Isaiah 61:3, 7, 10 To all who mourn, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning. … Everlasting joy will be yours. … I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.
Joy is the theme of the third week of Advent, when we light the pink candle along with the first one, hope, and the second, faith. There are various ways of naming these candles—yours may be different—but I believe all traditions emphasize joy on this third week.
Isaiah takes us to the depths of despair as he foresees overwhelming harm resulting from injustice. He also raises us to the heights of joy when he envisions the day when the Savior of the world will put everything right. His book overflows with joy!
Isaiah says his good news will “strengthen those who have tired hands and encourage those who have weak knees” (35:3). So take five minutes to read Isaiah 35 today, out loud if you can!
Joy to the World, sung by Phil Wickham for The Chosen
Debra Kornfield 
Deb, I loved both renditions of Joy to the World. What I loved about the Phil Wickham rendition for The Chosen Christmas was the fulness of the worship. Everyone was worshipping and it was amazing to see and hear the diversity in that worship. It wasn’t a performance so much as something directed toward God. Very powerful, especially when they threw in “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”! Wow!
And I appreciated the Celtic Women and their rendition too. Glorious and majestic as the song deserves!
Joy to the World. I did a search for Number One best Christmas song of all time. It was amazing to see that the top ten Google replies didn’t have a Christian song among them!
We need to do a better job of celebrating Jesus in every way!
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Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!!
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I also saved your blog to my Christmas favorites!
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Yay!
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