JUBILATION

Ps.100:1,2 – Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.
Serve the LORD with jubilation;
Come before Him with rejoicing.

I love to study words and what it is they are intended to communicate. In today’s verses I am looking at the word jubilation or simchah in the Hebrew text. This word describes an out word expression of joy associated with a great victory. It would include shouting, jumping for joy, clapping your hands, or dancing before the Lord. Of course this is a description of David, the worshipping king of Israel. David connected jubilation with worship and the celebration that comes from the works of the Lord. Here is how Augustine described this word jubilation.

“I am about to say what ye know. One who jubilates, uttereth not words, but it is a certain sound of joy without words: for it is the expression of a mind poured forth in joy, expressing, as far as it is able, the affection, but not compassing the feeling. A man rejoicing in his own exultation, after certain words which cannot be uttered or understood, bursteth forth into sounds of exultation without words, so that it seemeth that he indeed doth rejoice with his voice itself, but as if filled with excessive joy cannot express in words the subject of that joy. …Those who are engaged at work in the fields are most given to jubilate; reapers, or vintagers, or those who gather any of the fruits of the earth, delighted with the abundant produce, and rejoicing in the very richness and exuberance of the soil, sing in exultation; and among the songs which they utter in words, they put in certain cries without words in the exultation of a rejoicing mind; and this is what is meant by jubilating. …”

Our jubilation today comes from the victory Jesus has accomplished for us through the cross, His resurrection, and His place of glory and triumph seated at the Father’s right hand. Our sins have been forgiven, He has broken the chains of sin that held us captive, and He fills us again and again with His mighty Holy Spirit that flows like a river from His throne. The Spirit of the Lord is the Spirit of joy and jubilation. Once we begin to experience the power of His presence in our lives we begin to step into the reality of the great victory He has won for us, jubilation is our response. What does that look like? Shouts of joy, leaping for joy, dancing, loud singing, shouts of joy; these all become our spontaneous response to the great victory the Lord has won.