Is Joy To The World a Christmas Carol?
Psalms 98
Is "Joy to the World" a Christmas carol?
Most of us belt out "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!" every December without questioning it. But here's the thing: Isaac Watts, who wrote this hymn in 1719, didn't intend it as a Christmas carol at all.
A Frustrated Man
Isaac Watts was frustrated. Really frustrated. When he looked out at his congregation singing psalms and scripture, he saw what he called "dull indifference" and "negligent and thoughtless air" on their faces. In other words: if you looked at the way Christians were singing to their God, you'd start to wonder if they actually believed the words coming out of their mouths.
Sound familiar? We've all seen it. Or been it. The person with hands in pockets, fingers on their iPhone, just kind of dirging along during worship.
Watts complained about it to his dad, who told him: "Stop whingeing. Do something about it."
So he did.
Watts made it his life's goal to write songs for the church that would exalt Christ and remind Christians of their hope in His saving work. He published an entire book in 1719 called The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. His whole intention was to take the psalms, filter them through Jesus, and bring them out the other side for the church to sing.
"Joy to the World" is based on Psalm 98, not a Christmas narrative from Matthew or Luke. It's a psalm about God's salvation, deliberately repackaged through the lens of Jesus.
About 130 years later, Lowell Mason, America's first music educator and a church music director, added the familiar tune we know today. Like Watts, Mason was passionate about getting congregations singing (not just professional choirs performing). The creative genius of both men, spanning over a century, gave us the "Joy to the World" we know and love.
The Three Advents
Here's where it gets interesting. Most Christians are familiar with two advents:
First Advent - Jesus' birth at Christmas
Second Coming (Third Advent) - Jesus' return in the future
The second advent is the coming of the Holy Spirit.
In John 14, Jesus promises His disciples: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth... I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
Later He says: "It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."
The arrival of the Holy Spirit in believers' lives is Christ's second advent, His present coming, happening right now. And "Joy to the World" celebrates all three.
Past, Present, Future
Verse 1: Past Advent (Christmas)
"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" is Old English past tense. This verse celebrates what God has already done through Christ's birth and sacrifice. Psalm 98 says: "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."
Watts takes this psalm, written centuries before Jesus, and feeds it through the Christmas story. Yes, this verse is about Christmas. But keep reading.
Verse 2: Present Advent (Holy Spirit)
"Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns! Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy."
Present tense. Right now. "The Saviour reigns". Not "reigned" or "will reign," but reigns. This verse calls all people and all creation to sing to God right now because He is present tense Saviour, Lord, and King.
Verse 3: Future Advent (Second Coming)
"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."
This verse often gets cut from carols, which is a shame because it contains profound theology. "Nor thorns infest the ground" references Genesis 3, where thorns became evidence of creation's curse after Adam and Eve's sin.
Through Christ's kingdom, that curse is being rolled back. In believers' lives now, the Holy Spirit is transforming us to "put off the old self" and put on Christ. And ultimately, at His return, the curse will be completely removed. Psalm 98 says: "Let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity."
The final verse looks forward:
"He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love."
The nations don't all sing to God's glories yet. But when Jesus returns, establishes His permanent kingdom, and remakes the earth into new heavens and new earth, then every person and nation will sing out the glories of His righteousness.
Advent Applications
Watts was clever enough to build the application right into the song:
1. "Let every heart prepare Him room"
The first response to Christ's advent is to receive Him as Lord, Saviour, and King. Repent from sin and receive His free gift of salvation. The first words Jesus speaks in Mark's Gospel are: "The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news."
If that's not yet true of you, that's the call.
2. "Let men their songs employ"
For those already in Christ: use your breath, voice, song, life, and vocation to bring praises to God. Join with all creation, the fields, floods, rocks, hills, and plains. All heaven and nature are singing to God's glory.
Why not you?
3. "No more let sins and sorrows grow"
For Christians: continue hour by hour, day by day, week by week to put off your old self and put on the new self won for you through Christ and empowered in you by His Holy Spirit. As Colossians 3 says: "Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature... Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."
Is It a Christmas Carol?
Should we sing "Joy to the World" at Christmas time? Absolutely.
But let's free "Joy to the World" from only appearing at Christmas. Let's sing it all year round. I think Isaac Watts would be disappointed if we didn't sing this song for 11/12ths of the year. That wasn't his intent.
This song is about the advent of Jesus. His first coming in the past, His second arrival right now through the Holy Spirit, and His third coming in the future. And that reality is true at Christmas, at New Year's, at Easter, in random weekends in September, all the time.
The call of "Joy to the World" is to never become indifferent to singing praises to our great God, Saviour, Lord, and King. It's a song about the advancing kingdom of God in every season of life, not just December.
So this year, don't pack "Joy to the World" away with the decorations. Keep singing it. Because the Lord is come, the Saviour reigns, and He will rule the world with truth and grace.
And that's worth singing about every single day.
Soul Revival Church gathers across the Sutherland Shire and Ryde.