Joy To The World
Scripture
Shoutjoyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy andsing praises.
~Psalm 98:4, NRSV
Quote
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. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy. We sing this as a Christmas Carol but Issac Watts did not write it as such. He was inspired by Psalm 98 which is another enthronement Psalm or royal Psalm. Ezra clustered them together, 93-100 are about God reigning supremely as our KING and JUDGE. Watts was thinking about the second advent of Christ. In the first advent, Jesus came primarily as a SAVIOR to fulfill His redemptive mission. He stated this clearly in Luke 19:10, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” When Christ returns, He will come as KING. He will not be garbed in the humble attire of a peasant carpenter. He will come in majesty and power as the KING of kings and the LORD of lords. The consumation of His kingdom will be celebrated around the world and by all of creation. Both heaven and nature will sing in celebration of His victory.
If you are a fan of C.S. Lewis, you will recall that in Narnia, the animals, the trees and all of nature’s elements bow to to Aslan and participate in the battle to recover Narnia. Obviously we do not have to wait for Jesus to return to begin the celebration. Vance Havner said, “God allows the fruit trees of heaven to bend over the wall so we can pluck some of the fruit now.” When we worship in Spirit and truth, heaven comes down and glory fills our souls. This is what I long for and pray for each Sunday. But the glory we experience in our worship is a drop in the bucket compared to what is coming at Christ return. Everything is creation will be singing VICTORY IN JESUS.
I sing in the choir, not because I have a beautiful voice, but because it is the right thing to do. The only problem with singing in the choir is that you see all those who aren’t singing at all. According to Josie the herald of truth, Joe David doesn’t sing as well as I do and according to Jason and Willard, I am horrible. What does that make David? Yet, I know the boy and he sings everyday. Do you sing everyday? Why not? Worship is a lifestyle, not an event. I hope you do not wait until Sunday to study your bible, to prayer or to praise. I like talk radio and during the week, I listen some conservative host and some sports but on Sunday morning I have a rule: nothing but praise and worship. I have an early service. It begins when I get into the car to go get biscuits and donuts. I’m going to confess a fear: if you don’t have a song in your heart, I am very afraid that Jesus is not in your heart. I don’t know how you could know HIM personally and not sing.
In my prayer time: I gave thanks for PRAISE HELPERS and I thought I would share the list with you.
- The Word of God and especially the Psalms.
- Corporate Worship. I am edified when I hear other praising the LORD.
- Talented People who can sing like angels. When I listen to Andre Broccoli sing the LORD’s prayer, I hear heaven in his voice. What a voice! And who gave him this heavenly voice?
- YouTube. When I am reading or praying a song comes to mind, I turn to my computer and bring up YouTube. I have yet to be disappointed, every song I think of has been there and usually performed by a gifted musician.
- Instruments. King David wrote the book on Praise and Worship and he loved to praise God with instruments. The Church of Christ hate pianos, Pharisaic Baptist hate drums, the Presbyterians don’t like volume. None of the above would enjoy a service lead by King David: it was loud, lots of instruments and could break out into a dance.