Advent - Isaiah 51:3
Isaiah 51:1-3
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek Yahweh. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the excavation of the pit from which you were quarried. 2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah; she brought you forth. For I called him alone, but I blessed him and made him numerous.” 3 For Yahweh will comfort Zion; he will comfort all its sites of ruins. And he will make its wilderness like Eden, and its desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the sound of song.
Joy in the Father
On the heels of yesterday, I'm still struggling with Joy, but here in Isaiah some context aligns Joy with Gladness (which feels very much in-line with my association of Gratitude with Happiness).
So where will joy and gladness be found? It sounds to me like "Zion". Zion is the Mountain of God. In the ANE gods lived on high mountain tops with lush gardens. Think of the cartoon example of Hercules with the pantheon up on Olympus.
Zion is also the people of God - even today we sometimes use national or ethnic titles to refer to the people of that area. National leaders may address the citizens of America by saying "Listen to me, America" or something like that - I think my point is that we'd all "get it" in that moment. In a similar way, that communication shouldn't be lost on us here.
The prophet is speaking to "you who pursue righteousness, who seek Yahweh... Yahweh will comfort Zion (you)...". In that comfort is 2 things from this passage: Election and Legacy.
Election
"Look to the rock from which you were hewn...". Does the rock decide which pieces are chiseled away and which pieces remain? Of course not, the sculptor or foreman does that. In, honestly, the same way - who am I to have chosen God on my own... Without his hand coming to the rock to separate me (any anyone else in the Lord) I would forever remain stagnant in my cold, hard, dead state. But Yahweh chooses - and what can follow his choice to hewn me from the rock? Why, it's nothing but Joy and Gladness!
Legacy
"Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah; she brought you forth". God's people have a long legacy, a real legacy, to look back on and be encouraged by God's faithfulness in his election. The legacy isn't just back to "Father Abraham", my mind goes to my own life and now that I have some years under my belt I can look back and see time and time again where God showed his love for me in extraordinary ways. I do hope it isn't the physical blessings that he gives that bring me joy, but rather that it is the unending history of faithfulness to me as his child.
Joy is found in Zion because it is where Yahweh lives, and joy and gladness are found in fullness in him alone. His comfort today is realized in his word and legacy of faithfulness, and his comfort tomorrow will be realized by Jesus' return and the consummation of the Kingdom of God.
Work is hard, life is unfair, sickness will continue but at the appointed time, when Yahweh "make[s] [Zion's] wilderness like Eden" there will be joy, gladness, thanksgiving, and the sound of song.