How Does Deuteronomy Help Us Rejoice in the Lord?

As our name suggests, Desiring God Church emphasizes the importance of our delighting in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We often quote verses such as Psalm 16:11 and Philippians 4:4:

In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

But consider how often we find similar commands in the book of Deuteronomy – often prescribing rejoicing during the regular feasts or when bringing tithes and offerings:

Deut. 12:7 (NET): Both you and your families must feast [at the place God designates] before the LORD your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he has blessed you.

Deut. 12:12 (NET): You shall rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God

Deut. 12:18 (NET): In that place you will rejoice before the LORD your God in all the output of your labor.

Deut. 14:26 [When the people bring their tithes to the place God designates]: You shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

From Deut. 16:10-15: Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you. 11 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there…. 14 You shall rejoice in your feast…. 15 For seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

Deut. 26:5-11 [When the people offer from their first harvest in the Promised Land]: You shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

Deut. 27:7 [After crossing the Jordan and building an altar]: You shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God.

From these and related passages, consider four observations that help us today to rejoice in God:

First: Rejoice corporately! In our individualistic culture, we easily internalize commands such as Philippians 4:4: “I must rejoice in God in myself!” In contrast, all the quoted passages refer to rejoicing in God together with others. So today we should rejoice together in God not only in our worship services but also at our meals, at family events, at gatherings in our homes. By so doing, we help one another also to rejoice internally.

Second: Recognize that all you have is a gift from God! God owes you nothing. You have earned nothing. As the excerpt from Deuteronomy 26 emphasizes, only a handful of people went to Egypt, and God multiplied them, making them a great nation. Then He rescued them from oppression and by His power brought them into a fruitful land. Just so with us. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, and by His great mercy through the work of His Son He made us alive in Jesus. Every breath, every heartbeat, every morsel of food is an undeserved gift from God.

Third, and related: Recognize that even what you “earn” is a gift from God! Deuteronomy 12:7 says we are to “rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he has blessed you.” Thus, even what seems to result from our work is a blessing from God. Deuteronomy 8:17-18 elaborates on this idea: “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.” If I produce more output than others through diligent work, that doesn’t mean I am better than others, or that I deserve the additional output. Rather, the diligence and the ability to work well are gifts that others do not have. I should therefore rejoice in God all the more.

Finally: Rejoice in the Giver rather than the gift! When they prosper, the Israelites are to rejoice in the giving of tithes and during their regular feasts as repeated reminders of the One Who is Himself good and holy and loving. The houses, the herds, the flocks, the silver, the gold, health, children, protection – all these are pointers to God. Just so with us. Every good and perfect gift is from Him (James 1:17). We must not be like the thousands in John 6 who ate the miraculous bread and simply desired more, failing to see what it signified. Rather, we can take the occasion of every delight – cardinals at the feeder, sunshine on new leaves, a whiff of Clematis flowers, a brisk early-morning walk, tasty cobbler, a toddler’s smile – and rejoice in our trinitarian God, from Whom, through Whom, and unto Whom are all these joys.

[All quotations are ESV unless otherwise indicated.]

Christmas Exposes the Heart

Christmas exposes the heart. That is to say, Jesus’ presence exposes the heart.

Christmas does so in two ways,

  1. Christmas exposes what the heart treasures
  2. Christmas exposes the heart’s knowledge of or lack of knowledge of God

We can see this illustrated in the familiar story of the wise men coming to worship Jesus in Matthew 2:1–12.

First we’ll consider how the first Christmas (Jesus’ initial presence on earth) revealed what the hearts of the wise men treasure. Then, we’ll consider how that first Christmas revealed what Herod’s heart treasured. And finally, we’ll see how Christmas revealed the wise men’s knowledge of God and exposed Herod’s lack of knowledge of God.

 

1) Christmas Exposes What the Heart Treasures
To arrive at our conclusion about what the wise men’s hearts treasure, let’s make atwo observations about the wise men that Jesus’ first advent reveals.

 

The Wise Men
First, the wise men are looking for and waiting for King Jesus. What is the quest of the wise men? Matthew 2:2 tells us: They come to Herod in Jerusalem “saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?’”

The wise men are searching for the new born Jesus. Why now? What inspired them to search now? The reason they offer is: “For we saw his star when it rose” (Matthew 2:2).

These wise men are familiar with the prophecy that Balaam spoke concerning Israel when they were camped on the plains of Moab. While Israel made their way to the Promised Land, Balaam prophesied that a king would rise from the Jews like a star. Numbers 24:17 records the prophecy,

 

“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17).

 

The wise men knew this prophecy, and they sat on it in hopeful anticipation. A when a stellar phenomenon appeared in the sky, they took this as their cue: the king is coming. The wise men were not caught off guard by his coming. Rather, the wise men were looking for his coming in hopeful anticipation. The wise men were looking for and waiting for King Jesus.

 

Second, Jesus’ presence moves the wise men to joyful, sacrificial worship. The rest of Matthew 2:2 makes clear that the wise men, upon seeing the star, seek out Jesus in order to worship him,

 

“we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2)

 

How do they worship Jesus? Joyfully. Well this isn’t hum drum dutiful worship. This is white hot, joyful, incandescent worship. Matthew piles up the descriptions of their joy in 2:10 when he tells us that when they saw the star, “they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” Jesus’ presence is their joy.

What else marks their worship? Sacrificial giving. Matthew 2:11 tells us that they give gifts, treasures to him—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The wise men were waiting for Jesus and they came to joyfully worship him personally by giving gifts.

