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JONAH’S GRATEFUL PRAYER

Jonah 1:17-2:10 NET

1:17 The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

2:1 Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish

2 and said, “I called out to the LORD from my distress, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried out for help, and you heard my prayer.

3 You threw me into the deep waters, into the middle of the sea; the ocean current engulfed me; all the mighty waves you sent swept over me.

4 I thought I had been banished from your sight, that I would never again see your holy temple!

5 Water engulfed me up to my neck; the deep ocean surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

6 I went down to the very bottoms of the mountains; the gates of the netherworld barred me in forever; but you brought me up from the Pit, O LORD, my God.

7 When my life was ebbing away, I called out to the LORD, and my prayer came to your holy temple.

8 Those who worship worthless idols forfeit the mercy that could be theirs.

9 But as for me, I promise to offer a sacrifice to you with a public declaration of praise; I will surely do what I have promised. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

10 Then the LORD commanded the fish and it disgorged Jonah on dry land.

This month’s theme is God’s heart for the nations – piggybacking on the message Penny shared on October 31st from Matthew 24:14. God’s heart is to redeem the lost from all the nations, so Jesus commissioned us to go to all the nations and preach the gospel to them. We have a job to do, and nothing should distract us from it – not even our expectation that we are at the end of the age. In fact, the closer we come to the end, the more evangelizing we must be doing.

Jonah had a job to do. He was sent to the capital city of the nation of Assyria – Nineveh. He didn’t want to do it, so he boarded a ship going far away from Nineveh. But as we saw last week, God has ways of getting us back on track when we decide to go the wrong way. Jonah wound up being thrown overboard, and God provided alternate transportation to get him to Nineveh: he was swallowed by a big fish.

Jonah prayed from the stomach of the fish (1-2).

I used to think that Jonah’s prayer from the stomach of the fish was a prayer of repentance. I now realize that I was wrong.

I made a mistake in my interpretation of this text. I want to share with you today the fact that I was wrong and had to change my interpretation. But I also want to trace the process that I used to come to the wrong interpretation. We need to be honest with each other about our fallibility. God’s word is infallible, but we are not. His word is inerrant, but we are going to make errors when we interpret it. We need to be honest about that.

So, here is the process I went through when I first read Jonah 2 – and came up with a wrong interpretation. The first thing I noticed was how Jonah said that he had prayed from the belly of Sheol.

Sheol (שְׁאוֹל) is one of the Hebrew words that the writers of the Old Testament used for the state of being dead. It’s not the only word they use for this state. Sometimes they use the word death. Sometimes they use the word destruction. Sometimes they use the word grave. Sometimes they use the word pit. But the biblical authors often use these words to express the idea that they are in danger – that they are close to dying.

When the Hebrew writers actually talk about Sheol, they describe it as a deep, dark, silent place where everyone goes when they die, and rest without any conscious awareness until they are woken by resurrection.

But often the biblical authors talk about being near Sheol as being in great danger – as being almost dead. Here are some examples of that:

“O LORD, you pulled me up from Sheol; you rescued me from among those descending into the grave” (Psalm 30:3 NET).

“The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, the snares of death trapped me” (Psalm 18:5 NET).

“But God will rescue my life from the power of Sheol; certainly he will pull me to safety” (Psalm 49:15 NET).

That is what Jonah meant when he said that he had called out to God “from the belly of Sheol.” That part I got right.

But what confused me was that the text says that Jonah prayed from the stomach of the fish that had swallowed him. I thought the stomach of the fish was the belly of Sheol. This passage actually uses two separate Hebrew words to make it clear that…

Jonah was in the belly of Sheol before he was swallowed by the fish (3-7).

In verse 3, Jonah says that God – not the pagan sailors – threw him into the deep waters, into the middle of the sea. He said the ocean current engulfed him; that all the mighty waves God sent swept over him. In other words, he had been buried at sea while still alive. He did not expect to stay alive long.

In verse 4, he said that he thought he had been banished from God’s sight, that he would never again see God’s holy temple. In other words, he did not expect to be rescued from that watery grave.

