Joy to the World, from Family Christmas Online^TM

"Joy to the World" may be the first Contemporary Christian song. Its author Isaac Watts was a young man (20-22) when he wrote it, and there is at least one tradition that Watts wrote this song specifically to prove to his elders that hymns didn't always have to sound like funeral dirges. At first this song was dismissed by those who "knew music" because its tune was barely more than a descending major scale. But congregations loved it. Watts went on to become a preacher. Though his views kept him from pursuing ordination in the Church of England, his songs and his sermons were respected by many. The harmonies we know best were probably created by Lowell Mason about 1836.

Technically speaking this song is about Jesus' predicted second coming, not His first. Like Handel's Messiah, this song includes messianic prophecies about the triumphant reign of Christ that will occur when He comes back for His chosen. The "curse" that Watts speaks of in verse 3 was God's judgment on Adam and his descendants after Adam and Eve defied God's one command in the garden in Genesis 3:17b-18

. . . cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

That curse may have been revoked after the flood when . . . "the LORD said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake" (Gen 8:21). But Watts is using the thorns to represent the entire range of problems, including sin and sorrow, that have come as a result of man's separation from God. "He comes to make His Blessings known far as the curse is found," means that, at His second coming, the Lord will repair, renew, restore every aspect of creation that has been affected by evil.

To hear an MP3 file of the song click here.

To download the vocal only sheet music for this song in pdf format, click here

To download the vocal/piano sheet music for this song in pdf format, click here

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, 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, repeat, the sounding joy.

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,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, 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,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

If you have any corrections or comments you would like to make about this page, please contact me and I will be glad to hear from you. God bless - Paul