Joy to the World

We have had such a wonderful time going through some very popular Christmas songs and hymns. Today’s song is no different, except that it is. Unlike the other songs that we’ve looked at and talked about, this one was not written as a Christmas song or poem.

In 1719, the great hymn writer Isaac Watts rewrote many of the psalms in New Testament language and titled the collection of poems “The Psalms of David, Imitated in the Language of the New Testament”. In it was the earliest version of the song we today call Joy to the World.

Although we celebrate him today for his work, at the time, he was considered an outcast in traditional church circles. It was because like our modern worship writers, he took traditional works and re-wrote the language to match the culture of his day.

He saw the existing church worship time as boring and without feeling. His writings sought to inflict some emotion into the monotonous and dull state of congregational singing at that time.

This particular poem came from Psalm 98, more specifically the second half of that Psalm.

Before we read that Psalm this morning, one quick note about the music behind the song. In 1836, an American by the name of Lowell Mason took a musical composition by a German, George Frideric Handel and set the poem written by the Englishman Watts to that tune. Mason called the the song Antioch. The song we know and sing today as Joy to the World is largely that version.

Let’s go ahead and turn there now and read that Psalm:

***As I read, I’ll make comments that are not in the notes, don’t switch to the next verse until I start reading it****

Psalm 98 NIV

A psalm. 1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5 make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the Lord, the King. 7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

Watts had two goals in his poems written from the Psalms. First, he wanted to include the language of his day to make them accessible to average person. Second, he wanted to overlay onto the Psalms the story of the New Testament.

We can see that from Psalm 98, the themes of joy carry through the song. The Psalm speaks of the sea, rivers and mountains singing before the Lord. Watts gives us the reason for that singing - that Earth has received her King - Jesus.

Watts was the first of many Hymn writers who write poems and hymns in this way.

As I said before, Watts did not write this poem with the intention of it being a Christmas song or poem. In fact, only first verse speaks vaguely of His birth. It does however speak deeply of who Christ is. Let’s read through it and see the themes...

Verse 1 Joy to the world, the Lord is come Let Earth receive her King Let every heart prepare Him room And Heaven and nature sing And Heaven and nature sing And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing

Verse 2 Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns Let all their songs employ While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy Repeat, repeat the sounding joy

Verse 3 No more let sin and sorrows grow Nor thorns infest the ground He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found Far as the curse is found Far as, far as the curse is found

Verse 4 He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love (and wonders of His love) And wonders of His love (and wonders of His love) And wonders, wonders of His love

So often at Christmas, we only focus on the manger, on the birth. Really though, we celebrate the birth because of what the birth meant. It meant the coming of the Messiah - the fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecies. It meant reconciliation with God through the cross.

And ultimately, scripture points us toward the second coming of Christ. That is the true theme of this song. We as believers in Christ are looking forward to His return and eternal reign. It is our hope and joy.

Joy was missing in the church in Watts’ day, he was trying to point the church to the great joy we have now and the great joy we will have when he returns.

So, what is joy? The Bible says these things about joy:

Luke 2:10 NIV

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Good news = Great joy

Here is the reaction of the disciples when Jesus ascended into heaven after blessing them:

Luke 24:52 NIV

52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

Then James writes this...

James 1:2–3 NIV

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

That doesn’t sound like joy to me, but look what Hebrews says of Jesus and joy...

Hebrews 12:1–3 NIV

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Ultimately, Joy is an emotion deep in our soul. Emotions do not have to do with our intellect or logic. Joy is an uncontrolled response within our soul, given by the Holy Spirit when we have a clear picture of what Jesus has done, is doing and will do for us.

Let me give you an analogy that might help.

I remember when Renee and I were hoping to have have children. When we found out that Renee was pregnant, there was an uncontrolled emotion based on the anticipation of this potential child. It was an earthly joy.

As the pregnancy progressed, it became very real to Renee that there is only one way that children are born and it usually comes with a bit of discomfort. Yet even with the discomfort ahead, there was still this underlying joy that was present because of the end result.

When we finally got to hold our baby, Caleb, for the first time, that joy was made complete.

There is an even greater joy - Jesus coming again for his bride, the church. Jesus saw that joy ahead and with that joy in mind, he willingly went to the cross. He willingly suffered because it meant our redemption.

The passage in Hebrews tells us to consider what Jesus did for us so that we would not grow weary and lose heart.

I know there are all kinds of different struggles and things that many of you are either facing now, have faced or will face. Let me encourage you that Jesus coming as a baby is Joy for the world. Yes, the world, but specifically Joy for you. Joy for me. Even better, Jesus coming again is for our ultimate, overwhelming joy for eternity.