Encore Post: Isaac Watts hated the music sung in his dissenting Calvinist churches. These congregations believed that only the words of Psalms, or close paraphrases, were appropriate for worship. Watts believed that hymns should bring out the Christian sense of the Psalms and connect with the lives of everyday Christians. So over three hundred years ago (1719), he composed a book of hymns inspired by the Psalms entitled: ” The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. On Psalm 98, he wrote two hymns. Under the title “The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom” he wrote “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”
Now the most published Christmas hymn in North America, “Joy to the World” is really not a Christmas hymn. It celebrates both the First and Second Advent of Christ.
Joy to the World; The Lord is come;
Let Earth receive her King:
Let every Heart prepare him Room,
And Heaven and Nature sing.
The first stanza rejoices that Christ has already come and invites us to do what Bethlehem did not do on the first Christmas: make room for him in our hearts.
Joy to the Earth, The Savior reigns;
Let Men their Songs employ;
While Fields & Floods, Rocks, Hills & 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.
The rest of the hymn looks forward to the Second Advent. Then the Savior will reign on the earth. The curse of Adam will be reversed. He will rule with truth and grace and all the nations will know it. We will all rejoice.
So, no, you are not rushing Christmas by singing “Joy to the World.” It is great to sing on the last Sunday of the church year and throughout Advent. After all: The Lord has come. He was born of the virgin, lived a perfect life for us, died for our sins and rose for our salvation. The Lord is come, wherever people baptized in his name, saved by his grace, rejoice as he reigns among them. The Lord will come as far the curse is found. Joy to the world indeed! Come Lord Jesus, Come!
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Advent all ways takes its time. In other words Advent could not come any slower. Or should I say: Advent now!
Well… since Joy to the World is an end of the World hymn, anytime is OK to sing the song! In fact, the Psalm it is written on is used on the Sixth Sunday of Easter, (proper 28, middle of November) as well as Christmas!