Songs of Advent

Day 21 - Joy to the World

“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. Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 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.” -Psalm 98:1-2, 4, 7-9

(Photo by Faizan on Unsplash)

Today is Christmas Eve and here is the final installment of the Embracing Hope Advent devotional series. Thank you so much for joining me over the past 21 days!

In 1719, the famous hymn writer Isaac Watts wrote the lyrics to what we know as Joy To The World. Much has been written about how Watts did not write this song to be a Christmas Carol, but nevertheless, the vast majority of us have sung this song virtually every Christmas we can remember. Author Greg Forster says that Watts wrote the lyrics based on Psalm 98 “as a celebration of Jesus’s role as King of both his church and the whole world”. I rather suspect that several of you will sing Joy To The World at a Christmas Eve service this year, and if you do, keep this devotional in mind and please come back and leave a comment to share your experience!

Let’s take a moment to look at Psalm 98 from this perspective. This Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. As we looked at in yesterday’s devotional, God in Christ has come to be with us, and in doing so God has indeed done marvellous things! “The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations”.

The first advent of Jesus leads to the second and when Jesus returns as the King and restores and renews the earth, we will be filled with joy unspeakable. Not only will humanity be impacted, but all of creation; the entire created order will be touched by the coming of our King, Christ Jesus. He is our source of hope in this age, in this ‘intersection of the two advents’ where we must fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2).

As I did for my 2020 Advent series, I would like to close by sharing with you a song that I believe encapsulates this Advent series. My dear friend Justin Rizzo wrote a variation of the traditional Christmas carol Away in a Manger; the song begins with the usual first two verses which speak of Jesus’ first advent in Bethlehem and then Justin wrote two verses of his own, that speak of Jesus’ second advent. You can watch the lyric video here and I really encourage you to take the time to do so. (I also invite you to check out Justin’s full Christmas album, which is outstanding).

My prayer is that through this series you have found your heart stirred again with fresh adoration for Jesus. I’d love to hear how God has touched your life during this series, so please consider leaving a comment below. (Just click the dialogue bubble icon below)

I wish you all the best and a very merry Christmas.

(p.s. I will be in touch again after Christmas with a look at what’s coming next, here at The Hidden Reservoir. Stay tuned!)