Rejoice! Through Tears...

As I read better writers and preachers than me, I am awed by the insights they expound about the birth of our Lord, Yeshua. But the one thing that hits home deeply, it how differently we view the “Holidays” than the actual events were.

From a Hebrew view, we celebrate days of victory like Purim, with rejoicing and feasting; but we are careful never to rejoice in the suffering of our enemies.  We rejoice in the victory Yahweh has given us in spite of the cost of lives. 

Passover is the same, we take a moment to remember the plagues that came on Egypt, even the death of the firstborn so that our joy is diminished and we remember that our freedom cost lives.

In Obadiah, God speaks to Edom/Esau…

Oba 1:11  In the day that thou didst stand aloof, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

Oba 1:12 But thou shouldest not have gazed on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

Oba 1:13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of My people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity.

Oba 1:14 Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

Oba 1:15  For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy dealing shall return upon thine own head.

 

 We are children of the Father in Heaven, we must live and speak and think differently than them.  We must never forget that our deliverance is always costly.  It comes to us free, but it cost the Father everything; though He count them as enemies, He never takes pleasure in their destruction.  No matter how vile or deserving of punishment we may think they are, it grieves the heart of God, it is loss to Him, for Messiah came for all men.

 

There seems to always be a slaughter of the innocent when God is raising up deliverance.  In Moses day, the baby boys were drown in the Nile River…in Yeshua’s time, the baby boys were slain by Herod.  As the time Israel’s exile from the land was about to end and England had already laid the plan for their homeland to be restored, the enemy stood up and came like a flood to destroy them again in the Holocaust, but God always rescues a remnant.

 

As we approached the last hours of History, a great slaughter was raised up to destroy a generation with abortion.  The great saints of this hour are the survivors this slaughter…

 

And now as we feel the coming of the Lord so imminently, we see children again being slaughtered.  Rachel is again weeping for her children.  We must brace ourselves and be reminded of the great price that is attached to our eternal freedom…for there may yet be another cost again before we are fully released from this world… 

 

The beautiful story of Jesus birth of a Virgin and faithful Joseph a surrogate dad to Him, there is nothing so beautiful, and such a loving scene…the angels declare in the heavens to rejoice!  Coming to the lowly even as Mary of Nazareth had prophesied in her song in Luke 1, but amidst all of the “rejoicing”, there is a grieving that will not be consoled. 

 

The coming of the very consolation of Israel brings with it, the sorrow of loss that prevents you from breathing.  Life for life…so how do we rejoice?  What does it mean for us who wait for our Messiah, to know that when He comes we shall be with Him forever, safe; no more sorrow or pain or fear…but at the same time we are relieved, the world that remains enters an eternity of suffering that is unspeakable, for it never ends.

 

 

   The loss, the confusion, the disillusionment, the bitterness, the pain and torment, the fear…will never end.  And for God He sees it forever and takes no pleasure in it.  For our loving Father would that all men should turn to Christ and so be saved…how tragic for our God who gave all.  We do not yet understand, and I don’t know if ever we will understand how Messiah suffered for each individual sin of every person who ever lived…but indeed His sufferings were compounded to include all who would ultimately reject Him.

 

What does that say about our Yeshua?  Agreeing to come and be the sacrifice for the world, knowing that such a multitude would not come, yet He would be required to suffer their punishment anyway.  How else could He offer salvation to all people?  He didn’t have to do it.  He could have called it off, and who could have blamed Him? 

 

But indeed He humbled Himself and became helpless and dependent to fully identify as our High Priest, to feel our infirmities intimately;  to love us to the fullest.  That is why we rejoice.  Even through tears of grief and sorrow, our hearts rejoice in God our Savior as Mary also rejoiced…for it disgraced her family, her husband and her good name.  She never again had honor in her community, but her heart rejoiced…because she intimately knew the truth.

 

No matter what lies ahead, we are intimately acquainted with the truth and we rejoice with anticipated expectation at the arrival of our soon coming King, who will not come as a helpless babe, but as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the true ruler of the World that was created through Him and for Him.  The desire of the Nations, the One our Soul loves…the One we long for. 

 

Rejoice Evermore!