Joy to the World
Joy to the World is the most published Christmas hymn in North America. But it was not originally written as a Christmas hymn. In 1719, an Englishman named Isaac Watts penned the words based on the second half of Psalm 98, which reads, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.”
This psalm focuses on the triumphant return of Messiah at the end of the age, which means Joy to the World is really about Jesus’s second advent not His first. That’s when the nations celebrate with exuberant joy, as does all of nature.
So, the next time you come into the presence of the great King and Judge of all the earth, leave your gloomies behind.
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