What do these two observations (their hopeful waiting for the king and their joyful, sacrificial worship) together tell us about what the wise men’s hearts treasure? To answer, let’s ask one more question: Does Jesus, the Son of God and King of all creation need the wise men’s presence or their gifts? The answer is a resounding no.

The Sovereign God, Creator of the Universe needs nothing. Jesus the Son of God incarnate certainly has no need of something these wise men or his worshipers could bring as a gift or provide by their presence. So why do the wise men look and wait for Jesus to come and then journey what was likely a great distance to personally bring Jesus these treasures? They waited for Jesus, they journeyed to Jesus, and they brought Jesus these treasures not because Jesus had need of them personally or what they could provide, but because they had need of Jesus.

The wise men did all this as a way of saying, “Jesus, you are worth more than these or any earthly treasures.”

Piper reflecting on this scene says this,

 

When you give a gift to Christ like this, it’s a way of saying something like this: The joy that I pursue is not the hope of getting rich with things from you. I have not come to you for your things but for yourself. And this desire I now intensify and demonstrate by giving up things in the hope of enjoying you more, not the things. By giving to you what you do not need an what I might enjoy, I am saying more earnestly and more authentically, ‘You are my treasure, not these things.’ [1]

 

When Jesus, whom they had waited for in hopeful anticipation, showed up at that first Christmas, their response was rejoicing with exceedingly great joy. Their response was to go and worship. That first Christmas, Jesus’ presence revealed that the wise men’s hearts treasured Jesus above all else.

Compare this to Herod.

 

Herod
First, Herod was not looking for or waiting for Jesus. What was Herod’s response when the wise men informed him of their mission? First, Matthew 2:3 makes clear that Herod was surprised. Matthew tells us that upon hearing the news from the wise men of the coming promised king, Herod had to ask his chief priests and scribes where the Christ was going to be born. Here is a king in Israel, who is not even looking for the coming of the promised Messiah. Jesus is not even on his radar.

Second, Jesus’ presence troubles Herod. Matthew 2:3 makes clear that upon hearing the news of Jesus’ presence, Herod wasn’t only taken off guard in surprise, he was also troubled. Herod’s response was not to rejoice exceedingly with great joy. His response was distress. Why?

Well, what did Herod ultimately seek to do? Herod sought to kill Jesus, and he went so far as killing all the male children in Bethlehem two years old and under (Matthew 2:16–18). What does this tell us? Herod saw Jesus’ presence not as a reason for joy, but as a threat to his joy, namely his throne.

So, Herod was not even looking for Jesus, and at his arrival he was greatly troubled and sought to destroy him because he saw him as a threat. What do these two observations tell us about what Herod’s heart treasures? Herod’s heart treasures his own rule and reign over Jesus.

So here in the wise men and King Herod’s response to that first Christmas, we get a picture into the human heart. When Jesus enters into our lives, his presence demands a response. Our response to his presence exposes what our heart truly treasures. Do we treasure Jesus above all things, or do we see him as a threat to something we treasure more?

If we are growing in Christ, both of these responses will be present in our lives. We should worship Jesus with white hot passion sacrificially giving our time, energy, and resources as a way of expressing our treasuring of him and for the sake of his kingdom advance. But we should not be surprised when we suddenly find ourselves feeling disturbed by Jesus’ presence either. None of us treasures Jesus as we should. We should expect that his presence in our lives will begin to reveal things we tend to treasure more than him. And when he exposes those idols and rises like a star in our hearts to remind us, “I am your King. I am your treasure. Worship me,” we should shake off our troubled thoughts, emphatically cast aside and abandon our idols, and run to him, rejoicing exceedingly with great joy in worship.

Christmas exposes what the heart treasures. And, by doing so, the bottom line is this: Christmas exposes who we know or think God is.

 

2) Christmas Exposes the Heart’s Knowledge of or Lack of Knowledge of God
Christmas reveals whether the heart rightly knows God as the all benevolent giver or wrongly thinks of God as a malevolent taker. Consider the contrast between the wise men and Herod again.

 

The Wise Men
The wise men’s treasuring of Jesus above all else reveals that they know God to be the most benevolent giver. They recognize that the God, who has need of nothing, has given to them something they desperately need in Jesus. Their actions reveal that they recognize Jesus’ presence will cost them something, because they give up expensive treasures and time and energy just to be with him. Yet their worship reveals that they know whatever God may demand from them, he has given them something so much more in Jesus. They trust God’s goodness toward them to take away what they don’t need and give them what they truly need. The wise men know God to be the most benevolent giver.

 

Herod
Herod’s treasuring of his throne exposes that he sees God as a malevolent taker. He does not truly know God, who gives eternal joy and life, and who seeks nothing nor needs nothing in return other than one’s joyful surrender to his rule and reign. Herod sees God’s king, Jesus, as one who would take his power to his ultimate harm. But, Jesus would take only in order to give something greater: salvation. Herod wrongly believes God to be a malevolent taker.

 

Christmas Reveals Who God Is
Christmas reveals that God is the God who would give us his very own Son so that we might be with him forever. And if this is the case, how will he not give us all things?

 

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

 

God is the most benevolent of givers, who needs and seeks nothing in return but your joy, and who offers us the greatest treasure in his Son. So let Christmas has its full effect on your heart this year—let the presence of Jesus expose your heart. And, see Jesus as your greatest treasure. Rejoice at his presence. And, when you find yourself disturbed by his presence exposing a hidden treasure you didn’t know was there, bring it to him freely. For he promises to give you so much more in return.

[1] John Piper, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: Daily Readings for Advent (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), 51–52.