In verse 5 he said that water engulfed him up to his neck; the deep ocean surrounded him; seaweed was wrapped around his head.

The Hebrew word for “neck” is nefesh (נֶפֶשׁ). That’s the word that lots of translations render “soul.” But it’s not what people call a soul. When people think of a soul they think of something immaterial that survives the death of the body. But Jonah’s nefesh was his neck. He was nefesh-deep in the water, and the seaweed was wrapped around his head, forcing him under the water. Jonah was about to drown.

Then he went under. In verse 6, Jonah says that he went down to the very bottoms of the mountains. The NET says “the gates of the netherworld barred me in forever.” That’s not a good translation. Jonah is not talking about the netherworld. The ESV states it better: ” I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.” Jonah is using prison language. He says that he sunk to the bottom and was being held there permanently. He was going to that watery grave. He was going to Sheol, with no hope of rescue.

Then the rescue happened. Jonah says that the LORD brought him up from the Pit. Remember that the Pit (the Hebrew word here is shachat (שַׁחַת)) is a synonym for Sheol. Jonah was in the belly of Sheol when he was drowning in the water – before he was in the stomach of the fish.

In verse 7, Jonah says that when his life was ebbing away, he called out to the LORD, and his prayer came to God’s holy temple.

Jonah’s prayer from the fish was not a prayer for help, it was a prayer of gratitude (8-10).

The fish was not Sheol. The fish was God’s gift to Jonah. It was his means of rescue from the grave. Jonah’s prayer from the fish was not a prayer for help, is was a prayer of gratitude because God spared his life.

In his prayer, he thought about those pagan sailors who had thrown him into the ocean to save their lives. He said in verse 8 that those who worship worthless idols forfeit the mercy that could be theirs. Actually, those sailors had not turned back to their pagan idols. They had offered sacrifices to Jonah’s God because of the power he displayed.

And in verse 9, Jonah promised to do the same thing. He had learned his lesson. In verse 10, we learn that the LORD commanded the fish and it disgorged Jonah on dry land. Jonah went from a grateful prayer for salvation to a grateful life of service.

That is what is supposed to happen to us as well. We are saved to serve. We are rescued to obey the great commission. The God whose heart is for the nations sends someone to our nation to preach the gospel to us. We believe in the gospel and are saved. Then, we are supposed to go to someone else, somewhere else, so that they too have the opportunity to be saved.

Now, Jonah could have prayed this prayer, and then gone back to his own life, and forgotten about the call to Nineveh. But he didn’t do that. His gratitude produced a commitment to follow his commission.

Now, I submit to you that you and I have been rescued from a worse fate than that of Jonah. He was rescued from drowning and going to Sheol – the grave. But we have been rescued from the second death – destruction in Gehenna. We have been rescued from the death from which there is no resurrection. Jonah was rescued from a temporary grave at the bottom of the sea. We have been rescued from permanent destruction.

Jonah had the good sense to high tail it to Nineveh after he got burped up on the beach. He was not perfect – he still had some lessons to learn. But the God who saved him – sent him. He was going to preach to those Ninevites.

Brothers and sisters, the God who saved us has also sent us. Jesus said, “Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

” (John 20:21). It is a great thing to praise the Lord for rescuing us from hell. It is an even greater thing to show our gratitude like Jonah did – by seeing to it that other lost people get an opportunity to be saved.

LORD, make us grateful and obedient servants like Jonah.

WORSHIP CORRUPTED

2 Kings 21:1-16 NET

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the LORD drove out from before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the LORD’s temple, about which the LORD had said, “Jerusalem will be my home.” 5 In the two courtyards of the LORD’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 6 He passed his son through the fire and practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits, and appointed magicians to supervise it. He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 7 He put an idol of Asherah he had made in the temple, about which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home. 8 I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law my servant Moses ordered them to obey.” 9 But they did not obey, and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed from before the Israelites. 10 So the LORD announced through his servants the prophets: 11 “King Manasseh of Judah has committed horrible sins. He has sinned more than the Amorites before him and has encouraged Judah to sin by worshiping his disgusting idols. 12 So this is what the LORD God of Israel says, ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it. 13 I will destroy Jerusalem the same way I did Samaria and the dynasty of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides. 14 I will abandon this last remaining tribe among my people and hand them over to their enemies; they will be plundered and robbed by all their enemies, 15 because they have done evil in my sight and have angered me from the time their ancestors left Egypt right up to this very day!'” 16 Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end, in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the LORD.

