© 22 Colin Melbourne
Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.
Psalms 97:12, 32:11, 33:1 KJV
Father God exhorts His children to rejoice in Him because He’s made us; joyful, thankful for His holiness, and that He’s made us upright in heart.
Since that was the case under the Old Covenant that brought death, how much more ought New Covenant children rejoice in the LORD, who have the righteousness of God and His Spirit in their hearts!
Halleluia! Phil. 4:4 KJV;
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Believers are commanded to rejoice in the LORD always.
We can because Christ has made us righteous in Him.
There are some who strain hoping to become righteous one day so they will be able to rejoice, but they miss the mark, forever falling short of God’s standard.
That’s far from what the LORD is exhorting us to enjoy in this command.
If human effort plays any part in attaining divine righteousness, joy, and holiness then it is; void, vain, self-righteousness!
Our happy state of rejoicing in the LORD comes only by the gracious Gift of God without any effort.
It comes no other way than by simply trusting in what Christ has accomplished for us in His Sacrifice, His Blood, death, burial, and Resurrection on the believer’s behalf.
I’m rejoicing in the LORD because He’s made me righteous.
He’s made me righteous by faith in Christ, Rom. 3:21-22, 2 Cor. 5:21 KJV;
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe…
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Believers no longer need to hide behind our own sullied works, because He’s made us the righteousness of God in Him: God has imputed His righteousness to those in Christ.
That is rejoicing ground without end.
Christ lifts the burden from our shoulders so that we are free and able to rejoice in what God has done for believers once and for all. Halleluia!
© 22 Colin Melbourne
Inspired by the finale of G. F. Handel’s ‘Chandos Anthem No. 8’ ‘O come let us sing unto the Lord’, HWV 253.