Let All Creation Sing Series

T-minus 6 days, amen? Christmas is next Saturday … it’ll be here before we know it, amen? How many of you have all your Christmas shopping done? How many of you have all your presents wrapped and under the tree? How many of you still have to put up your tree, amen? Over the past few weeks some you have probably been running around like chickens with your heads cut off … and there’s still more to do, am I right?

Let’s face it … Christmas is a stressful time for most adults. For some, it’s a time of intense loneliness or crushing grief because of a loved one who is gone. Even at its best, Christmas means parties to plan … parties to attend … gifts to buy … elaborate meals to cook … goodies to bake … long trips to take … or out-of-town guests to host. In the midst of all that we have to do, how can we sing a “new song” to the Lord? Well … by taking our cue from the writer of Psalm 98 or from Isaac Watts and remember the reason for this season. It’s all about how God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him might have eternal life (John 3:16).

We tend to think of Isaac Watts’ hymn, “Joy to the World,” as a Christmas carol but if you look at the lyrics, there is no mention of Bethlehem … no mention of Mary and Joseph … no shepherds or angels … no star … no wisemen. It could easily be used as a general-purpose song of praise. In fact, if you turn to page 246 in our hymnal and look at the tiny words at the bottom of the page, you’ll see the word “WORDS” in all caps followed by “Isaac Watts, 1719” … meaning that Isaac Watts wrote the words to this hymn in 1719. In parenthesis it says (Psalm 98:4-6) … meaning that the inspiration or basis of Watts’ hymn was Psalm 98:4-6 … which is also a general-purpose song of praise.

Isaac Watts didn’t write this hymn for Christmas. He wrote it, along with a host of other great hymns like “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “Jesus Shall Reign,” because of the wooden hymns of his day and the lackluster way that his congregations were singing those hymns. Commenting on the singing at that time, here is what Isaac Watts said about it and what ultimately what lead him to write hymns like “Joy to the World. “To see the dull indifference, the negligent and thoughtless air that sits upon the faces of a whole assembly while the psalm is upon their lips might even tempt a charitable observer to suspect the fervency of their inward religion” (The Golden Age of Hymns, Issue #31; 1991; christianhistoryinstitute.org) To counter what he saw as boring hymns being sung by bored congregations, he set out to write songs that brought joy and fervency to the congregation as they sang together. And so, with the help of Isaac Watts and Psalm 98, let’s see if we can’t crank up our joy today, amen?

The author of Psalm 98 starts out by inviting us to “sing to the LORD a new song” (Psalm 98:1). Why? He tells us: “for He” … God … “has done marvelous things.” “His right hand and His holy arm” speak of God’s power. His strength and His power is like that of a mighty warrior King who has won great victories. Why should the people sing a new song to the LORD? Because the victories of mighty kings are remembered in song. New victories require new songs and God is forever doing marvelous things and winning new victories. The most marvelous thing is what we sing about in Watts’ hymn, “Joy to the World”: “… the Lord is come” (stanza 1). Watts also includes God’s greatest victory in his hymn, His victory over sin in stanza 3. C.H. Spurgeon put it this way: “Jesus our King has led a marvelous life. He died a marvelous death. Risen by a marvelous resurrection and ascended marvelously into heaven” (Spurgeon, C.H. The Treasury of David: Psalm 98; archive.spuregon.org).

I think the word “marvelous” barely describes what God did, do you? Jesus, the second person of the Trinity humbled Himself and became a human being and came into the world in the usual way … as a baby. He lived a perfect life to that He could be a perfect sacrifice. When tempted to sin, to turn away from the plan that God had for our salvation, He was obedient … obedient unto death … death on the cross … for our sake. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. He took the penalty that you and I deserve and died in our place. He shed His blood on the cross in a horrible way for a marvelous reason … so that we could be forgiven. And then He rose from the dead three days later and is now seated at the right hand of God, the Father. Pretty marvelous, amen? I’d say that His victory over sin and death is worthy of a new song, wouldn’t you agree?