tidings of great joy. It's full of good news. The very first thing he wants us to know. Hey, this is who I am. I'm the one who comes and heals broken hearts.
Joel Brooks:I'm the one who turns all your sadness into joy. I'm the one who liberates the person who is in bondage to sin. That's who I am. There's many words that you could use to describe Christianity. You could say that Christianity is truth, it is love, it is forgiveness, it is healing, it's salvation, it is redemption, it's the lordship of Jesus, and all of those words are true.
Joel Brooks:But you gotta see that every one of those words is actually marinated in joy. Joy is the flavor of Christianity if you will. There is no such thing as a joyless follower of Christ. Years ago before Lauren and I just we started Redeemer, we had a bunch of people over to our house for something we just kinda made up. We called it Advent gatherings.
Joel Brooks:And basically, we invited every person we knew who didn't go to a church and we said, come over to our house during the Advent season because we figured even even non Christians, they wanna gather together during Christmas. They like singing carols. So we thought we'd use that. So we invited them all over. We had 40 unbelievers show up.
Joel Brooks:And and after we sang, after we had some wine, some wassail, I then did a advent devotional. And so my first advent devotional was this. I just asked the question. Any of you know what Jesus' first miracle was? Which of course they didn't.
Joel Brooks:I said, let me tell you about his first miracle. His first miracle was when he went to a wedding and he said it wasn't up to his standards. And he turned water into wine. Essentially Jesus went to a place where they were already having a party and he says, the party's not good enough. I'm gonna take this kind of ho party and I'm gonna take it up a notch.
Joel Brooks:We're gonna make this a epic party. And so he gives the people the best wine they have ever tasted in their entire lives. Jesus is the Lord of joy. So when he launches his ministry, first miracle, when he's making his statement, this is who I am, joy. I'm the one who takes whatever you think is a good time, I'm taking it up a notch.
Joel Brooks:I'm the Lord of joy. And I asked this group, said, does that surprise you? They laughed. They said that that's not at all what they think of when they think of a Christian. They said they think of Christians as killjoys, not filled with joys.
Joel Brooks:As killjoys. You know back in Isaiah 58, which we looked at last week, we got to see very religious people doing very religious things. And, I didn't get to land here, but if you looked at verse five in chapter 58, God says, is this really what you think I want? And, it says you guys are you're walking around with your heads bent down. He said it'll bent over like a reed.
Joel Brooks:You're you're laying down on a blanket of sackcloth and in ashes. Is that really what you think of me? Is that really the type of life you think I want you to live? I think if some of us were honest, we'd actually say, well, yeah. I I think that is kind of what you want us to do.
Joel Brooks:I I I think that what Christianity is is actually, you know, it's me having to do a bunch of things I don't want to do, and then not being able to do the things that I really want to do. That's that's kind of Christianity, isn't it? It's going to church on a Sunday instead of sleeping in. We're going to the lake. It's a it's hosting a home group at your house instead of just having a night where you could just sit on the couch and veg watching your favorite show.
Joel Brooks:It's it's giving some of your money away, money that you could have used for a vacation to Europe or things like that. It's like nope, I gotta give it to the church. And so for you, some of you, you think Christianity it's what's the call to live a the life of a dutiful, obedient, yet joyless servant. And you could not be more wrong. Obedience to Christ doesn't make us miserable, our sin makes us miserable.
Joel Brooks:It's our sin. Jesus is leading you down a path of unbelievable joy. Just so you know, Christianity, it didn't spread all over the globe because it was dutiful, because it was just obedience without joy. No, early church was absolutely marked by joy. You you know, you'd be hard fed, hard pressed to find any group out there that has had a harder existence than the first century Christians living in the Roman empire.
Joel Brooks:Couldn't find it. I mean, if you just look at Rome, the citizens of Rome, you know, despite whatever you watch on TV, it wasn't just wealthy people sitting around drinking wine, having toga parties. I mean, it is mostly full of just poor people struggling to survive. None so more than the Christians. We know from excavations in Rome itself that the Christian community was very small and they actually lived in a place called the Latrine Of Rome.
