December 22, 2022
Joy to the World
Precious one Joy to the Word is an English Christmas Carol and it was written in 1719 by the minister and hymn writer Isaac Watts. He didn’t write the lyrics for it to be a Christmas Carol. He wrote the lyrics as an interpretation of Psalms 98 celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord. In the first and second stanzas, Watts writes of heaven and earth rejoicing at the coming of the King. The third stanza speaks of Christ’s blessings extending victoriously over the realm of sin. The cheerful repetition of the non-psalm phrase “far as the curse is found” has caused this stanza to be omitted from some hymnals. But the line makes joyful sense when understood from the New Testament eyes through which Watts interprets the psalm. Stanza four celebrates Christ’s rule over the nations.” The nations are called to celebrate because God’s faithfulness to the house of Israel has brought salvation to the world. The lyrics do not reflect the virgin birth of Jesus, but instead Christ’s Second Coming. As of the late 20th century, “Joy to the World” was the most-published Christmas hymn in North America. Read the lyrics to Joy to the World:
Joy to the World
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.
Joy to the world! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, 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,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, 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,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
This is a joyful season, let’s celebrate the birth of our Savior and soon-coming King.
