Joy to the World!

It is finally Christmas!  I’ll bet the children in your life are bustling with excitement as they wait to see what kind of presents lie beneath the Christmas tree.  Perhaps you are preparing to either travel or receive visitors?  This really is a beautiful time of year.  This is a time where the beauty of decorations, of relationships, gift-giving music, and joy all meet- and appropriately so, for this is the time when we remember the coming of God’s great gift to humanity- His son, Jesus.

I love singing at Christmas time.  There is just something so sweet and pure about hearing my wife and kids picking parts and joining in on a carol or Christmas hymn and the whole family sings together.  Out of all the tunes we love the best, there is one popular song that is commonly sung at Christmas time, that you may be surprised to know actually has nothing to do with Christmas.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing

Joy to the world! the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods
Rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy

These verses are not actually speaking of the first appearance of the Son of God on earth, but rather, the second.  It speaks of the return of Jesus at the end of time as the King of all mankind.  The first time Jesus came, He did so as a servant to show His love for mankind, and to provide a means for mankind to be brought near to God though we are lost in sin.  The second time He will appear, not as a suffering servant, but as a glorious, conquering king!  In the second verse we are instructed to sing songs of worship to the mighty King, and as we do, all of creation itself will join in glad adoration of Creator God!  This is the natural response we have to seeing the great power and grace of God.

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

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love

The words of these verses announce the great news that when Jesus returns, He will defeat Satan and his allies, He will set things aright, and He will even break the curse of sin and destruction that is on the earth.  Jesus will one day rule upon the earth, and all that has gone wrong with corrupt governments, sickness, pain, disease, destruction, abuse, chaos, murder, hunger, and more will be brought to an end and the world will experience the reality of the presence of God, and He will wipe every tear away from our eyes, and there will be no more curse!


This Christmas, as you have an opportunity to share good times with your family, friends, and church, I pray you will remember not only the baby Jesus, lying in a manger, but that same Jesus, who will one day return with the power and splendor of a glorious King!