Day 46 **Bonus Post** - Joy to the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RD7r3VVMUhAxU&v=7r3VVMUhAxU

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!

Joy to the Earth! The Saviour reigns;

Let men their songs employ.

While fields and streams and hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy!

No more let sin and sorrow 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.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

The wonders of His love,

The wonders of His love,

The wonders, the wonders of His love.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

This is one of my favourite hymns and a favourite in our church, as well as in churches up and down the country. I say hymn, as although it is sung as a carol at Christmas, this was not the intention of the writer, Isaac Watts. Watts wrote it as a poem to paraphrase Psalm 98. The Psalm brings to mind the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, when Jesus will be revealed in all His glory as the great King who comes to judge the world with righteousness.

Notice the first line, “Joy to the World the Lord is Come,” Not has come. Watts was not writing about the past, the birth of Jesus, no, he was writing about the wonderful hope we have in the return of Jesus.

In this time of Advent read the Psalm and think about the blessed hope that Jesus will return again as you sing, Joy to the World.

Psalm 98

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

2 The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

5 make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and sound of singing,

6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it.

8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;

9 let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

Julie Burnett