We have lit two candles. The first reminded us of hope-the promise planted in Genesis 3:15 that God would not leave us in exile. The second reminded us of peace-God building the tabernacle and temple, refusing to abandon His people despite their rebellion. This week, we light the third candle-Joy-and we turn to the prophets who spoke into Israel’s darkest moments with an impossible promise: light is coming.
Joy is not the absence of hardship. It is presence in the midst of it. This photograph was taken in L’Moti village in northern Kenya, where a young boy paused mid-celebration during a community meal to reach toward me behind the lens. The people of L’Moti face drought, famine, and lack of access to clean water every day. And yet they remain some of the most joyful people I have ever encountered. Their joy is not wishful thinking. It is not optimism divorced from reality. It is gil-exultant, uncontainable celebration rooted in something deeper than circumstances. They embody the prophetic vision of Isaiah 35: the desert rejoicing before the rain falls, confident that God is faithful.
The Darkness Before the Light
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” – Isaiah 9:2 (ESV)
When Isaiah spoke these words, Israel was fracturing. The kingdom had split. The northern tribes faced conquest and exile. Enemies surrounded them on every side. The promises God made to Abraham, to Moses, to David-they all seemed distant, perhaps even broken. The people walked in darkness.
This was not metaphorical darkness. This was the lived reality of a nation watching its identity crumble, its security evaporate, its hope fade. They had seen the glory of God fill Solomon’s temple. They had known what it was to dwell in the presence of the Almighty. And now, that presence felt absent. The light had gone out.
Into this darkness, the prophets speak.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” Not will see. Not might see. Have seen. Isaiah speaks in the past tense, as if the light has already dawned, as if deliverance has already come, as if the promise is already fulfilled. This is the language of prophetic certainty. The future is so sure that it can be spoken of as if it has already happened.
The light is coming. And because God is faithful, the light is already here.
Joy Rooted in Certainty
The Hebrew language has multiple words for joy. Simchah (שִׂמְחָה) often refers to rejoicing and celebration. Gil (גִּיל) carries the sense of exultant, jubilant joy-the kind that cannot be contained. The prophets use both. They call Israel to rejoice not because circumstances have improved, but because God’s character guarantees His promises.
Isaiah 35 paints a vision of restoration so vivid it feels tangible:
“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing… Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” – Isaiah 35:1-2, 5-6 (ESV)
This is not passive waiting. This is active, expectant joy. The desert does not wait to bloom until the rain falls-it rejoices in anticipation of the rain. The blind do not wait to celebrate until they see-they celebrate because they trust that sight is coming. This is joy rooted not in present circumstances but in the certainty of God’s faithfulness.
Zephaniah echoes this call:
“Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!… The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” – Zephaniah 3:14, 17 (ESV)
God does not merely tolerate His people. He rejoices over them. He exults over them with singing. The joy the prophets call Israel to practice is a reflection of the joy God Himself has over His people. We rejoice because He first rejoiced over us.
The Child Who Is Coming
The promise is not abstract. The light is not a concept. Isaiah names Him:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” – Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)
A child. A son. Born to us. Given to us.
This is the fulfillment of every dwelling place God built. The garden, the tabernacle, the temple-they all pointed forward to this moment. God does not merely dwell among His people through a structure or a priesthood. He dwells as one of His people. The Light is a person. The hope is a person. The peace is a person. And His name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
This promise is unique to Yahweh. No other religion has a god who becomes one with his people. The gods of the nations remain distant, untouchable, uninvolved. Ishtar does not become human. Rama and Buddha do not take on flesh to dwell among mortals. Allah does not step into history as a child born in a manger.
But Yahweh does. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Not human effort. Not political maneuvering. Not religious ritual. God Himself will do it. And because God is faithful, the promise is as good as done.
Joy in Advent – The Light Has Dawned
Advent invites us to practice the same posture the prophets called Israel to: joy rooted not in present circumstances but in the certainty that God keeps His promises.
We live in the tension of the already and the not yet. The light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2 is no longer future tense-it is past tense for us. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Christ has come. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Immanuel-God with us-has been born.
And yet, we still wait. We wait for the day when the government will fully rest on His shoulders, when justice and righteousness will fill the earth, when the increase of His peace will have no end. We wait for the second advent.
But we do not wait in despair. We wait with joy. We light the third candle and we rejoice, not because our circumstances are perfect, but because the One who promised is faithful. The light has come. The darkness is defeated. And the joy we practice now is a foretaste of the joy that will be ours when He returns.
We rejoice because God rejoices over us. We sing because He sings over us. We celebrate because the promise He planted in Genesis 3:15, the presence He pursued in the tabernacle and temple, the light He promised through the prophets-it all culminated in a child born in Bethlehem.
The third candle burns bright. Joy is not wishful thinking. It is confident celebration rooted in the character of the God who refuses to abandon His people. He steadfastly remains present.
From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:26-27