Joyous is the Word – Adolph Saphir

The follow is an excerpt from Adolph Saphir’s book Christ and the Scriptures, published in 1867. You can read the book here: https://standingbeforegodblog.wordpress.com/the-works-of-adolph-saphir/

Joyous is the Word of God. There is no other book in which reigns such calm peace, overflowing in joy unspeakable and full of glory. Here shines a light which triumphs over every darkness, and breathes that hope which is full of life (1 Peter 1:3) and strength. Paradise was not yet closed, but the voice of a Saviour God interrupted the dread silence which sin had introduced, by the promise of redemption and victory; and throughout the whole Bible we hear the joyful sound, that God hath given to us sinful men a Benjamin’s portion, double—for all our sins (Isaiah 40), even abounding grace and infinite love. The triumphal song of heaven and eternity, “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,” is already heard, though we are still crying in this vale of sorrow and temptation, “Deliver us from evil.” Here sound the peals of marriage bells—even the marriage of the Lamb and the Bride. Here is revealed to us God as our exceeding great joy. Glad tidings are here, such as even angels, accustomed to the bliss of heaven, call very joyous. Here is the gift of God; his own Son to be ours for ever. He, whom the Father regards as most precious and glorious, whom He loves, and to whom He hath given all things, is the gift of God to us, a gift never to be recalled. For ever, Jesus Christ is our Lord and Head.

The Word of God is joy from heaven to the souls which are in darkness and the shadow of death. It speaks of sin, but in order to declare full pardon; of our misery and bondage, to declare our redemption; of death, to announce resurrection life; of our nothingness, to bring to us the All-in-All—Christ. When people accept God’s Word, they rejoice. Oh that in all declarations of God’s message, we may be pre-eminently evangelists! And oh that the prominent as well as deep impression of our preaching may be: He has brought us good news from a far country. He has spoken to us of the wonderful salvation of God, far exceeding all our thought and all our hope. He has spoken of God rejoicing over the sinner redeemed and restored; and of Jesus Christ dying for the ungodly, and living in the heart of the believer. He has shown us that we are now in heavenly places, accepted in the Beloved, complete in Him, and sealed with his Spirit; and that we are to be manifested with Him in glory. Then is our testimony Scriptural, when it testifies of Jesus as the Lamb, of God as the Father, of the Spirit as the Dove; when it speaks to the heart of Jerusalem, declaring grace and glory; when it has its source and end in this: “GOD IS LOVE.”