Joy to the World

Joy to the World is NOT a Christmas carol.

That got you, didn't it? It shocked me, too.

Among the many Christmas carols we sing this merry season, Joy to the World stands out as a favorite, or the most popular of them all.
 
In many places, in fact, this is sung with everyone being asked to rise, ending the event on a high, joyful note.

Growing up, I have always thought that it was composed as a Christmas song—to welcome the birth of Christ.

Recently, however, I found out that the English hymn writer who wrote it, Isaac Watts (1674-1748), based the song on Psalm 98 in the Bible. Let me quote here verses 7, 8, and 9:

Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!

Let the earth and all living things join in.

Let the rivers clap their hands in glee!

Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the Lord.

For the Lord is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with justice.

Psalm 98 is about the second coming of Christ, not his birth. So the hymn Joy to the World is all about being joyful that Christ is coming back to earth to render justice to all people.

The song was first published in 1719 in Watts' collection—The Psalms of David.

Watts, a pastor, wrote many hymns and carols and was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree by the University of Edinburgh in 1728. He penned the words of Joy to the World as a hymn praising Christ's triumphant return at the end of the age, rather than a Christmas song celebrating his first coming as a baby born to Joseph and Mary in a stable.

The music was adapted and arranged to Watts' lyrics by Lowell Mason in 1839 from an older, extremely popular melody, Handel's Messiah by George Frederick Handel (1685-1759), also often sung on Christmas.

After knowing all these facts, I looked up again the lyrics of Joy to the World. And true enough, they are about the joy we will feel when Jesus comes again!

For me, however, it does not really matter whether the song is for Christ coming to the world the first time or the second time. It is a triumphant song that expresses joy, fitting for the grandest birth of all.

So please join me as I sing the second and last stanza, and remember that over 2,000 years ago, a Baby was born in a lowly manger and all the world rejoiced.

Joy to the world, the Saviour reigns
Let Saints their songs employ
While fields and floods
Rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, Repeat, the sounding joy

Rejoice! Rejoice in the Most High,
While Israel spreads abroad
Like stars that glitter in the sky,
And ever worship God,
And ever worship God,
And ever, and ever worship God.

By His grace, may the world have joy, joy, joy this Christmas!

My tree this year (lit and unlit)