Simply Celebrate with Great JOY!

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy! – Matthew 2:10

The Joy of the Lord is our strength!  We need to simply celebrate this season because Jesus has come!  He came, He lived and He died for you and I!  What a glorious gift!  What an exciting hope!  We have been rescued from darkness and can now live in the marvelous light!  We do not have to live in condemnation!  We can seek healing and forgiveness from the penalty of sin!  We can have an intimate relationship with the God of this universe!  Rejoice with Exceeding JOY – He has come!  Our Savior has come!  Our home is not this world!

Is it amazing to you that Jesus came as a lowly babe in a manger?  Isn’t it just like our God to send the first announcement of the birth of the Savior of the world to shepherds?  The lowly of the world, with the greatest news ever!  Besides the shepherds a host of angels show up to make the announcement !  Can you even imagine?

Besides the shepherds and the angels, that night a new star appears in the sky.  Think what it must have been like to be an astronomer, a wise man.  Students of the galaxy, probably from the Persian culture – they were honored for their wisdom.  They were pagan but they could not deny the appearance of the star in the east.  They studied the star charts and then they realized that this star was in direct correlation with Jewish prophecy and so they had to go and see if it was true!  The Eastern star hung over the area of Jerusalem.  They traveled to this city and had an audience with Herod.  When Herod the king hears that they have come to worship a new born babe named as king, he called all of his chief priests and scribes together and sought their counsel.  As they reported to him the prophecy found in Micah.  The prophecy foretold of the Savior, the ruler, to come from Bethlehem! Herod, who professed conversion to Judaism, rejects this new born king and makes plans to kill the new born babe.  The magi after hearing that the baby was to be born in Bethlehem left and went on their way.  Then the most exciting thing happened – THE STAR MOVED – and “went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was! When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy!” (Matthew 2:9) J OY consumed them!   After many days of traveling the wise men had reached their destination!  God had led pagan men to the Savior of the world.  He has been doing that ever since!  These men took their gifts and bowed before the King!  They worshiped Him for who He was!

Joy, is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospet of possessing what one desires!

Do you see their joy?  Can you imagine longing for something and then knowing that one day you will possess it! I hope you can because of this hope we can have JOY in whatever situation or season we find ourselves.

Today, I can imagine where some of you are emotionally.  This time of year can bring a great deal of stress!  But you can still have JOY – simple, straightforward JOY because one day we will possess in completion what we have deeply longed for!  Because Jesus came we can “rejoice exceedingly with great joy!”