Saturday, December 23, 2006

Joy to the World



Joy to the World by Isaac Watts is one of the most beloved of Christmas carols. It is a favorite of mine.







Verse 1
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.

"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" John 1:12


Verse 2
Joy to the earth! 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.

"Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!" Psalm 98:4


Verse 3
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,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree" Galatians 3:13


Verse 4
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.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. " John 1:14


Merry Christmas!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I read this several days ago and didn't comment. Too busy, I guess.

But the ideal of Christian joy is one of my favorite things. It definitely deserves a comment.

As a kid, I used to wish there was a verse that said Jesus laughed. We have "Jesus wept," but I wanted the world to be a comedy.

I learned recently that there is such a verse, but it is only in Greek. In Luke 10, when Jesus sends out the 70. They come back to him and he is overcome with the joy of the Spirit. That word "agalliao" means he danced for joy, and I'll bet he laughed as he danced.

And he was dancing because the people were doing his work. It's still our calling. And I think he still dances when we fulfill our calling.