Isaiah 35:9-10
No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
The Harriet Tubman Museum down the road from our church honors a woman who escaped slavery in 1849 and worked in Cape May at the Chalfont Hotel. She would often return to Maryland to rescue slaves, and in the woods, would sing a hymn as a signal to the escaped slaves to come out to her; out of the wilderness. The hymn she sang was called Thorny Desert, like the wilderness in Isaiah 35. One of the verses sounds like these verses:
There, on flowery hills of pleasure,
In the fields of endless rest,
Love, and joy, and peace shall ever
Reign and triumph in your breast.
Who can paint those scenes of glory,
Where the ransomed dwell on high?
Where the golden harps for ever
Sound redemption through the sky?
Ransom and redemption came for the slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Our ransom was paid and Jesus redeemed us on the cross over 1,800 years before that. We are now free and the singing we do in church is a direct result of the joy. May we wear our joy on our heads like a crown as we wait for that day when we cast our crowns at his feet.
Dear Lord, than you for the crown of joy that you obtained for us with a crown of thorns. May we be joyful as we await your return. In Jesus’ name. Amen.