Joel Brooks:They lived in these little shanties where there was a the canal that led out of the city taking the raw sewage of the city out. And that's where they live. I mean, you imagine the smell? There's not a Bed Bath and Beyond candle that could get rid of that in your home. I mean, that is just it is there.
Joel Brooks:And these people, you know, if they didn't die from disease or just from hard work, well then, they were severely persecuted. They were thrown into the arenas or they were lit up like torches. And yet, and yet, we read this in first Peter. Says that these people were rejoicing in their trials. And he says, you are filled with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
Joel Brooks:You you can't fake that type of joy in that situation. And there's not a person here who has had a week, no matter how bad your week is, it's not as bad as that first century Christian. And you can't fake joy like that. You can fake, you know, when you're in high school, you fake joy a little bit as you walk down the aisle or walk down the halls, put on a little smile. Some of you fake it, you know, when you're driving over here, your whole family's fighting but you come through the doors, you're like, hey, yeah, everything's great.
Joel Brooks:You can fake it for a little bit but you can't fake a life of that. How did they have that joy? Well, they thought this was enough. They've been given God's spirit. New life, born again, transforming them.
Joel Brooks:They've been given his scriptures which guided them and showed them how to navigate this life. They knew that they once were enemies, but now they have peace with God. They once were dead, but now they're alive. And they knew that no matter what happened to them, that could never be taken away. Death itself would not end their joy.
Joel Brooks:And apparently, that was enough. For these people were actually just dripping with joy. And here's the thing, Jesus still gives us all of those things. Every one of them. Now in this text that we just read, the Lord, he gives us several different images to show us just how much we should have this joy and how much he delights in us.
Joel Brooks:And when he knows somebody delights in you, you are filled with joy. And so he gives us several images. We don't have time to go through all of these, I'm I'm just picking one to highlight. And it's the image of a wedding. Several times in this these two chapters, the Lord uses wedding imagery to show us what our relationship with him is like.
Joel Brooks:He says, I delight in you just like a groom delights in his bride. It's a very intimate, intimate image He gives us. I have now officiated somewhere between 200 but not quite 300 weddings. So I've I've seen a lot. I have seen just about everything under the sun.
Joel Brooks:I've seen brides, taking communion and spilling it. You shouldn't use red wine, by the way, if you're using communion on a wedding. And so they they look like a vampire bride and just just just red all over their beautiful white dress. I had a groom who who's he's he's waiting for his bride to come the entire time his fly is wide open. And I'm there and I can see when the bride sees it.
Joel Brooks:She's like, I'm marrying this guy. Once I was doing a wedding and a mosquito landed right here on the groom. And to his credit, I mean, was amazing. He acted like nothing was there. And I've seen the mosquito just like suck, suck.
Joel Brooks:Just suck, just sucking away. And finally he tries to just kinda nonchalantly just kinda do this. Worst mistake when there's a mosquito full of blood. So he's got blood all over his face, and it's like, and now you may kiss your bride. I've seen table cloths catch on fire.
Joel Brooks:People leave in ambulances. A bride leaving an ambulance. Once I saw a father of the bride, in front of everyone, he uncorked a bottle of wine, downed the entire thing. Gave the most epic toast you've ever heard in your entire life. And the bride just looks over at the groom and says, you married into this.
Joel Brooks:So I've seen it. I've seen just about everything you could see. One thing I have never seen is an ugly bride, ever. Every bride I've ever seen just has has radiated beauty. They're glorious.
Joel Brooks:And I've never seen a groom look at his bride as she is coming down the aisle and not thought, this is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my entire life. I can't believe she's marrying me. I mean brides occasionally get a little misty eyed but man I have seen grooms lose it. I mean the manliest men and men they're just they're just they're just crying like crazy when they see such beauty and glory walking to them. It's a powerful image.
