Joy To The World!

Advent, 3rd Sunday

Joy To The World!
INTRODUCTION
I. Background to the Christmas Carol
a. Isaac Watts, Reformed kid
b. Hymn-writer as a challenge by his father.
i. Bored with the Psalter-based singing
Mark Roberts: …many of the Psalms were not easily sung in their existing form. The meter just wasn’t right.

ii. Challenged by his father to write his own hymns.

Mark Roberts: Watts’s early efforts, however, were more in keeping with his Reformed background. In 1719 he published The Psalms of David, Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. In this collection of hymns, Watts used the biblical Psalms for his foundation. Then he rewrote the words, both so that the final result could be easily sung in English, and so that it reflected the reality of Christ.

iii. Isaac did: some 750 hymns!
1. Penned poems that restated, summarized Scripture, rewriting the Psalms as if David had known all that we know of Christ.
2. * Come ye that love the Lord
3. * Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
4. * O God, Our Help in Ages Past
5. * When I survey the wondrous cross
6. * Alas! and did my Saviour bleed

c. Wrote JOY TO THE WORLD as a translation of Psalm 98.
Mark Roberts: One of these reframed psalms provides the text for our carol “Joy to the World.” This was not meant to be a Christmas carol at all. In fact, apart from the fact that “the Lord is come” and the overall sense of joy, there isn’t anything “Christmassy” about “Joy to the World.”

d. NOT a Christmas hymn! Based on a melody by Handel.

Psa. 98:1 O sing to the Lord a new song,
For He has done wonderful things,
His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.
Psa. 98:2 The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
Psa. 98:3 He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Psa. 98:4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.
Psa. 98:5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of melody.
Psa. 98:6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.
Psa. 98:7 Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
Psa. 98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Psa. 98:9 Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.

II. Psalm 98 is a Psalm of God’s rule over the earth.
a. Each of the psalms 93-100 expresses wonder and celebration of God’s present reign and impending rule over the earth.
b. God created the earth, and rules the earth.
III. Joy To The World rewrites Psalm 98.
a. Compare the two in Mark Robert’s table.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room;
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing.
And heav’n and heav’n and nature sing. 4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD. 7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it.
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ.
While fields and floods,
Rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy 2 The LORD hath made known his salvation (KJV)
8 Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy 9 at the presence of the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth.
No more let sin and sorrows 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. Here Watts strays farthest from the words of Psalm 98.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness.
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love. 3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. (KJV)
9 . . .for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

b. See the structure of the psalm.
i. 98:1-3 God’s deliverance in the past.
ii. 98:4-6 Worship of the Great King.
iii. 98:7-9 Anticipation of God’s Coming
EBC, Willem A. VanGemeren
Nature echoes and reverberates the joy of God’s people as they anticipate the coming of the Great King (cf. Isa 55:12). The rejoicing of animal and plant life in the sea and on earth (v.7) constitutes the totality of all of created life (cf. 24:1; 96:11), as does the contrastive pair “rivers” and “mountains” (v.8). The “groaning” of nature (Rom 8:19-21) will give way to rejoicing at his coming.

c. The Lord has come: the first time in Jesus to Bethlehem.
WBC, Marvin Tate
He has ‘remembered’ his commitments and obligations to Israel (v 3); that is, he has been actively involved in the implementation of his commitments …

d. The Lord has come: looking back from the visible rule of God upon the earth.
i. Let earth receive her king…
1. Acknowledge him as king.
2. Receive/Embrace him as king.
3. Prepare room for his rule in each heart.
a. Just as NO ROOM WAS FOUND THEN.
b. Room in each heart now,
c. Room in every heart then.
ii. Even heaven and earth will sing his praise.
1. Much is made in Scripture of nature celebrating God.
Psa. 47:1 ¶ O clap your hands, all peoples;
Shout to God with the voice of joy.
Psa. 98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Is. 55:12 “For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

2. Robert Alter:
There is a concordance between the human orchestra—in all likelihood, an actual orchestra accompanying the singing of this psalm—with its lutes and rams’ horns, and the orchestra of nature, both groups providing a grand fanfare for God the king.
The thundering of the sea is a percussion section, joined by the clapping hands of the rivers, then the chorus of the mountains.
…the Israelites chanting the poem’s words of exaltation, to the accompaniment of musical instruments, are invited to imagine their musical rite as part of a cosmic performance.

e. Prepare yourself now for the glorious return of our Lord.
i. Enjoy the first arrival, which we celebrate this season.
ii. Anticipate the second arrival,
EBC, Willem A. VanGemeren
They who welcome their Great King need not fear, because they are the recipients of his victories. He has gone to great length to save them.

Psa. 98:9 Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.