A Hymn of Joy!
Eighteenth Day of Advent. Thursday, December 18, 2025
Dear friends,
Christmas Eve holds a special place for us. The evening worship service is filled with Scripture lessons, carols, hymns, and candlelighting. The highlight of the evening is when the room goes dark, we light our hand-held candles, and sing Silent Night. Then, the lights are turned on, we extinguish our candles, and sing “Joy To The World.”
Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king.
Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing…!
This entire sequence is the highlight of the evening! Part of it was made possible through the work of Isaac Watts, a pastor and theologian, who wrote "Joy To The World." He was born during a time and in a place marked by persecution and upheaval. Several times, his father was imprisoned for refusing to conform to the Church of England. Watts grew up witnessing nonconformist families like his facing fines, exclusion, and threats of violence. He lived through decades of war with France that kept the nation anxious about invasion and survival.
Yet, from age fifteen, when he committed his life to Christ, Watts developed something remarkable: a deeply personal trust in Him that overflowed not with bitterness but in praise. Even as chronic illness limited Watts and kept him from preaching for long stretches, his inner life was marked by gratitude, serenity, and confident hope. His joy was not naive or escapist—it was joy that understood suffering from within, joy shaped by contemplating the cross, joy rooted in the reign of Christ over all earthly powers.
He found the psalm-singing of his time cold and stifling. He began writing hymns with biblical depth that expressed emotions, helping Christians know their faith through love, wonder, and joy. He paraphrased the Psalms, coupling them to the good news of the New Testament. “Joy to the World” came from that effort. Watts saw the words not as a celebration of escapism, but as a declaration of Christ’s reigning presence and future return. Watts's hymn was full of joyful, kingdom-centered hope, viewing hardships through the eyes of the one who is already Lord and who will come again to renew all things.
This Advent, as we wait for Christ’s coming, Watts invites us to sing with joy. Let’s light our candles and prepare our hearts to nurture joy. The world around us may seem as chaotic as his England was, and our bodies and circumstances may struggle as his did. But the same Christ who supported Watts through imprisonment, revolution, and illness is the Christ we’re waiting for. Our joy comes from the truth that Jesus will reign, that his love has already defeated death, and that every upheaval on earth is in his sovereign power. This Advent, let’s sing with Watts because Christ is King, and that makes all the difference in our world and the world to come.
Watching and waiting,