Joel Brooks:And God says, that's how I see you. That's how I see you. I see you just like a groom seeing his bride walking down the aisle. I've never seen such perfection. And the immediate context here in Isaiah, God speaking about the exiles coming and him restoring Jerusalem to beauty and perfection and glory.
Joel Brooks:But it doesn't take long when you're reading this to think, oh, oh, he's obviously talking about something else. Because when Ezra and Nehemiah, they went there and they they're rebuilding Jerusalem, they didn't see that. He's obviously talking about the new Zion. The love for the new Zion, which is the church, which is us. He's describing his love for you.
Joel Brooks:When Jesus sees you, yes, he sees some imperfections, he sees the failures, of course. But you need to know that is not at all what holds his gaze. What holds his gaze is who you will become as his bride. That's what he sees. In ancient weddings, there would be a celebration beforehand.
Joel Brooks:The the groom would celebrate separately than the bride for an entire week. They would have this celebration, which having just paid for a wedding, I cannot even imagine what a week of festivities would cost. But at the end of the week, the groom would then go and would take a gown to his bride and that's what she would wear on the wedding day. We read an allusion to this in chapter 61 verse 10. We read that God has clothed me with garments of salvation.
Joel Brooks:He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. Here we see that God has given us a gown for our wedding day. This gown is his own righteousness that he has purchased for us through the blood of Jesus. The groom would also be given a would give his bride a new name on the wedding day.
Joel Brooks:We read about this in chapter 62 verse four and five. You shall no more be termed forsaken and your land shall no more be termed desolate. But you shall be called my delight is in her and your land married. For the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Joel Brooks:We keep this renaming tradition to this day. I was just at a some of you know Selah LeDuke's wedding this past week. You should have seen, I was just talking to her mom. When she was pronouncing, after they pronounced and she was introduced and given the new name, she was like a horse. Just about to just take off.
Joel Brooks:She just, she was so unbelievably excited about being given the new name. And just, we belong together now. Like, we're we're husband and wife, we share the same name and it was just such unbridled joy. It was, I mean all of us were laughing at just at just seeing the joy that she had of being given that new name. God says, this is what I've done for you.
Joel Brooks:I I You're no longer your first name, you know isn't forsaken, your last name is not desolate. Here's my new name for you. My delight. You're my delight is in you. The Lord delights in us so much.
Joel Brooks:We actually read in Zephaniah three that he sings over us. We read this in Zephaniah three. It says, that the Lord, he will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing.
Joel Brooks:You know, I've never actually witnessed a guy like so head over heels in love with a girl that he just starts singing in front of everybody to her. I don't know if you've ever I mean, you have to be like borderline crazy love for that to happen. You're just like, I just have to sing. I mean, you're just like, you just, just have to. That's the image here.
Joel Brooks:Jesus is so madly in love with his bride. He cannot help but just sing over her. And I I can't help but think of this. God just spoke the universe into existence. Let there be light, light.
Joel Brooks:We need some land. Land. He just spoke and the entire universe comes into existence. What do you think is gonna happen when He sings? We'll get a glimpse of that next week as we come to the conclusion of Isaiah when we look at Isaiah 65.
Joel Brooks:When he sings, it's not just creation of heaven and earth. We get to see the new creation, a new heavens, and a new earth, and a people being given inexpressible joy. It's just joy just just exudes this entire passage. So the Lord delights over us. This delight is actually what gave Jesus the strength to endure the cross.
Joel Brooks:Hebrews tells us that it was for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, Despising the shame. In other words like, this isn't shameful. This is pure joy as I'm going to the cross. And what you need to see is that the joy Jesus experienced was a wedding day joy. I know when we think of the cross and we think of Jesus having the crown of thorns being pressed on his head, we think of the humiliation of that.
