Joy to the World - Pastor's Column Dec. 2022
Joy to the World
A Song for Advent
“Joy to the World, the Lord is come!” That wonderful hymn text of Isaac Watts (d.1748) set to the majestic tune “Antioch” by G.F. Handel (d. 1759) no doubt invokes in us the Christmas spirit! We imagine it sung by small groups of carolers on doorsteps on cold, dark winter evenings. We imagine it played on full organ in churches and cathedrals while choirs and congregations belt out those triumphant words in four part harmony. It’s one of those hymns that from my youth proclaimed to me that Christmas had come!
But what does the hymn actually have to tell us about the event of Christmas? What does it say about the Nativity of Christ the Lord? If we think for a moment about the text, there is no mention of the birth of Christ. There is no Bethlehem, Mary, or babe lying in a manger. There are no shepherds keeping watch over their flocks. There are no angels singing, “Glory to God in the highest…” What we actually have in this hymn, that has become a favorite Christmas carol, is a text that points us well beyond the birth of Christ to his coming again in glory as victorious Lord of all. It points us the fullness of the kingdom of God. It points us the paradise of the new creation. Consider the text:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room
And heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let all their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sin and sorrow 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.
Heaven and nature sing! All creation repeats the sounding joy! Sin and sorrow are no more! Thorns no longer infest the ground! Christ rules the world with truth, grace, and righteousness. Yes, this is the work of Christ begun in his birth at Bethlehem and therefore these words can rightly be a part of our Christmas revelry. But this is also the work of Christ in his death and resurrection and brought to completion when he comes again. As much as we love to sing this hymn at the birth of Christ, I submit it will also be one of the countless hymns of praise on our lips at the resurrection, the close of this age, when Christ appears in glorious light, bringing with him the kingdom and making all things new.
The hymn before us, then, is actually well-suited to our current season of Advent. Advent comes from the Latin meaning “arrival.” The season of Advent isn’t simply about the coming arrival of Christmas, but we look to and long for the arrival of the Lord Jesus at the end of the age. We look to that day when the beautiful words of this hymn are fulfilled before our eyes. We look to the coming of Christ, when together with all believers throughout the world, we may sing aloud with one voice in four part harmony, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!”