Tears and song of joy (1)

Wednesday March 31, 2021

Tears and song of joy (1)

He goes weeping, carrying the seed which he sows; he returns with a song of joy, carrying his sheaves. Psalm 126: 6

This psalm speaks primarily, in its first application, of the Jews ascending from Babylon to Jerusalem following the edict of Cyrus in 538 BC. Prophetically, it announces the millennial reign of Christ which will result in the gathering of the Jews in the Promised Land. However, the Holy Spirit, from verse 5, leads the author to speak of the sowers in general, and then of a sower in particular, with the obvious intention of directing the reader's attention to the Messiah and his mission among men. In the verse quoted, the sower is the same man who, before sowing, prepared the earth to receive the seed.

What a beautiful illustration of the tireless work of the Lord Jesus ! He got up long before daybreak to pray before devoting himself to his task (Mark 1:35) : he taught, performed miracles, proclaimed the kingdom of God, revealed the Father... by going from city to village throughout Judea, Galilee and even Samaria, doing good (Acts 10:38). And what reception did he receive ? Rejection, contempt, mockery, hatred, jealousy, opposition... nothing has been spared him. And before the ravages of sin and the blindness of the people, Jesus wept (John 11:35 ; Luke 19:41). What sorrows, how many subjects of sadness marked his ministry ! Christians often evoke them when they worship together ; they understand a little the immensity of Jesus' love, and that makes their hearts burn. But their thoughts must go further.

The quoted verse invites us to take a further step. In the land where he has known suffering, Jesus will return in glory among his repentant people. He will know the deep joy of one who finally reaps the fruit of his labors (Isaiah 9:3 ; 65:18,19). But the joy of the Lord will not be limited to his millennial reign. Surrounded by the innumerable multitudes of the redeemed, he will experience eternal joy, compared to that on a wedding day from which all subject of sorrow is definitively banished (Revelation 19:7).

Let us already rejoice in this joy of Jesus which we will soon witness with all his own (Isaiah 35:10) !

Source (Pleasing the Lord)