What is the joy of the Lord?

In Nehemiah 8 two things come out — a deepening love for, and intelligence in, the Word of God. "The Levites caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." … And all the people wept when they heard the words of the law (Neh. 8:7-9). Ah! the word had great power that day on the hearts and consciences of the people. And what followed this real heart-searching? Blessing, of course. "Nehemiah and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said, Mourn not, nor weep, neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." And at verse 12 we read of great mirth, "because they had understood the words that were declared to them." They wept, for they knew how weak they were; but joy filled their hearts because God was their strength. It is well to feel our weakness, and to acknowledge it; but what cause for joy when we learn the strength of the Lord is ours! The joy of the Lord must be that which sustains us. Then we have strength outside, and in spite, of all circumstances. Individually we ought to be so happy and so sure of our position that we have a portion to give to others. Streams of blessing should flow from us; we should be a refreshment to every one who crosses our path.

To begin with, our joy must be in the Lord. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Not rejoicing in our circumstances, but in the Lord. If we rejoice in our circumstances we shall lean on a broken reed; for circumstances change, but the Lord does not. He is “the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.”

The circumstances of the inspired writer were such as to give great weight to his exhortation, for they certainly yielded no joy. Four years in prison, chained to a soldier, such was Paul’s lot and certainly this was not calculated to make a man cheerful. Yet the letter written by him to the Philippians is filled with joy and rejoicing. Joy in circumstances, after all, would only be natural joy, whereas rejoicing in the Lord is spiritual. May the reader keep this exhortation ever before him, as much, if not more, on bright days as cloudy days, for dark days drive us to the Lord, whilst bright ones may allure us fom Him. It is easier to carry an empty cup than a full one.

Rather than weeping, the people were told to "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength" (v. 10). This is not mere natural joy, but the joy of the Lord, which is strength for doing good, such as providing for others who do not have the same advantages as we.

The word of God was "quick and powerful" in the hearts of the people, it was sharper than any two-edged sword, and pierced even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerned the thoughts and intents of their hearts; for they "wept when they heard the words of the law." But "Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep." (v. 9.) The feast of trumpets was indeed to be "a holy convocation;" and because of its typical significance, sorrow was unsuited to its character. Hence we read, "Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob." (Psalm 81:1-4.) They were therefore to be joyful on this day in communion with the mind of their God; but joy cannot be contained; it of necessity overflows, and hence they were to communicate it to others. "Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." (v. 10.) This order is instructive — communion with the heart of God, and then communion with their brethren. The first thing was to have their own hearts filled with the joy of the Lord, then for that joy to well out in blessing to the poor and needy, and thus they would find that the joy of the Lord was their strength.

The third great mark of the Christian company is "joy", as the Lord can say: "These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (v.11). The Lord speaks of this joy as "My joy," and further that it may be "in you." As regards outward circumstances, He was the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, but He ever walked in the inward joy of the Father's love, and the glorious prospect before Him. He could rejoice in spirit in carrying out the Father's will, and for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross and despised the shame, and the contradiction of sinners, that He had to meet (Luke 10:21; Heb. 12:2-3). The Psalmist could say, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and wine increased" (Ps. 4:7). The world's joy depends upon prosperous circumstances — the increase of the corn and wine. The believer's joy is that inward gladness of heart that finds its springs in the unchanging love of the Lord, and the glorious prospect that only faith can enter into. In these verses the Lord speaks of, "My love," "My commandments," and "My joy," and these marks follow in beautiful order. The Lord's unchanging love is over all; walking in obedience to His commands we shall abide in His love, and abiding in His love we shall taste of His joy.

It is generally accepted that we should read "be" instead of "remain" in this scripture, and a very slight consideration will show that the change yields the better sense. "Remain" implies that the Lord's joy was already possessed by the disciples, whereas "be" means that the Lord's object in these communications was that they might share in it, and this is really what He says. It is asked what this - His - joy is to which He alludes. It is the joy, as seen from the latter part of verse 10, which He experienced through keeping His Father's commandments and abiding in His love; in other words, it was His full enjoyment of the Father's love which He found in keeping His commandments. And He tells His disciples that if they keep His commandments they will abide in his love, for then there will be no hindrance to its manifestation to, and in, them (compare chapter 14:21), and that thus they will be sharers in His own joy, and their joy - their joy in the blessed experience of His love, and of communion with Him in His joy - will be full. Ah, what possibilities are thus opened out to the obedient heart! May we all seek to enter experimentally into this ineffable enjoyment!

May we never forget this wonderful expression! Humiliation, however precious and necessary it may be, does not give us strength. When we must face difficulties, we find this strength by occupying ourselves with the Lord, revealed in His Word. This meditation is a source of unspeakable joy for our souls, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. Wasn't this what the apostle, although afflicted and besieged with troubles, recommended to the Philippians, as the fruit of his own experience? "Rejoice in [the] Lord always!" (Phil. 4:4).

Moreover the joy of which the Lord speaks is not only a joy that remains, but He can say to His disciples it will be "in you." Being in us it is not like the joy of this world, dependent upon outward circumstances. The Psalmist could say "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and wine increased" (Ps. 4:7). Earthly joys depend on the prosperity of outward circumstances, the gladness of the Lord is in the heart. In His outward circumstances the Lord was an outcast Man and lonely — the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. In His pathway of perfect obedience to the Father's will, He abode in the constant realization of the Father's love and in that love He found the constant spring of all His joy. We too, in as far as we walk in obedience to the Lord, shall abide in the realization of His love, and, in the sunshine of His love we shall not only find His joy, but, a fulness of joy that leaves no room for grieving over the failure of all things earthly.

But it is not without importance to understand that our Lord is here presented, not as the objective channel of the grace we ever need, but as the unrivalled leader and completer of faith in the whole extent of its course. "Our" faith misleads, especially with "author and finisher," as if the Holy Spirit were here setting Him forth as beginning faith in our souls and carrying it on to the end, its source and sustainer. Not so: He is viewed as leader and perfecter in the race of faith in its entirety. In that race let us run. It cannot be without endurance any more than faith right through. But "through" or "by means of" endurance is here inadequate. The apostle uses the preposition also to express condition, as in Rom. 2:27. "With" in this case is right. In a world departed from God the believer's course lies through persecution, detraction, and hatred; and thus he must make his way with endurance or patience.

Herein our Lord was proved to the uttermost: "Who for the joy lying before him endured crucifixion, despising shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Compare Matt. 11 at the end, and John 13:31-32; 14, 17, as testimony of the joy in His view; but love, yea the Father's glory, was His motive, however the future joy cheered Him along the way. Even for us it is the same thing in principle; and the new nature, in the knowledge of God and His Son, renders us capable of it. Reward, however glorious, is never the motive; yet is it most animating in the face of danger and trial.

"Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matt. 25:21). Oh amazing! The saints enter into God's own joy: they have not only the joy which God bestows, but the joy which God enjoys.