“Joy to the World!”

Joy to the World is one of my favorite Christmas carols. The words are based on Psalm 98, and it is one of the more than 600 hymns written by Isaac Watts (1674-1748).¹

We sing Joy to the World at Christmas, however, Watts did not write the hymn about the First Advent of Christ, but about His Second Advent. It was published 1719 in Psalms of David Imitated, and Watts titled it, The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom. The second stanza refers to Psalm 96:11-12 , while the third stanza refers to Genesis 3:17-18.²

The music of is the work of several hands.³ This arrangement for trumpets, timpani, tambourine and organ was done by Icelandic composer and organist, Stefan H. Kristinsson.

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Joy to the world! the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heav’n and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love.”

That third stanza is why we repeat the sounding joy at Christmas—Christ was born in Bethlehem to make His blessings flow far as the curse of sin is found. This stanza is why this song is one of my favorite Christmas carols. With His Second Advent the wages of sin, that final enemy—death—will be abolished.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

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For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

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Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4, 25–26, 51–57

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If you do not know the Lord Jesus, I invite you to consider Him. Listen and heed the Good News of Jesus Christ—the “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

Celebrate the glories of His righteousness and the wonders of His love!

“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

Revelation 11:15b KJV

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Trumpet: PJ, background cropped by EWikist. GFDL-1.2-or-later (CC BY-SA 3.0). Click the photo to enlarge.
¹Biography of Isaac Watts: Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
²Joy to the World: Hymnary.org
³ Handelian FAQs: Scroll down to the question about Handel and Christmas carols.