Thursday, December 19, 2024

           One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the traditional music that we sing and enjoy.  Carols brighten and inspire us during the shorter and often colder days of December leading up to Jesus’ birth.  Most of us have our favorite carols that we look forward to singing.  I always enjoy the carol “Joy To The World” by Isaac Watts.  Even now, I can sing these comforting words to myself and hear the familiar tune in my mind’s ear.  Some scholars suggest that Watts was inspired by the words of Psalm 98.  And if you read Psalm 98, you could easily see where Watts might have gotten his inspiration.  Though only nine verses, this stirring Psalm calls us to sing to the Lord and to shout for joy to Him.  The psalmist wrote, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.  The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations” (Psalm 98:1-2). 
            We sing because God is worthy of the worship that music offers to Him.  We sing because of the marvelous blessings and gifts that He has entrusted to us. We sing because it is both a joy and privilege to sing to the Most-High God.  A bit later at the end of Psalm 98 we read, “Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.  Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity” (Psalm 98:7-9).  Just casually reading these final seven verses we can imagine Watts being inspired to write “and heaven and nature sing.”  The creation rightly recognizes its Creator.  Remember the words of Jesus in Luke’s gospel, “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’  ‘I tell you,’ He replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’  As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it” (Luke 19:39-41). 
            We sing at Christmas because we remember that Christ has reversed the curse and scourge of sin.  In the words of Watts, “no more let sins and sorrow grow nor thorns infest the ground.”  Through His death and resurrection, we are granted direct access to the Father and welcomed into the family of God.  We are made new through His grace that we receive and experience by faith.  The beautiful words written by Watts in this carol lead us to anticipate our Lord’s Second Coming too.  Psalm 98:4 commands us to “shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music.”  “Joy To The World” gives us one way to keep this command.
            Christmas is one occasion where we can multiply and amplify our praise.  Our Savior has come.  We have not been lost to sin or abandoned to everlasting punishment.  If anyone is in Christ, then he or she is a new creation.  The old has gone and the new has decisively come (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).  God, in Christ, directly defeated sin and the originator of sin—Satan himself.  Rejoice and sing that the Lord is both gracious and good.  And His grace and goodness have overflowed upon us.  Just as shepherds brought their curious minds and longing hearts and just as the wise men brought treasured gifts to Jesus, we can bring ourselves to Christ.  We can shower Him with praise.  But as our Savior, we can bring our sins, defeats, losses and trials to Him.  He is able and gracious enough to receive such things.  Have a great Thursday!  We will celebrate Christmas this coming Sunday with Bible study at 9:45am, worship at 10:55am and our Christmas musical at 5:00pm.  Joy to the world!  The Lord has come!