We have been studying what the Bible says about worship. We understand that worship is very important to Jesus. It is not something we can do without. We saw last week that worship is something we should do regularly, but we should reserve our worship for God alone.

Jesus affirmed this when he was being tempted by Satan. He said to the devil “You are to worship the LORD your God and serve only him” (Matthew 4:10). We can appreciate others and even respect them. But worship is exclusive to God.

One of the reasons for this is that God’s character and power are flawless. His glory is above all others. For that reason, Moses commanded Israel to worship God exclusively. But he knew that they would fail to do that.

God told Moses that “after I have brought them to the land I promised to their ancestors – one flowing with milk and honey – and they eat their fill and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and worship them; they will reject me and break my covenant” (Deuteronomy 31:20).

Worship would become corrupted.

This happened many times in the history of God’s people. Today’s text highlights how worship was corrupted during the reign of King Manasseh of Judah.

Manasseh corrupted the worship in Judah by copying the religions of the nations (1-5)

Notice that Manasseh’s father – King Hezekiah – had torn down the high places that the pagans had used for worship. So Manasseh cannot claim that he was just doing what his father did before him. He chose to undo Hezekiah’s reforms. His father had taken steps to purge Judah of its idolatry, but Manasseh reversed his policies.

Manasseh invited other gods and goddesses to take their place in Jerusalem, which God had specifically designated as his home. How would you feel if someone came into your home uninvited by you? Manasseh had no business inviting these other gods into the Lord’s home.

God had warned his people that if they tried to be like all the nations around them, they would suffer the same fate as those nations. Some of those nations had been destroyed when the Israelites came into the promised land. The Lord had warned Israel that if they became idol worshipers like those nations…

“I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. I will abhor you. I will lay your cities waste and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas. I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste” (Leviticus 26:30-33 NET).

When it comes to worship, God does not want us to be like everyone else. He wants us to worship him exclusively and he wants us to worship him differently than all the other religions worship their gods.

In this modern age, there are two major ways we can follow in the footsteps of Manasseh and corrupt biblical worship. One is that we can borrow worship practices from other religions. We can sometimes be tempted to borrow practices from non-Christian religions and Christianize them. We need to be careful that we examine the origins of certain practices.

But there is another way we can corrupt our worship as Manasseh did. The most prominent religion of today is atheistic secular humanism. We can build our high places to the god of human progress. If it replaces our devotion and loyalty to the God of the Bible, it corrupts his worship.

But Manasseh went even further than this.

Manasseh corrupted the worship in Judah by encouraging demonic practices (6-11).

The king passed his son through the fire (in other words, he sacrificed one of his sons to the pagan god Molech) and he also practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits, and appointed magicians to supervise it.

He opened the door to every kind of demonic activity that the Lord had labeled detestable. If he had published newspapers, he would have put the daily horoscope in them. He hired palm readers, and people to hold seances. He had his own royal magicians. These were not illusionists and sleight-of-hand magicians. It was practitioners of the magic arts. When it came to corrupting worship, Manasseh boldly went where no man had gone before. He plunged his nation into the darkness.

Because Manasseh corrupted the worship of Judah, the LORD pledged to wipe Jerusalem clean (12-16).

God could not let this sacrilege continue. But notice that God was not only going to judge Manasseh. Since the king led the nation into corrupted worship, the whole nation would have to suffer.

Since Manasseh has invited false gods and Satanic magic into God’s house – God was going to have to do some house cleaning. He likened it to cleaning a plate on both sides. It doesn’t make sense to just clean a plate on one side, because if you stack the plate afterward, and it is still dirty on the bottom, it will dirty the next plate on the top.