Joel Brooks:But remember, he despised that shame. That was not humiliation. That's not a crown of thorns. He is seeing that as his headdress. That he's getting ready for the wedding.
Joel Brooks:When we see his his robe that he's wearing and it's blood stained as he's walking to Calvary. He says, no, I'm I'm wearing my wedding garments. He knows his bride awaits him at the end and it fills him with such incredible joy. I mean, the truth is this, we're never gonna know the the depths of the pain that Jesus experienced on the cross nor are we gonna ever know the anticipation of joy that he felt. But this is what our calling is.
Joel Brooks:We have that image. We see that in front of us and we're just a step back and be like, that's how much he loves us. Look at the pain. Look at the joy. We just step back and we're like, we are just in awe of the Lord's delight over his bride.
Joel Brooks:So I hope this fills you with joy. One of the points of this text is that we are to now share the joy that we have received. We share it with others. Chapter 61, when we read that the spirit of the Lord is upon Christ, we have to understand this. It's just as the spirit of the Lord was upon Christ, that same spirit of the Lord is now on us.
Joel Brooks:We have now been given that same spirit. And now, like Jesus, with a heart full of joy, we take good news to the poor. We proclaim liberty to the captives. We comfort those who mourn. Hear me, the greatest evangelism tool we have as a church It's not handing out little gospel tracks.
Joel Brooks:It's not, you know, trying to draw, you know, the four spiritual laws. There's a cross, it's a bridge. You know, you go over that. I mean, it takes us to the Lord. It's not getting us a megaphone and and shouting out everybody's sins or just shouting our ethics.
Joel Brooks:The greatest evangelism tool we have is our prophetic joy. Just exuding joy. And so when the world sees us, it doesn't matter what their problem is. It doesn't matter if they have a failed marriage. It doesn't matter if they've lost their job.
Joel Brooks:It doesn't matter if they're losing their health. It doesn't matter what the crisis is. They can look at us and they can see that faith is the cure for everything that ails me. It's the joy that exudes from us. So that same spirit that has come upon us and has given us that joy is now what we began to give others.
Joel Brooks:We read in verse three that the Lord, he plants us like oaks of righteousness all around this globe, letting people come and get shade underneath us, spreading life. And I know that some of you feel like you're just a little seedling, barely hanging on. But remember how Jesus sees you. He does not see you as a struggling struggling seedling. He says, oh no, through my grace and the word I am speaking over you, I see an oak tree.
Joel Brooks:It's not just a promise, it's a certainty. So he raises us up like oaks of righteousness. And then this text ends with this call for us to pray. In chapter 62, the very first verse, we we read that God is not going to keep silent. He's not gonna be silent until Jerusalem's righteousness goes forth as brightness, until her salvation as a burning torch.
Joel Brooks:We see this being fulfilled in Jesus who lives now to make intercession on our behalf. Jesus is not silent. And he will keep crying out and he will keep interceding for us until we are bright shining like a torch. And he says that because he's doing this, he invites us to come alongside and pray with him. That's what we see in verse six.
Joel Brooks:We are told to be watchmen on the walls, to never be silent. We are to take no rest, and we're to give God no rest until He comes and He fulfills the very words that He has promised that He would fulfill. And that's why we pray. Lord, you promised, bring it about. Bring it about.
Joel Brooks:I'm not gonna stop until you bring it about. And He says it will most certainly be brought about because His word never returns void. Let's pray to Jesus. Father, you we can't just be told to be joyful. It doesn't just happen.
Joel Brooks:You can't just manufacture joy. Joy is a response to something. So Lord, I pray that in this moment through your spirit, we would see how much joy you have in us. The delight you have for us. And that would spring in us such a joy for you.
Joel Brooks:As we just contemplate all that you have done on our behalf. How you're taking away all of our sadness and you're turning it into joy. All our brokenness, healing it. All of our bondage and you're setting us free. Lord, I pray that you would do those things in this moment for us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the sweet name of Jesus, our present and our future king. Amen.