Did you know Isaac Watts, one of the greatest hymn writers ever, never intended “Joy to the World” to be a song and certainly not a Christmas song? In 1719, Watts published a book of poems in which each poem was based on a psalm. In his poems he wanted to show how the psalms related to how Jesus was revealed as the Savior of the world in the New Testament.
“Joy to the World” was one of those poems based on Psalm 98 as Watts interpreted this psalm to be a celebration of Jesus’s role as King of both his church and the whole world. He intended the words of his poem to show the return of Christ rather than His birth. Watts never knew that the poem he wrote became one of his most famous hymns when more than a century later a Boston music teacher named Lowell Mason discovered his poem and set it to music. Because it was released at Christmastime, it quickly became a holiday favorite and went on to become the most published Christmas carol in America.
Joy to the world! the Savior 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.
He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of his love!
And wonders of his love!
And wonders . . . wonders . . . of his love!
Here are a few verses from Psalm 98. I like that line about the rivers clapping their hands. That matches the verse where all of nature rejoices in the coming of the Lord.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. ~Psalm 98:4 (NKJ)
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it:
Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord.
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And peoples with equity. ~Psalm 98:7-9 (NKJ)
So, are you singing “Joy to the World” in your head now or maybe right out loud to rejoice in the birth of Jesus? But now you can also consider the thoughts of Isaac Watts as he considered the joy of Christ’s return while writing his poem.
Read the full devotion here.