God said he will destroy Jerusalem the same way he did Samaria and the dynasty of Ahab. He will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides.

He used foreign empires to take away the kingdoms from those kings. He did that because he could not and cannot tolerate hypocrisy. He cannot allow those who worship other gods to pretend to worship him too.

James tells us to draw near to God and he will draw near to us. He tells us sinners to cleanse our hands. He tells us double-minded people to make our hearts pure (James 4:8). God hates all sin, but he particularly detests corrupted worship.

LORD, we come to you confessing that we have failed to worship you exclusively. Forgive us, LORD, and show us how to clean our hands of this sin-stain. Show us how to make our hearts pure, and our minds singular. We want to worship you the right way.

Here is the audio to Penny’s sermon on September 19th, 2021.

THE MAN WHO WAS TAKEN AWAY

Hebrews 11:5-6 (Disciple’s Literal New Testament)

“By faith Enoch was removed, so as not to see death: “And he was not found because God removed him”. For before the removal, he has been attested to have pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For the one coming-to God must believe that He is, and He becomes the rewarder to the ones seeking Him out.”

I am returning to the series on the heroes of faith that I started on November 15th of last year. In that sermon, I looked at Abel, whose story is told in Hebrews 11:1-4. He was a man who had a very short life, but he did not throw away his one shot. When he had the opportunity to demonstrate faith, he did it.

Today I am going to talk about Enoch. Now, there are three myths about Enoch, and the first time I wrote this sermon, I spent the whole time dispelling them. I dumped that sermon, and rewrote it yesterday. Every thing I said in it was true, but it is just not what I need to say about living a life of faith. Here is a summary of that message:

• Enoch did not go to heaven. The Bible says that no one has gone to heaven except Jesus. Neither Genesis nor Hebrews claims that Enoch was an exception.

• Enoch did not become immortal. The Bible says “in Adam all die” and that includes Enoch, who was the seventh generation from Adam. In fact, not one of these heroes of faith mentioned in this chapter became immortal. Hebrews 11:13 said “All these died in faith” – including Enoch. Enoch was removed so as not to see death – not his own death, but the death of his descendants in the flood.

• Enoch was not sinless. His personal righteousness was not what made him different from everybody else in his day. Genesis 5:24. says he “walked with God.” To walk with God is to have a relationship with him. How did Enoch get that relationship? Genesis does not say.

But Hebrews does. Hebrews 11 says that Enoch pleased God because of his faith. The gospel tells us that we too can please God by putting our faith in him. All you have to do is believe that God exists, and believe that he rewards the ones who seek him out.

The question I want to address in today’s sermon is this: What choices did Enoch make that set him apart from his generation as a person of faith?

Enoch chose to believe in God.

Our text says that “the one coming-to God must believe that He is” and Enoch did that. He lived in a generation that was turning its back on its creator, and he chose to acknowledge God instead.

All of these Heroes of faith that the author of Hebrews lists are remembered for different reasons. But one thing that is true of each one of them is that he or she chose to believe in God when others chose to ignore or reject him.

The disciples saw Jesus curse a fig tree. They saw the tree wither and die before their eyes. Peter thought “wow, look at that.” Jesus said “Have faith in God.” It’s not about a dead tree. It’s about a living God. That’s why Jesus used that opportunity to teach them about praying to God and expecting forgiveness from God. The same power that can destroy a tree and remove a mountain can also forgive sins. He is God, and our first choice must be to believe in him.

Enoch chose to seek God.

Our text refers to “the one coming-to God” and “the ones seeking Him out.” When his generation was seeking everything but God, Enoch was seeking the God who created everything. Ours is a generation very much like that in which Enoch lived. We have scientists who dedicate their lives to knowledge so that they can solve the world’s problems. But these very same people have often turned their back on the one who holds everything together by his wisdom and power.

The Wise Men came to Herod seeking Jesus, but soon discovered that he was not there, so they set out for Bethlehem. If they had turned back and returned home after Jerusalem, we would not know about them. They were truly wise men because they kept seeking for Jesus until they found him.

