One of my favorite Christmas carols is “Joy to the World” written by Isaac Watts. It’s an excellent example of a song whose music conveys the theme of its lyrics. Not only are the words full of joy, but the music feels joyful, too. What greater joy can we have than in celebrating the birth of Jesus during the Christmas season? What I’ve come to find out about this song is that Isaac Watts didn’t intend for the hymn to be sung primarily during Advent and Christmas. Watts wrote “Joy to the World” as part of a greater work called “The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament”. The song is Watt’s paraphrasing of Psalm 98, which resoundingly calls for the joyful praise of God’s Savior, Jesus Christ, when He establishes His kingdom on earth. Both the song and the Psalm actually look to Christ’s second coming, not necessarily the first. Of course, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t sing it to celebrate Jesus’ first coming at Christmas. It was certainly an event worthy of joy and joyful praise, but it’s a great reminder that Christmas is not the end of the story (Romans 8:23), and we have a great part to play as we await its completion. Paul, in the book of Philippians, explains how we can carry to completion the joy that dawned at Christmas. He instructed the Philippians to “make my joy complete” by becoming one in mind, love, spirit, and purpose. Paul 73
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