If you went to church in England up until the early 1700s, you wouldn’t have needed a hymnal. The church sang almost exclusively from the book of Psalms. This is the world Isaac Watts was born into, but he wanted something more. He wanted hymns that reflected New Testament thought, so he started writing his own. He wrote 750 hymns over the course of his life, including, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, O God Our Help in Ages Past and the hymn we’re about to look at, Joy to the World. Today it’s hard to imagine the church without these hymns, but in his time, Watts and his hymns were really controversial. Change has always been hard for the church, but can you imagine singing praises in church without mentioning Jesus?
Joy to the World is really the brainchild of three different men. Around the time Isaac Watts was writing his hymns, George Frederick Handel was writing his masterpiece, The Messiah, which features the Hallelujah Chorus. About a century later, the composer Lowell Mason took Isaac Watts’ lyrics and set them to the tune of a portion of the Messiah and gave us the song we know today.
Think about those lyrics:
Joy to the World; the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing.
It’s a proclamation of Joy. After thousands of years of expectation, the promise had been kept. The Messiah was here. This is a song of celebration. The promised King, the long awaited King has stepped out of heaven and into human history. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Jesus was here it was time to receive Him. Of course, we know when He came to be born in Bethlehem, there was no room for him. The people had waited so long and yet they were unprepared to receive Him. Singing this song, in a way asks the question, is there room in your heart for Him? Christmas is a time to celebrate because Jesus is here. He came to our rescue, defeated sin and death and the grave and made the way for us to receive eternal life. This should bring joy not just to our lives but to the world.
It’s for this reason that we get the line which is our theme for the advent season. And heaven and nature sing. There is joy that Jesus came, but there is also anticipation because He is coming again. The Bible says Creation waits in eager expectation for the Sons of God to be revealed. There will come a time when the effects of sin will be removed, and all creation, heaven and nature will be redeemed and made whole. Jesus came to save us and He is coming again to redeem all of creation. Heaven and nature will sing rejoicing over being made new. Let every heart prepare him room. Let earth receive her king.
Joy to the world.