Carols and LessonsSample

Joy to the World

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. (v. 4)

“Joy to the World” has been a popular carol, right from when it was written. One reason is that its author was the best-known hymnwriter of the time (and one of the greatest of all time), Isaac Watts. Another is that it’s not really a Christmas carol, though we have pigeonholed it that way. It’s a psalm paraphrase, and Watts wrote dozens of them, publishing them in a hymnal in 1719.

The psalm in this case is Psalm 98, which opens with a call to “sing to the Lord a new song” because of the marvelous and powerful things he has done in salvation. The psalmist goes on to invite the world of creation to join with the people of God in offering praise. “Let the sea roar . . . Let the rivers clap their hands . . . Let the hills sing for joy together” (vv. 7-8). All of these show up in stanza 2 of “Joy to the World,” as the “fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, repeat the sounding joy.” But in the third stanza, Watts takes a detour from Psalm 98 and looks back at Genesis 3:

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.

Remember how even the ground was cursed because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience? Well, Jesus comes to undo all the consequences of sin, including the consequences in nature itself. Joy to the world, indeed!

As you pray, praise God for the wonders of his love.