Advent: Dec. 12 // The Joy of Restoration

As I look back on my life, I have had many joy-filled memories. Time with friends and family over a meal, graduations (mine as well as others), the feelings of hope and joy as I looked into the eyes of my daughter after her birth. I remember the day I stood outside at Oglebay resort, with green grass, beautiful weather and tears rolling down my face, as I watched my soon-to-be-wife, Vicki, come down the aisle to bind our two lives together as one for as long as we both shall live. I have been blessed with watching my daughter grow up and find someone to share her life with, and to walk her down the aisle. These were all times of great joy.

In Leviticus 9, we hear about a different kind of joy. Something so pure and so immense, beyond anything else, that they shouted with joy and fell to the ground in awe. Leviticus 9:24 says:

Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

That is a type of joy that can only come from being in the presence of God’s perfect glory... joy that came from knowing that they were reconciled and in the presence of the glory of God. Their slate of sin had been forgiven and their debts paid. There was relief from the burden of guilt, restoration to a state of honesty and integrity. Peace in their lives had been restored. It was a freedom and new beginning that they had never experienced.

Up until this point, they had lived their entire lives in debt... Debt from the sin in their lives. God had now given Aaron and Moses a way out of debt and a way to be in His presence through sacrifice.

God has given us a different atonement for our sins — Christ, having lived as one of us, but unblemished. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paved the only path to a clean slate and new beginning for us. There is no amount of good that we can do to earn our way, we just need to accept the gift that He offers. Something completely unearned and perfect. The joy of some day being in the presence and glory of God.

Joy // The Joy of Restoration | Roger Sealey