“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, 
you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” - 1 Peter 1:8–9

During the Christmas season, we exhaust our vocabulary to express the theme of joy. Sometimes it seems like someone had a little too much fun with the thesaurus. We use words like merry as in “MerryChristmas” and jolly as in “’Tis the season to be jolly,” cheer as in “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!”

Not to mention our songs—we sing about how Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year,” we sing “Rejoice!” to celebrate the coming of Immanuel, and we sing “Joy to the world!” We read stories about angels that bring “…glad tidings of great joy” (Luke 2:9–11 RGT). Even our decorations shout “Joy, joy, joy!”— all because of the birth of Christ.

...Christ came to bring salvation from sin, death, and punishment.

To make sense of this joy we must first understand the darkness that Christ was born into. The reason for joy was preceded by a million reasons for misery. The world was heavy under the dark pall of sin, death, and the just punishment for sins. We could not reform ourselves, nor escape death, nor stand without despair before God’s judgment.Why did the angels herald joy over the birth of Christ? Because Christ came to bring salvation from sin, death, and punishment. Peter describes the joy we have in Christ as “inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:7–9) because the despair outside of Christ is inexpressibly dark.

 The way to know this joy is to look to Christ with the eyes of faith. As Peter also says, “Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy…” (1 Peter 1:7–9) This is the amazing thing about Christmas: We weren’t there to see the star shining above Bethlehem; we weren’t there to see the angels sing their song; we weren’t there to see the son of God born to the virgin Mary, nor were we there to see his death upon the cross to forgive us our sins, or the stone rolled away as he walked out of the grave. And yet, by faith, in a sense, we were there.

Christ has come to save you.

Faith unites us to Christ. And it is this faith that brings us into this joy. The joy of sins forgiven, the joy of light in the darkness, the joy of life and victory over death. So, this Christmas, rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory! Christ has come to save you.

Liturgy

Our Father of Joy,

Restore to us the joy of our salvation.
We often are like those who joylessly worry about tomorrow because we forget that we have received an immeasurable and unchanging inheritance.

We are like those who were debtors, who owe a debt we could never pay and who forget that our debt was forgiven. Give us faith to see that in Christ our sins are forgiven, our debt has been paid, and our life has been ransomed.

Through faith, give us the assurance of our salvation and the joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. As we celebrate the coming of our Lord, born in Bethlehem, let us never forget that he was born for us and for our redemption. Give us hearts that join the chorus of the angels and rejoice in the glad tidings of his coming. Open our lips so that we might ever sing his praise.  

In the name of Jesus our Lord,

Amen