What do you think?
Rate this book
The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: Daily Readings for Advent
The Christmas season is often one of the busiest and most stressful times of the year, and it's easy to lose sight of what makes it special. Helping us refocus on what's truly important, well-known pastor and author John Piper leads readers through twenty-four short meditations on Advent. The devotionals—drawn from Piper's extensive preaching and teaching ministry--lead readers to ponder afresh the birth of Jesus, Israel's long-awaited Messiah and the Savior of the world. Reflecting on several Scriptural texts, this accessible volume aims to direct individuals, families, and churches to the most glorious dawning of indestructible joy the world has ever seen: the incarnation of the Son of God.
96 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 2013
508 people are currently reading
1667 people want to read
About the author
John Piper
609 books4,621 followersJohn Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem.
John is the author of more than 50 books and more than 30 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and twelve grandchildren.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem.
John is the author of more than 50 books and more than 30 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and twelve grandchildren.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 263 reviews
December 24, 2014
Nancy and I read through this together for our Advent reading this year. Solid, substantive, very good. Christmas is all about glory to God and peace for us, and the latter never thrives without the former.
December 25, 2016
These daily devotionals were a wonderful reminder of the reason for the season. Piper has a gift for pulling aha moments out of the text and broadening my understanding of the gift Christmas is for mankind.
December 25, 2017
This book was a blessing as my evening devotion during Advent. God gets the glory, we get the peace. Christmas and the birth of a Savior is beautifully explained, the true meaning of The Gift.
December 18, 2020
A great devotion to get your mind and spirit reflecting on what Christmas means. Immanuel-God with us. John Piper does not have new truths to share but expresses the greatness of the Old truth. Each chapter a day of December until December 25th reminding us of the majesty of these truths in scripture. The glory of God that brings peace to those that put their faith in the work of the cross. Advent is a reminder to awaken our hearts to our need for a savior, seeing the darkness of sin and the mercy that comes from God as our hearts break. As we submit to God's authority in faith, our willingness to let God be God in every aspect of our lives. That is our treasure, that is our gift this Christmas and our gift each day as we find satisfaction in him. Our satisfaction in Him is our peace.
February 14, 2021
This book was a wonderful read between my husband and me. It has been a little bit of a stressful Christmas season and this book gave us great reflection and peace.
December 25, 2023
Fairly quick read. Nicely structured due to the digestable bits each day leading up to Advent. An interesting emphasis (overemphasis? underemphasis?) on the glory of God.
December 26, 2024
Short and sweet but loved this advent!
December 29, 2020
Looking for a devotional book on the Advent Season that would make you love Christ more and increase your joy meditating on Christ’s incarnation? This book is by John Piper will flame your passion for Jesus. As the subtitle states the book is a “Daily Readings for Advent.”
There are devotions from December 1st through December 25th. There’s also an introduction about praying for fullness based upon John 1:14–16. There’s also a conclusion that talks about peace that is for believers of the Gospel. Each day’s devotions are about two through three pages each so its manageable devotions.
The passages that John Piper looks at are laregely not the traditional passages that are found in Christmas devotionals. This is a plus and minus. It’s a plus if you want to read something different after all there’s a lot of great passages in Scripture for one’s devotional reading. But a disadvantage there’s time where after reading for several days worth of devotions I wonder what does this have to do with the incarnation and the first coming of Christ? Still one good thing with this book is that it is thoroughly biblical and there’s no heresy or false teaching in this work. Plus it points readers to Jesus and the Gospel unfiltered; praise the Lord for that!
There were thoughts I enjoyed meditating upon as a result of contents in this book. For instance on page 15 I enjoyed Piper’s point of Jesus is on a search and save mission. For December 5th’s devotion Piper looked at 1 John 3:5-8 and expounded on two reasons why Christmas happened is to take away sins (verse 5) and to destroy y the work of the devil (verse 8). I also appreciated Piper’s point that Christmas with the birth of Jesus cut history into two ages: Ages of Promise and Age of fulfillment. For December 17th’s entry Piper want to make sure readers does not walk away reading this devotion and think its all about serving God; with the Gospel Piper makes the point from Mark 10:45 that we shouldn’t miss the fact that we are servedby Christ. I appreciate that. I also love this quote: “When people have doubts about the truth of Jesus, don’t send them away to seek special messages from God. Point them to Christ. Tell them what you have seen and heard in his life and teachings. Why? Because this is where God breaks in with his revealing power. He loves to glorify his Son! He loves to open the eyes of the blind when they are looking at his Son!” (65-66).
