rejoice: Hallelujah, the Lord is come!

Isaiah 61.10-11

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
   my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
   he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
   and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
   to sprout up before all the nations.

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!

rejoice: transformation brings joy

So to kinda wrap up this Re-Advent concept, the transformation Jesus brings — the rescue, the renewal, the rest — naturally result in rejoicing. You can help but be grateful and amazed and overwhelmed with God’s favor and power and goodness. Isaiah 35 is still probably my favorite “transformation song”, but here are a few others…isn’t God amazing that he can do these things?!?

Isaiah 51:3

For the LORD comforts Zion;
   he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like Eden,
   her desert like the garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
   thanksgiving and the voice of song.

Isaiah 42:9-10

Behold, the former things have come to pass,
    and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
   I tell you of them.” 
Sing to the LORD a new song,
   his praise from the end of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
    the coastlands and their inhabitants.

Isaiah 55.12-13

 ”For you shall go out in joy
   and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
   shall break forth into singing,
   and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
   instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
   an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”