Enoch was like that. He heard about God from his parents. He heard stories about God passed on by oral tradition. But he was not satisfied with that. He wanted to have a personal experience with God.

Brothers and sisters, please don’t let family or tradition be your only reason for identifying as Christians. Seek a genuine relationship with God through Jesus Christ!

Enoch chose to please God.

Our text says that “he has been attested to have pleased God.” When the generation all around him were choosing to disappoint God, he was choosing to please God.

The apostle Paul told the Roman Christians that those who are in the flesh cannot please God because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God (Romans 8:7-8). He commended the Thessalonians because they were living by the instructions that he gave them, and that obedience was pleasing God (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

So, we learn from both testaments that pleasing God is possible. But in Paul’s generation and in Enoch’s generation, the natural inclination of people’s hearts was against it. Pleasing God will not come naturally. It has to be a conscious choice to go against the grain.

Enoch chose to be faithful to God.

Genesis tells us that Enoch “walked with God.” His generation had chosen to walk away from God. They had the opportunity to have a relationship with their creator and to leave a legacy of blessing and hope. But it was not to be. Their refusal to walk with God would bring death and destruction.

But Enoch’s choice to walk with God meant that he would be removed. By God’s grace, he would not live to see the devastation and destruction cause by his generation’s rebellion.

But what did it mean for Enoch to walk with God. He did not have the Bible. He did not have a church or temple. He did not have the Law or the gospel.

What did he know about walking with God? He only knew that his ancestors had heard the sound of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they had hidden themselves from his presence among the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:8). Sin had kept Adam and Even from seeking God and from walking with him.

Enoch chose to come out of hiding and walk with his God. He faced his own fears and guilt and decided that his own imperfections were not going to keep him from fellowship with the Perfect One.

That is walking by faith. It is being faithful to the God who wants us to walk with him. God’s presence in the garden was an invitation. Sin kept Adam and Eve from answering the invitation. Faith enabled Enoch to answer God’s invitation for a walk.

Enoch chose to trust God for his eternal destiny.

Enoch believed that God “becomes the rewarder to the ones seeking Him out.”

Besides Genesis 5, the genealogies, and Hebrews 11, the only other biblical reference to Enoch is a prophesy he gave about the Lord coming in judgment. That prophecy is recorded in the book of Jude. So, Enoch had the spiritual insight to understand that some day God was going to judge the world.

We don’t know what Enoch believed about his personal destiny. But if he believed that the ungodly were going to be judged, he must have also believed that the faithful would be rewarded. In today’s text, the author of Hebrews gives Enoch as a witness to God as a rewarder.

One day, Enoch is going to walk with God again – and forever. God offers you and me the same invitation. He knows we have sinned and fall short of his glory. We don’t deserve to have fellowship with him. But he has sent his Son as a sacrifice to atone for our sin, so that we can once again not only enter his presence, but walk with him.

Jesus instructed John to write a letter to the church in Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6. He said that the city had a few people who had not stained their clothing by hypocrisy. He promised them that he would not erase their names from the book of life, but confess their names before his Father. He also promised them that they would some day walk with him in white clothing.

We were created to go for a walk, and for that walk to never end. Have you started your walk with God yet?

OUR JOY IS COMING

John 16:20-24 (Christian Standard Bible)

“I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you” (John 16:22b).

We sing this hymn every Christmas, but it was not originally written as a Christmas Carol. In fact, the song is more about the second advent than the first. What is it? It is “Joy to the World” by Isaac Watts.

Watts originally wrote this hymn as an interpretation of Psalm 98, which says “Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises” Psalm 98:4 NASB).

It is appropriate for us to sing about joy at Christmas though. The Christmas cards remind us of that.

During Christmas, we share the joy of giving and getting gifts. We share the joy of life together with friends and family. Also, because it comes at the end of the year, we can know the joy of stepping back and seeing the year in the big picture. Even if we have had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year, we can usually find some reason to be joyful.