Overall I’m glad I read this though it focused more on the traditional passages on the Incarnation and the coming of Christ.
There are devotions from December 1st through December 25th. There’s also an introduction about praying for fullness based upon John 1:14–16. There’s also a conclusion that talks about peace that is for believers of the Gospel. Each day’s devotions are about two through three pages each so its manageable devotions.
The passages that John Piper looks at are laregely not the traditional passages that are found in Christmas devotionals. This is a plus and minus. It’s a plus if you want to read something different after all there’s a lot of great passages in Scripture for one’s devotional reading. But a disadvantage there’s time where after reading for several days worth of devotions I wonder what does this have to do with the incarnation and the first coming of Christ? Still one good thing with this book is that it is thoroughly biblical and there’s no heresy or false teaching in this work. Plus it points readers to Jesus and the Gospel unfiltered; praise the Lord for that!
There were thoughts I enjoyed meditating upon as a result of contents in this book. For instance on page 15 I enjoyed Piper’s point of Jesus is on a search and save mission. For December 5th’s devotion Piper looked at 1 John 3:5-8 and expounded on two reasons why Christmas happened is to take away sins (verse 5) and to destroy y the work of the devil (verse 8). I also appreciated Piper’s point that Christmas with the birth of Jesus cut history into two ages: Ages of Promise and Age of fulfillment. For December 17th’s entry Piper want to make sure readers does not walk away reading this devotion and think its all about serving God; with the Gospel Piper makes the point from Mark 10:45 that we shouldn’t miss the fact that we are servedby Christ. I appreciate that. I also love this quote: “When people have doubts about the truth of Jesus, don’t send them away to seek special messages from God. Point them to Christ. Tell them what you have seen and heard in his life and teachings. Why? Because this is where God breaks in with his revealing power. He loves to glorify his Son! He loves to open the eyes of the blind when they are looking at his Son!” (65-66).
Overall I’m glad I read this though it focused more on the traditional passages on the Incarnation and the coming of Christ.
December 28, 2023
Hard to read at times but some very good stuff as well. Real interesting point about Christ coming to serve and not be served. I always have read that as "okay so I should serve others," but I skip over the fact that Jesus came to serve us, not for me to serve him, or even for me to serve him through serving others (12/17, 12/19). My service is out of gratitude and overflowing of God's service to me, not as a payment to him or anything like that. So I need to accept his service over and over again ("not my feet but my whole body"). Also God's peace is not separate from himself, we only receive his peace when we receive himself (conclusion).
December 29, 2023
Piper's aim in this book was simply to help you see how glorious the gospel is as you contemplate the implications of Christ's coming. I often had to read things multiple times before it would sink in, and I can't say it felt very "Christmasy", but it was what I needed this season.
December 27, 2025
I love the sermon Piper concludes this book with. And what a title?!
January 1, 2024
4.5 // Really appreciated reading these short devotionals leading up to Christmas. They’ve been curated from Piper’s previous writing and speaking, and as such can feel a bit disjointed at times, but that is hardly a complaint. Each brings your attention to the glory of Christ and seeks to engage both heart and mind in the Advent season. By God’s grace, this book accomplished what Piper set out to do for his readers. Glory to God and peace to humankind!
January 21, 2017
It was a blessing to focus on what the coming of Jesus into the world means.
December 27, 2025
A great preparation for Christmas! Also, my first time reading an Advent book 🥹
December 23, 2024
This book fell flat for me: each day's reading provides a short Biblical passage, and Piper offers a brief explanation on the passage. I know, who am I to say something negative about Piper's writings? Nevertheless, the book did not do much for me: it seemed obvious, glib, and repetitive. It also seems to overlook the damage, wounds, and hurt prevalent among mankind, which interferes with the gift of joy.
