Isaiah 35: Suffering Passes, Joy Is Eternal

Introduction

Since September 6, Église CVV in Paris has been devoting a series of messages to joy. The series has shown that God is deeply joyful, that the Holy Spirit produces joy in us, that joy is born of community, that it is missional, and that it can live alongside suffering: "rejoicing in hope, enduring in troubles" (Romans 12:12).

In this message of October 11, 2026, Ben lays one last stone: "Joy is eternal." Life is sometimes hard, sometimes painful, and the point is not to ignore that. But at the heart of this acknowledgment of reality, he recalls another reality: for those who love and follow Jesus, "suffering is for a time. Joy, on the other hand, is eternal."

His main text is Isaiah 35, read together with Revelation 21:1-5 and Romans 14:17: "the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit."

Message Outline

1. Two Contrasting Pictures: Isaiah 34 and Isaiah 35

Isaiah 35 is like a drawing: the wilderness and the dry land rejoice, water gushes out, life springs from the ground, the wild beasts move away, and God's people come out of their exile in joy.
To understand it fully, you have to read Isaiah 34, which says exactly the opposite. God comes to judge the rebellious nations, Edom is laid waste, the land is parched, and there is talk of hyenas, snakes, and vultures. "God's judgment is frightening in Isaiah 34."
Ben had prepared two images to make this contrast felt, one dark, with a burning city and wild beasts, the other bright, with a river, trees, and a child running in joy. They could not be shown that day, but the goal remains: to take the two prophecies together.

2. A Word Given in a Time of Uncertainty

Isaiah 34 also reflects the prophet's era. Judah is going through a major geopolitical and military crisis; Assyria has become powerful and seems to be at the gates of Jerusalem. The people live in fear, hunger, thirst, and despair in the face of what tomorrow might bring.
"It was not the Trente Glorieuses (the postwar boom years)," says Ben, but almost the worst years of the kingdom of Judah. Yet it is there that Isaiah prophesies restoration.
We do not live in the Trente Glorieuses either. He lists what we hear on the news: falling purchasing power, housing out of reach for many young people, angry high school students, worry about pensions, forest fires, drought, global warming, increasingly extreme political voices, wars and rumors of war around the world. "Are you discouraged or not?"
He adds a nuance: we live in relative wealth and relative security, and "the Assyrian empire is not at the gates of Paris." But the feeling has things in common: the impression that nothing is going well and that there is no future.
"Three thousand years of human progress, and we still haven't managed to free ourselves from suffering." In this uncertain moment, God, through Isaiah, invites us to lift our eyes to his eternal plans.

3. "He Will Come Himself to Save You"

Isaiah 35:3-4: "Strengthen the weak hands, and make the feeble knees firm. Tell those who have a fearful heart, 'Be strong! Don't be afraid! Behold, your God [...] will come and save you.'" For Ben, this is the key to the restoration announced: God himself will come to our rescue.
Like many prophets, Isaiah speaks to his own time, but his prophecy goes far beyond Judah's geopolitical situation. It announces a messianic time and God's eternal plan of salvation.
Ben, a fan of The Lord of the Rings, recalls the end of the Battle of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers: only a few soldiers are left, then light appears on the hill, the white knight arrives, and the enemy army is terrified. "It is a bit the same imagery as Isaiah: God himself comes onto the hill to save us."

4. In Jesus, the Announced Time Has Begun

What goes along with the coming of the Messiah? "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing" (Isaiah 35:5-6). "Does that ring a bell?"
The four Gospels describe 37 miracles of Jesus, and John 21:25 adds that he did many other things. Ben mentions several: the official's son (John 4), Peter's mother-in-law (Luke 4, Mark 1, Matthew 8), a leper, the paralyzed servant (Luke 7, Matthew 8), the paralytic lowered through the roof, the widow's son raised to life, the woman with a flow of blood (Luke 8, Mark 5), two blind men and a mute man (Matthew 9), a deaf-mute (Mark 7).
Mark 7:31-37 shows the nature of these miracles: Jesus takes the deaf man aside, puts his fingers into his ears, touches his tongue with saliva, looks up to heaven, and says, "Ephphatha." The crowd, filled with amazement, concludes: "He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak!"
"In Jesus, the messianic time announced by Isaiah 35 has started." His salvation is marked by miracles, as he restores everything that was broken.

