In the Old Testament the Children of God really use to celebrate after they had a major victory. There really was a big party after they saw the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea, for instance.
“That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” Exodus 14:30-31
“Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.” Exodus 15:1-20
“When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”Exodus 15:20-24
They sang songs then, which we still sing today. “I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously..”
Yet within 3 verses they were moaning and complaining against Moses. He soon got that problem sorted for them but within another 3 verses they were doing it all over again. Their rejoicing was short lived and completely dependent upon their circumstances. When things were going their way they were happy but when things went wrong they moaned again and it happened like this time and time again. The only ones who seemed to have it all together in the Old Testament were the Prophets, Priests and Kings on whom the Spirit of God rested.
In the New Testament we have a far better covenant than they had back then with so much more for us to rejoice about. So many better promises after the cross. God is not angry with us any more as Jesus took our sins away. Paul was the champion of rejoicing and he had a lot to say about it in his epistles. Most of the time he wrote these words was while he was in jail and he spent 7 years of his ministry in there.
“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,” Philippians 1:4-5
“But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” Philippians 2:17-18
“Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.” Philippians 3:1
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
The classic verse on this subject is ‘Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.’ He wasn’t rejoicing because this jail was better than the last one. “At last I have carpet, toilet on suite and a colour TV, and my cell mate doesn’t snore.” Those jails were ‘grotty’ back then with no amnesty international or human rights group to make sure we weren’t being treated badly. He really didn’t have much to rejoice about except by doing it all in faith. He understood the glories of a relationship with Christ and all that Jesus had done for him on the cross. He rejoiced in the promises of God and all that was yet to come. He knew the scriptures for he had read the writings of the Prophets. The revelations that he got from the word and the Spirit made him strong. The joy of the Lord was His strength.
“This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight,” Jeremiah 15:16
When Jeremiah wrote those words in Chapter 15, the Jews were in big trouble and didn’t have much to look forward to in the immediate future, but the scriptures gave him hope.
Paul was rejoicing not because he was delivered after a victory. He was rejoicing before the victory was manifested - by faith. He wasn’t like the Children of Israel who only rejoiced after an event. He was rejoicing in the hope of a victory. We too can be like that. If we aren’t walking in faith, then we will be ‘Roller Coaster’ Christians with no power in our testimony. Instead of a testimony, when the tests come there is only a ‘moany.’
God has given us the Holy Spirit like the Prophets of old and He’s also given us power. When we think of power today in the Church we think of laying hands on sick people and they recovering. Maybe we need to lay hands on ourselves first and pray for our sick hearts that we might be strong in faith and not moan every time something goes wrong.
A New Testament Christian is to walk by faith. The Just shall live by faith. “But my righteous one will live by faith.” Hebrews 10:38
We are called not to look at our circumstances like the Children of Israel did, but to be like Paul who looked to the faithfulness of God and rejoiced in faith before his deliverance. Faith is so important for a New Testament Christian. Our walk doesn’t work if we don’t understand this, for we walk by faith not by sight. How does this work? Look at this verse in Romans.
“All things work together for good to those who love God.” Romans 8:28
We only quote a verse like this when things are going wrong. So when things are going wrong we need to take this verse and rejoice in it, confident that God will do what He said. All things will work out for our good. The Children of Israel would not have responded like that. We are to do it before the victory and we will soon see everything turn around, not like the Children of Israel who only did it afterwards.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord,” Jeremiah 28:11-13
God tells us that His plans for us are good. This verse is a comfort to us when everything looks bleak. We rejoice in this word before everything turns out right, confident in God’s love for us. When this verse was originally given the Jews were in Babylon under Babylonian rule. Things looked bleak.
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:22-24
It tells us here to believe you have received what you are asking for and you will have it. This is having a faith that believes for something to happen when you can’t see anything at all up ahead. God is asking us the question. “If you got what you were believing for, what would you do?” You might say, “I would rejoice.” God is saying OK then start to do it now by faith before you see anything happening, knowing that God is faithful and will answer your prayer. Praise God for the expected outcome before it happens. Do it by faith.
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:15
It says that we are to offer the sacrifice of praise. A sacrifice is hard. We are to do it when it’s hard, not just when everything is sorted out. Doing it for no other reason than that God is good and He is faithful to His promises.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23
God always keeps His promises. We are told to rejoice in a God we do not see. It’s all part of our walk by faith and we can do it by using His promises as our lamp and compass.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:8
We have so much more to rejoice about right now. Even if we didn’t get what we wanted, we always have a good reason to celebrate like Paul did even in prison. Our sins are forgiven for starters and we are on our way to heaven.
“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah 9:9
The Jews were told to rejoice because Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. Rejoice greatly daughter of Zion. They did do that on that day but one week later they we shouting “crucify him.” We are on the other side of that event. Jesus has come and has finished His mighty work on the cross. How much more should we be rejoicing. What does ‘rejoice greatly’ look like to you?
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Isaiah 12:3
When we rejoice it gets things flowing within us. It causes the rivers of living water to come up from our spirits and enables us to draw water from the wells within. We can do it at any time and not just when all is going well. It says that this will happen, “In that Day.” We are in ‘that day’ that was prophesied long before the cross.
Isaiah and Jeremiah were able to rejoice by faith because the Spirit was on them. We now have the Spirit within us, so by faith we can draw on that water within.
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” Romans 8:11
The Bible says that we need to rejoice or be joyful 214+ times and a quarter of these are found in the Psalms. In Hebrew there are 58 words that refer to praise and worship, from singing, dancing shouting to lifting up of the hands. The ones that speak of being joyful and rejoicing have a lot of action involved in them, from moving in a circle, spinning to jumping. Here are some of the Hebrew words for rejoicing.
Guwl -to spin around, under the influence of any violent emotion
Psalm 32:11 “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!”
Alats -to jump for joy, exult, be joyful, rejoice, triumph
Psalm 5:11 “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in you; Let them ever shout for joy, because you defend them; Let those also who love your name be joyful in you.”
Alaz -to jump for joy, exult, be joyful, rejoice, triumph.
Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise.”