He states in the preface that the point of this book is to awaken and stir the spirit to feel joy when pondering the incarnation. Then each chapter focuses on a gift or promise that God bestows on us (salvation, love, mercy, truth, the Bible). Repeatedly, Piper talks of Christ coming down as a servant to serve and save us, and how all we ought to do is believe. Christ is complete, self-sufficient, and does not need our glory, but because His goodness overflows, we find truth, mercy, and peace in Him, thus we should glorify Him. Piper summarizes that to glorify God is to live in peace— with God, with ourselves, and with others.
He states in the preface that the point of this book is to awaken and stir the spirit to feel joy when pondering the incarnation. Then each chapter focuses on a gift or promise that God bestows on us (salvation, love, mercy, truth, the Bible). Repeatedly, Piper talks of Christ coming down as a servant to serve and save us, and how all we ought to do is believe. Christ is complete, self-sufficient, and does not need our glory, but because His goodness overflows, we find truth, mercy, and peace in Him, thus we should glorify Him. Piper summarizes that to glorify God is to live in peace— with God, with ourselves, and with others.
December 26, 2024
This mini, advent devotional was an important daily reminder of where to keep my focus throughout the month of December. Each date had a brief scripture taken from the Christmas story in the gospels, or one of the Prophets. Devotions were simple, yet solid.
I find that the farther I dig into the Bible, the more depth I need in discovery. I certainly will never be too good to hear about the simple love of Jesus, His incarnation, or His death and resurrection. Those events are pivotal in my own heart and mind. I simply mean that I need different and newly creative approaches in experiencing those events. I want to learn more, not only be reminded. Plus, I think I’m moving away from devotionals. They just don’t reach me like they used to. I also don’t think I’m the audience for John Piper. Though he is wise and truthful, he writes these devotionals more like a Baptist sermon. I’m glad I dug into these daily words, I just didn’t hit water.
I find that the farther I dig into the Bible, the more depth I need in discovery. I certainly will never be too good to hear about the simple love of Jesus, His incarnation, or His death and resurrection. Those events are pivotal in my own heart and mind. I simply mean that I need different and newly creative approaches in experiencing those events. I want to learn more, not only be reminded. Plus, I think I’m moving away from devotionals. They just don’t reach me like they used to. I also don’t think I’m the audience for John Piper. Though he is wise and truthful, he writes these devotionals more like a Baptist sermon. I’m glad I dug into these daily words, I just didn’t hit water.
December 27, 2023
Really enjoyed doing this advent devotional every evening. Sometimes it felt like it was for non believers which is not bad but didn’t always feel like it was for me.
An advent devotional is a wonderful thing to help slowdown and remember Christs coming, and have joy looking toward his triumphant second coming!
An advent devotional is a wonderful thing to help slowdown and remember Christs coming, and have joy looking toward his triumphant second coming!
December 26, 2022
25 Pipers piping
December 26, 2024
This book was good, I guess. Way better than the other Piper advent book that we read last year, but still not super intelligible to me. It didn’t feel like they were written to be read out loud. But still, not really what I was looking for. I’ll find a different one next year.
December 27, 2024
My favorite advent book so far!
December 26, 2025
3.5 stars. Very short standalone daily devotional chapters. It was good but felt a little disconnected. I might have liked it better if I'd read instead of listening, so I could stop and meditate line by line.
December 31, 2024
Piper does an excellent job of expositing scripture in a beautiful way through this advent book. I walk away with an encouragement for how the Christmas season highlights attributes of God. I recommend for anyone looking for an advent book next year!
September 29, 2014
It seems that, as the years go by, I see a disturbing trend in my soul in regards to Christmas. I like to blame it on the over-commercializing of the entire month of December, beginning in September. However, in reality, it is probably owing far more to my woefully cynical nature than any over-hype of the holiday aspect of Christmas.
Quite simply, I lose sight of the gift.