5. The Cross and the Way of Holiness

Jesus did not only heal the sick; he went so far as to die on the cross in our place. He freed us from the sin that enslaved humanity and set us on a different path, the one Isaiah calls the holy way (Isaiah 35:8), "not a slave to sin, but free in God."
Through the cross, Jesus takes us away from the hyenas and jackals, that is, from the danger of eternal loss, and places us on the path of eternal joy.
We walk on it "not thanks to our great effort, not because you are better than others, not through your good works, your charity, or your perfection," but through the forgiveness obtained freely in Jesus, thanks to his blood. In place of the "mess" of our lives, he gives us his holy life.
Ben pauses on a question: "Do you know how to recognize the mess in your life and your need for a savior?" It is addressed to the one who has not yet believed, but also to the long-time Christian. Pride, wounds, resentment, vanity, false beliefs: there is no stage above the humility of someone who depends on God for his salvation.

6. Healings, Signs of the Kingdom to Come

The prophecy does not stop at Jesus' earthly ministry. Isaiah 35:10 and Revelation 21:4-5 announce a future: "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more [...] 'Behold, I am making all things new.'"
Jesus' healings must have caused immense joy. Even today, when someone is healed, there is amazement and sometimes outbursts of joy. "When God heals, it's a celebration."
But a healing is also a sign. It shows that God's hand is still at work, and it points toward a time when the sufferings of the present moment "will be like a distant memory," when sickness will have left our bodies and the wounds of the heart will be healed.
Ben does not hide reality: "Not everyone is healed, not everything is resolved in this life, we are all heading toward death. But one day death will be no more."

7. Eternal Joy Will Crown Your Head

"The present moment will pass. Distress is for a time. But joy is eternal." Your future, as a disciple of Jesus, is joy: eternal joy will crown your head.
There are seasons when you struggle to see a little scrap of hope at the end of the tunnel. You must not let that flame go out. In dark moments, Ben invites us to say: "Lord, I hold on to you with the little strength I have."
Jesus said it in John 16:33: "In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world." His kingdom is more powerful than the world's, and when it is fully established, suffering will belong to the past.
Ben ends with a confidence: "I truly look forward to eternity." In the difficulties of recent years, God placed deep in his soul a certainty about this eternal future. "If he did it in me, he can do it for you." This faith does not come from a nice story, it comes from God, and he prays that God will place it in the hearts of those who are afraid of death or struggle to grasp eternity, inviting each person, as James says, to believe without doubting.

Key Takeaways

Suffering is real, but for those who follow Jesus it is for a time. Joy, on the other hand, is eternal.
Isaiah 35 was given in a period of fear and uncertainty. It still invites us today to lift our eyes to God's eternal plans.
"He will come himself to save you": in Jesus, through his miracles and through his cross, the time announced by Isaiah has begun.
We walk on the holy way not by our efforts, but by forgiveness received freely. Even the long-time Christian still needs a savior.
Every healing is a sign of the kingdom to come, where God will wipe away every tear and make all things new.

Personal Application

What, in the news or in your own life, looks to you like an "Isaiah 34 picture" right now?
Where do you lift your eyes when everything seems to be going wrong: toward your circumstances, or toward God's eternal plans?
Do you still know how to recognize the "mess" in your life and your need for a savior, even if you have been a Christian for a long time?
In what situation can you say this week: "Lord, I hold on to you with the little strength I have"?
Do you have a certainty about the eternity that awaits you? If not, do you dare to ask God to place this faith in your heart?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "joy is eternal" mean?

For Ben, suffering is real but it is not eternal: for those who love and follow Jesus, it is for a time. Joy, on the other hand, will not pass away. Isaiah 35:10 announces that everlasting joy will crown the heads of the Lord's redeemed, and Revelation 21 promises that God will wipe away every tear.

Why read Isaiah 35 together with Isaiah 34?

The two chapters are held in contrast. Isaiah 34 describes the judgment of Edom: parched land, wild beasts, desolation. Isaiah 35 describes the wilderness in bloom, water gushing out, and the redeemed people returning in joy. Chapter 34 also reflects the fear Judah lived in facing Assyria in the prophet's time.

Why is not everyone healed if Jesus fulfills Isaiah 35?

Ben answers that healings are signs: they show that God's hand is still at work and they point toward the kingdom to come. Not everything is resolved in this life and we are all heading toward death, but one day death will be no more and sickness will have fully left our bodies.