| Rejoice All Ye Saints of God |
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Article written by Elder J.A. Rowell, Sr. Published in the Banner of Love, June 1, 1967 |
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| Psalms 9:14 “I will rejoice in thy salvation.” Phil. 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say Rejoice.” | |
| Rejoicing is an experience of joy and gladness. In Luke 10:20 the Savior commanded his disciples to rejoice because your names are written in heaven. This was on the occasion of His sending out the 70 to perform miracles in which they rejoiced, but the Lord having told them that, although He had given them this power, yet the true cause for rejoicing was that their names were written in heaven and as we rejoice in the salvation of the Lord, we remember His admonition, to rejoice because our names are written in heaven. | |
| Rejoice in the Lord always. Here is found the only perfect rejoicing, not in worldly riches or pleasures for they will all vanish away, but to rejoice in the Lord and his salvation exceeds all other experiences of gladness. | |
| For to rejoice in hope of the glory of God is reserved for His children, and is evidence that our names are written in heaven. | |
| Duet. 12:12 Here is found the word rejoice for the first time in the bible, as Moses gave the commandment for the service of the Lord in their ceremonial feasts and as in the law service we experience rejoicing in church service, as the poet expressed this sentiment “How did my heart rejoice to hear, my friends devoutly say, in Zion let us all appear and keep the solemn day.” | |
| In the shadow of thy wings shall I rejoice. For in the church we feel to be in the shadow of his wings and again we rejoice. Therefore, let Mount Zion rejoice. Again in Psalms 68:3, “But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.” | |
| From the many texts found in the bible regarding the rejoicing of the saints, in public worship we are to extol His glorious name, making melody in our hearts as we praise him in song and in thanksgiving, rejoicing together in a Saviour’s love. | |
| Church worship is to be a glorious and joyful occasion, and in harmony with the scriptures to rejoice and to be glad. | |
| Psalms 71:23 “My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.” And so it is pleasing to the Lord for us to sing praises with the lips: He has redeemed our souls, and rejoice in His salvation. For this we will rejoice and glorify His name. | |
| A prayer of David. Psalms 85:6 “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” | |
| And we do rejoice when the showers of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. Neither is it wrong for us to pray for these seasons of refreshing that our souls be revived and rejoice. | |
| Psalms 89:15 “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. For thou art the glory of their strength: for the Lord is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our King.” And then he says: “I have lain help upon one that is mighty.” | |
| Then the people who know the joyful sound are a blest people. They rejoice all the day in the name of the Lord for they know only in His righteousness are they exalted, and all their glory and help. | |
| It is only the righteous who can rejoice in the Lord. Isa. 61:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness…” | |
| This prophet rejoiced in the salvation of the Lord, even giving Him the credit for imputed righteousness. And we believe in salvation by grace greatly; we greatly rejoice in the Lord and our souls are joyful before Him. | |
| Joel says, “Be glad and rejoice for the Lord will do great things. And again, be glad ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God.” And he promised that the Saviour would come to His people. | |
| Hab. 3:18 “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” This prophet had, in the previous verse, said, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be on the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.” | |
| Yet would he rejoice in the Lord. This is experimental with God’s humble poor. So many times they encounter dire affliction and extreme privation yet in their condition of necessity, even poverty, they rejoice in the God of their salvation. | |
| Perhaps there are times as there is a drought in the church and prosperity fled, all seems useless and vain, and perhaps at this time the prayer of David, “Revive us again” would be in order but like the prophet, even though vine and fig tree wither, and the fields would be in order, but like the flocks and herds, we can still rejoice and be glad for the work of salvation in our own hearts. | |
| Phil. 3:1 “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.” This counsel of Paul to this church is good counsel today, for to rejoice in the Lord is not to rejoice in ourselves for Paul had before written, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. | |
| This is cause to rejoice. And he closed the epistle by declaring, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” | |
| Surely those brethren could rejoice in the Lord for even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, God has quickened us by His spirit having, in election, adopted us and sent His Son to redeem us, justify and atone for all our sins, carrying them in His own body and on the cross, fully satisfying the law, placing the spirit in our hearts, and now is seated on His throne, as our great counselor, an intercessor, pleading our cause as our advocate when we fall into sin and therefore we rejoice, as the night of time is nearly over and while we wait His coming, forgotten are the trials of the long journey through the wilderness for we see the hills of Canaan and we rejoice. | |
| We rejoice in all of the spiritual gifts, the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and is given unto us. | |
| We rejoice in the peace of God which passeth all understanding and fills our souls, bringing reconciliation and fellowship with God. | |
| We rejoice in the light of faith, for we walk by faith and not by sight. | |
| We rejoice in the blessed promises of God, feeling that we are heirs of promise, having the consolation of hope, as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. | |
| We rejoice in a mercy seat, a throne of grace where we obtain mercy and we find grace with the message of love, delivering us from the fear of the law. | |
| We rejoice in the inspired, written word of God, which tells us of the Saviour and all His mighty works. | |
| We rejoice in the fellowship of the saints in His church and the blessings found in church worship, including the songs of Zion, the humble prayers of the brethren and the preached gospel, heart-moving and soul-satisfying. | |