The New Testament associates the story of the birth of Christ with joy.

• When the wise men saw the star “they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” (Matthew 2:10).

• The angel Gabriel told Zechariah that he would have joy and gladness, and many would rejoice at his son’s birth (Luke 1:14).

• And that baby himself, John the Baptist – leaped in his mother’s womb for joy when his mother heard Mary’s greeting (Luke 1:41,44).

• And who could forget what the angels told the shepherds “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10).

The New Testament also associates the Christian life with joy.

• The apostle Paul said “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

• He listed joy as one of the evidences of the Spirit’s presence – what he called the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

• The apostle James encouraged his readers to “consider it all joy” when they encounter various trials, because those trials test our faith and are perfecting us (James 1:2).

• The apostle John once reflected on his writing ministry. He said “these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete” (1 John 1:4). Passing on the gospel message comes with its own joy.

I struggled with using this text from John 16 because I think it is usually misunderstood. When people comment on Jesus’ words to the disciples, they think he is explaining about his resurrection. So, let me go back a few verses to get the context. Jesus had just told his disciples that it was for their benefit that he is going away, because if he didn’t go away, the Holy Spirit would not come (16:7).

The Holy Spirit did not come while Christ was in the tomb. So, he is not talking about the interval between his death and resurrection here. He is talking about the interval between his ascension and the second coming.

Secondly, Jesus had told his disciples in the same discourse that he was going to the Father.

• “I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me” (16:10).

• “I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father” (16:28).

The reason most people misunderstand what Jesus is talking about here is that they think Jesus went to the Father when he died. He did not. He went to the grave when he died. He went to the Father at his ascension.

Remember, after his resurrection, Jesus told Mary “Don’t cling to me … since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). That is when he went to the Father.

So, the joy that Jesus is predicting in John 16 is not the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. It is the ultimate joy of the return of Christ in his glory at the second advent.

when our ultimate joy comes, we will forget our sorrows

“Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world” (20-21).

Jesus is talking about a period of mourning while the world rejoices. He is talking about a time when the world celebrates, but Christians suffer.

The good news that Jesus is sharing is that the period of suffering will end. It will be like labor pains. The joy of the newborn child will overtake the memory of the suffering that preceded it.

Jesus described that period of birth pangs in his eschatological discourse in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21.

before our ultimate joy comes, we can find joy through prayer

“In that day you will not ask me anything. Truly I tell you, anything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete” (23-24).

I think the “that day” that Jesus refers to in verse 23 is today: the day of the interval between the ascension of Christ, and his return. Nobody on earth can see Jesus, so we cannot ask him for anything directly. But Jesus assures us that we can ask the Father for things in his name. In fact, he wants us to pray so that our joy can be complete today.

We are in the time of sorrow and suffering, but prayer is that tool that Jesus prescribes to give us joy during this time. In other words, until Jesus returns, every day is Christmas day, but only for people who are in the habit of praying. Joy is available, but it is not going to come automatically. Even if you have faith, you will not necessarily experience joy. Joy comes to those who have the audacity to ask for it.

Just like wisdom. It is not automatic. James says “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

Joy is literally ours for the asking. God loves us and wants us to have it. All he asks is that we ask. In fact, our joy is always going to be incomplete unless we start asking. Jesus said “Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete” (24).

when our ultimate joy comes, it will be permanent

“So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you” (22).

It is important for me to once again state that Jesus is talking about the interval between his ascension and his return here. It is true that Christ’s resurrection gave his disciples joy. But Jesus also knew that they were going to experience a long period of sorrow. He was preparing them for that.

We are living in that time. We can have joy in fellowship with God and each other in this time. We can even have a more complete joy by asking for it. But our ultimate joy still awaits.

What Jesus told his disciples, he is also telling us. He is saying “you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you.” No one will be able to take away that joy because it will be permanent.

The gifts we get this Christmas cannot give us ultimate joy, because they will not last. Even the good times we share with friends and family will not last. But our ultimate joy is coming, and when he comes, he is coming to stay.

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