The Joy of the Redeemed

I opened my Bible this morning and I read from Isaiah. Even though I began my study of it this year with fear and trepidation, I have grown to love this book. For in no other study have I learned more about God's love for us than I have in these wonderful pages. Amidst all of the suffering, punishment and woe, I see that God's only motivation is complete and total love because He longs to be reconciled to us.

He yearns for us to know Him and love Him.

He wants nothing more than to lavish His grace upon us.

He is crazy about us.

And the message is still true today. He works in ways we do not understand. He refines and molds and sharpens us to be who we were created to be. And His love is still all-encompassing, all-powerful and the only hope we have for establishing a closeness with Him.

This is why we celebrate Christmas, my friends.There is no other reason than this: so that we may have Hope and trust in it completely. Oh, what joy awaits us! I can only imagine.

Joy of the Redeemed

Isaiah 35

The desert and the parched land will be glad;

the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;

it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

they will see the glory of the LORD,

the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the knees that give way;

say to those with fearful hearts,

“Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come,

he will come with vengeance;

with divine retribution

he will come to save you.”

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then will the lame leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.

The burning sand will become a pool,

the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

In the haunts where jackals once lay,

grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

And a highway will be there;

it will be called the Way of Holiness;

it will be for those who walk on that Way.

The unclean will not journey on it;

wicked fools will not go about on it.

No lion will be there,

nor any ravenous beast;

they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there,

and those the LORD has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.