I love Christmas music. As soon as the stations begin playing it (usually on Thanksgiving Day) I have it on in every room of the house and in my car. I've been known to embarrass my kids while shopping by singing along with whatever is playing over the store's loud speakers. I love all the classic and more modern Chistmas songs but I especially love the carols. Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night, Away In A Manger, The First Noel ... all of them. My husband, Dave has a beautiful deep bass voice and no one can sing Oh Holy Night like he does. But my favorite of all is Joy To The World. I have it listed as one of the songs I want played at my funeral.
A little known fact about this carol is that it was not written as a Christmas song. Isaac Watts wrote it as a paraphrase of Psalm 98 and, instead of celebrating the birth of Christ, he was actually rejoicing over His soon return. The opening line is sometimes sung incorrectly as "Joy to the world! The Lord has come." What Watts actually wrote is "The Lord is come." He was not looking back but toward the future. The main point of Psalm 98 was not about the first coming of Jesus, but rather His Second Coming .. when our Savior reigns and "rules the world with truth and grace."
Having discovered the background of my favorite Christmas carol just makes me love it even more. The birth of our Saviour and the promise of His return are, indeed, sources of "great joy that will be for all people."
Joy to the world!
The Lord IS come!
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