Next to “Away in a Manger,” “Joy to the World” is one of the most popular and beloved hymns we sing at Christmastime. When Isaac Watts penned the lyrics though, he didn’t actually have the nativity in mind. There’s no mention of shepherds, angels, wise men, or a newborn baby. He wasn’t referring to Christ’s birth; he was envisioning Jesus’s second coming as the Risen Lord.
One of my favorite stanzas describes heaven and nature (earth) singing praises to God for His salvation: “While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy; repeat, repeat the sounding joy.” Imagine: Even everyday, inanimate objects are energized with joy!
Many people strain to find happiness in the pleasures of this world: fame, wealth, prominence, sports, music, scientific advances, academia. But that kind of joy wanes quickly in a weary, anguished world. All is vanity, the preacher sadly warns us in Ecclesiastes.
Even so, the joy of the Lord’s salvation causes the earth to burst into jubilant song with music. Psalm 98, which inspired Watts’s hymn, begins, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations” (vv. 1–2).
“Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it,” the psalmist urges. “Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy” (vv. 8–9a). This theme is alluded to in another well-known hymn — “If we keep our voices silent, All creation will rise and shout. If we fail to praise You, Father, Then will the very rocks cry out” — based on Jesus’s words in Luke 19:40.
Sometimes though, life’s circumstances engulf us and seemingly snuff out our jubilant song. These past few years have not been especially happy ones for me. First my father, then my mother last year, and in January my wife of 35 years passed away suddenly. Still, I testify the joy of the Lord is my strength (Neh. 8:10) in overcoming difficult times. Taking comfort in the promises of the Lord, I know that one day soon I will see them again … for all eternity.
In John 14:3, Jesus promises us, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” Indeed, “the Savior is come” and is coming, and, for that reason, heaven and nature continue to sing joyfully for me — even when I’m crying inside.
My father-in-law, who also is no longer with us, told a story in one of his Christmas messages about my daughter, Laura, when she was very young. While singing “Joy to the World,” instead of “heav’n and nature sing,” she substituted “manger” for nature. Though the words weren’t right, her theology was sound.
Yes, even if it wasn’t his intent, Watts’s words (and Laura’s adaptation) are applicable to our advent celebration. Heaven and a manger sing! Because a baby was born in a manger, died and arose, we now sing of “the wonders of his love” and rejoice in our eternal home. Because “the Lord is come,” there’s real, lasting joy to the world! “Let every heart prepare him room.”