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“For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law” (Nehemiah 8:9).
The Israelites had returned home from exile in Babylon; the wall around Jerusalem had been rebuilt under the supervision of Nehemiah. All the people gathered to hear the Book of the Law read aloud. It should have been a time of great rejoicing. And yet the people mourned and wept as they heard God’s Words.
They knew they had disobeyed. They knew they could never measure up. And so they wept.
Who could remove their burden? Was anyone coming to save them? They were no longer exiled slaves, but they were trapped by the weight of their sin.
Fast-forward four-hundred years of waiting. Silence. Still, no one had come to rescue them. The people sat in darkness.
And then, light broke onto the scene.
“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).
Jesus Christ, the Light of the World came down. The angel announced the joy of his birth. The wisemen rejoiced exceedingly with great joy when they saw his star. Finally, Messiah had come.
Fast forward two-thousand years.
We too may feel trapped or in bondage.
We too may feel like no one is coming to help us.
We too may feel the weight of our sin—the mourning and weeping that comes with knowing we can never measure up to God’s perfect commands; the sorrow that comes from failing so many times.
But lift up your heads, those who mourn and weep. Lift up your eyes, those who are sorrowful. For joy has dawned on the horizon, breaking the darkness with its rays of light.
Jesus was born to redeem us from the gloom and grief of our own sin. If we confess our sins and receive forgiveness in his name, we no longer have to mourn and weep over our failures. Christ was born to perfectly keep God’s law for us. If we place our faith in him, the law that once weighed us down can now be our delight (Psalm 119:174); our hearts can be glad and our whole being can rejoice in our Savior, for our sins are taken away.
No more sadness. No more gloom. No more guilt.
Only rejoicing.
“Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:11).
Weeping may tarry for the night, but in the presence of Emmanuel, there is fullness of joy.
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