Isaac Watts’ famous hymn, “Joy to the World” is taken from the 98th Psalm and the tune from Handel’s “Messiah.” The Psalm begins: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth…,” and the hymn begins:
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 Lord is come! Not has come or will come. The Lord IS come. The promise is fulfilled. God is breaking into the world right now. Let every heart prepare him room. God is come. Even the earth is to receive him. Let all heaven and all nature sing the good news. He comes in and to every place. He comes in and to and through everyone and every thing. Joy! It is yours; it is mine!
Joy to the earth! The Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy.
God reigns! Love is at the heart of all things. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love never comes to an end. Every year nature passes through her mysterious changes; every year the fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy. We trust that to occur. Can we see God in it all? Sing Joy! It is yours; it is mine!
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.
The Lord is come! Love reigns! Don’t let sin and sorrow grow. The curse, the blight, the greed, is being removed. The broken world is being mended. God is come to forgive, to set us free, to liberate us from our bondage into abundant life. Joy! It is yours; it is mine!
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness,
And Wonders of his love.
He rules the world! It is undergirded with love. He is here (Emmanuel—God with us) and will continue to be with us to lead us into truth until all nations become one “under God” and thus prove, in real life, in practical ways, the wonders of his love. Joy! It is yours; it is mine!
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