Joy to the world on Christmas

Melodic Christmas carols are now sung all over. We hear them on radio and television, in malls and churches, and around the neighborhood. 

Well, it is almost Christmas! 

Among the many Christmas carols we sing, one stands out as one of the most sung or most popular of them all: Joy to the World.

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Growing up, I have always thought that Joy to the World was originally composed as a Christmas carol—to welcome the birth of Christ.

But recently, I found out that the English hymn writer who wrote it, Isaac Watts, based the song on Psalm 98 in the Bible.

Let me quote here verses 7, 8, and 9:

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Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!

Let the earth and all living things join in.

Let the rivers clap their hands in glee!

Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the LORD.

For the LORD is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with justice

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As we read these verses, we see that Psalm 98 is about the second coming of Christ, not his birth. So the hymn Joy to the World is all about being joyful that Christ is coming back to earth so that he will render justice to all people.

The song was first published in 1719 in Watts’ collection—The Psalms of David.

Yes, Watts wrote the words of Joy to the World as a hymn praising Christ’s triumphant return at the end of the age, rather than a Christmas song celebrating his first coming as a baby born to Joseph and Mary in a stable.

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The music was adapted and arranged to Watts’ lyrics by Lowell Mason in 1839 from an older melody. Many people believe the melody came from the very famous oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, also often sung on Christmas.

After knowing all these facts, I looked up again the words or lyrics of Joy to the World. And true enough, they are about the joy we must feel when Jesus comes again.  

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For me, it does not really matter whether the song is for Christ coming to the world the first time or the second time. It is a beautiful song that expresses our joy about the birth of a Savior on Christmas day.  

So let’s all sing the familiar first two stanzas together, and remember that over 2,000 years ago, a baby was born in a lowly manger and all the world rejoiced.

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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 Saviour 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.

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Here’s wishing all readers of Big Little People joy, joy, joy on Christmas!

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