When we experience grief at the loss of someone we dearly love, few of us, in the sorrow of the moment, can imagine what it is like to be overtaken by gladness and joy. My dad used to tell us that when someone dies we do not so much grieve for them as we do for ourselves. So as our lives go on we are able to once again recognize moments when gladness and joy overcome our daily routine. I can remember when my three month old granddaughter looked up at me, recognized me, and then got this great big smile on her face, I was totally overcome with joy! My heart seemed to fill up with gladness. I just wanted to take her in my arms and hold her as close to me as I could.
Holding a baby like that, especially one who is already so close to your heart, is only one of the many moments of gladness and joy in our lives. But that’s it. It is usually only for that moment that we experience such pure gladness, and such total joy. Eventually the moment is gone, and the myriad of other things in our life grab our attention. There may still be a sense of joy, but it does not completely consume us like it did in that moment.
But there will come a day when we will be totally and eternally overtaken by gladness and joy. That sense of pure joy will not come in occasional moments, only to fade away as other thoughts and needs creep back into our consciousness. The gladness and joy that will one day overtake us will never be interrupted. It will be an ever abiding reality.
This is what Isaiah is talking about in chapter 35. The NIV Bible labels this chapter the “Joy of the Redeemed.” The redeemed will one day cross from this life to life eternal. All will change in that one moment. Strength will be given to what once was feeble hands, and steadiness to knees that used to give way. (v. 3) At that moment the “eyes of the blind [will] be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” (v. 5)
At that moment the redeemed will enter heaven “with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (v. 10) They will be overtaken with gladness and joy! Sorrow and sighing will no longer be able to drag us away from joy. We grieve over our loss of a loved one, but we can know that when the Christian dies, he or she will be totally and eternally overtaken by gladness and joy. No grieving will be found there! That knowledge alone can bring joy and gladness for us who remain.