The joy of Christmas has always seemed to be summed up beautifully in the carol, “Joy to the World.” We sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” and we think of the baby lying in the manger, our precious Savior. But most of us don't know that this was not written to be a Christmas carol at all. Isaac Watts penned these lyrics to reflect the second part of Psalm 98. He prefaced the song with the words, “The Messiah's Coming and Kingdom.” The song also refers to the creation – fields, floods, rocks, hills, plains repeating the sounding joy when Christ comes again.
Maybe this carol was a special treat in the Christmas stocking for all of us. It wasn't planned to be a Christmas gift by the composer. But the Father threw it in as a special treat because He delighted in the message and He delighted in us. The song says, “He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found!” The curse is in all creation. We see the evidence of it everyday – drug abuse, strife, pride, murder, despair, suicide. But like a healing balm His blessing of redemption flows and covers sin and the heaviness of the world. It is His core message. In Psalm 60: 1,He cries out, “Arise, shine, for your Light has come!” With the coming of Jesus we have redemption from the curse. The baby is the promise, in the flesh, that all will be well through the redemption.
Galatians 3:13 and 14 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
That is our Christmas gift. We open that Christmas morning package by believing Jesus Christ paid the price by His sacrifice on the cross and instead of tossing the gift aside for another, we treasure it and take it to our heart.