A few years ago, I came to the settled belief that Jesus truly was the Son of God. And that first Christmas, with that new/old truth secured, was an awe-inspiring experience. I was keenly aware of salvation wrapped in swaddling clothes. And I worshiped.
Steadily, though, that awe has dissipated a bit; life has gotten in the way. Cynicism has crept back in.
I think that is why I chose to read John Piper's new devotional book this year (a review copy was given to me by Crossway publishers), even though it is not even October. I want a fresh understanding of indestructible joy. And I found it not only in the words that Piper wrote, but in the scripture to which his words pointed.
All of scripture points to Christ. Therefore, we cannot isolate the events on the night of Jesus' birth without examining them in light of the context in which they exist. Piper, as always, does an excellent job of this. He pulled from the passages that explain who God is, and why Jesus came, and what that means for us today, instead of just focusing on the details of that singular night. In his doing so, Piper challenges his readers to see all of God.
My only criticism is that each chapter was small-too small. I understand that the intent was to provide devotional type readings, to be read in small amounts of time daily through the month of December. However, it seemed that Piper would just barely open up a thought, and then it would be concluded to hurry on to the next day. I found myself longing for more words and more questions. Not necessarily a bad thing, because it forces me to have to seek answers to my questions myself, from scripture. Always a good thing. Yet I still would have liked to sit under Piper's teaching a little longer on these passages.
Still and all, the premise of this book is solid, and the words are good and true. I suspect I will revisit this volume when we hit December 1 this year.
Quite simply, I lose sight of the gift.
A few years ago, I came to the settled belief that Jesus truly was the Son of God. And that first Christmas, with that new/old truth secured, was an awe-inspiring experience. I was keenly aware of salvation wrapped in swaddling clothes. And I worshiped.
Steadily, though, that awe has dissipated a bit; life has gotten in the way. Cynicism has crept back in.
I think that is why I chose to read John Piper's new devotional book this year (a review copy was given to me by Crossway publishers), even though it is not even October. I want a fresh understanding of indestructible joy. And I found it not only in the words that Piper wrote, but in the scripture to which his words pointed.
All of scripture points to Christ. Therefore, we cannot isolate the events on the night of Jesus' birth without examining them in light of the context in which they exist. Piper, as always, does an excellent job of this. He pulled from the passages that explain who God is, and why Jesus came, and what that means for us today, instead of just focusing on the details of that singular night. In his doing so, Piper challenges his readers to see all of God.
My only criticism is that each chapter was small-too small. I understand that the intent was to provide devotional type readings, to be read in small amounts of time daily through the month of December. However, it seemed that Piper would just barely open up a thought, and then it would be concluded to hurry on to the next day. I found myself longing for more words and more questions. Not necessarily a bad thing, because it forces me to have to seek answers to my questions myself, from scripture. Always a good thing. Yet I still would have liked to sit under Piper's teaching a little longer on these passages.
Still and all, the premise of this book is solid, and the words are good and true. I suspect I will revisit this volume when we hit December 1 this year.
December 28, 2023
Still the best Christmas devotional!
December 28, 2025
short, christ focused
Read
December 26, 2021I had to paraphrase quite a bit for two four-year-olds, haha. Due to the massive editing on my part I didn’t get a real sense of the content, BUT it was a great guide to helping my family see the greatness of the day (days before and after) Jesus came to planet Earth, born as a human baby. John Piper brings scripture first then expands on the few verses he chooses everyday. The book is very short which makes for great dinner time devotions for the family.
Read
December 27, 2025No rating for nonfiction, but I did enjoy this event book. The readings were short and sweet for those of us in a chaotic season of life, but some still packed a powerful punch. I think I will hold onto this one and read it aloud next year with my husband and older children (they’ll be 10 and almost 7).
December 26, 2020
Very short and readable daily meditations about the meaning of Christmas. Even though Piper admits that this book recycles earlier material, I found it disappointing that the readings don't have any logical order.
December 26, 2023
Indestructible joy is mine. His coming is the greatest gift and the twenty-fifth of the twelfth month marks the beginning of the fulfillment of His greatest promise. What a generous Savior, Father, King He is. Trustworthy, True, Faithful to the end.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 263 reviews