Israel’s Defensible Borders

Critical Security Needs for a Viable Peace

HT. Jesus Creed

First Sunday After Christmas - Isaiah 61:10

My Soul Shall Exult in My God

This is how I felt after the Celtic Christmas midnight candle service I attended at the First Pres Church in my city last night – a practice I believe I’m going to make a Christmas Eve tradition.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;

my soul shall exult in my God,

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

to sprout up before all the nations.

Six Useful Books on Writing

From Andrew Naselli

Andy Naselli has posted a piece that recommends Six Useful Books on Writing.  The comments are good, as always.

Books on writing are even more common than first-year Greek grammars. (I should probably revise that sentence.)  Here are six that I’ve found especially useful. I’d suggest reading them in this order.

1. William Strunk Jr. The Elements of Style. Wth revisions, an introduction, and a chapter on writing by E. B. White. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. 105 pp.

2. William Zinsser. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. 30th Anniversary Edition. New York: Collins, 2006. 321 pp.

3. Joseph M. Williams. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. With two chapters coauthored by Gregory G. Colomb. Rev. ed. Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1995. 208 pp.

4. Anthony Weston. A Rulebook for Arguments. 4th ed. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2008. 104 pp.

5. Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. 3rd ed. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2008. 336 pp.

6. Merriam-Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2002. 799 pp.

Read the whole thing, if you want some more of his comments on each book. And be sure to skim the comments where several additional works are cited.

Born of Hope

An “Absolutely Stunning” Prequel to LOTR

I just found an amazing prequel to The Lord of the Rings that's been produced by an independent group called Actors at Work Productions.   It doesn't have the production quality of the film, but it's far better than many T.V. movies. I agree with one of the reviewers – it's "absolutely stunning".  It's called Born of Hope.  Being a huge Tolkien fan, I loved it.  Loved it.  The story is about the Dúnedain:

A scattered people, the descendants of storied sea kings of the ancient West, struggle to survive in a lonely wilderness as a dark force relentlessly bends its will toward their destruction. Yet amidst these valiant, desperate people, hope remains. A royal house endures unbroken from father to son.

This hour long original drama is set in the time before the War of the Ring and tells the story of the Dúnedain, the Rangers of the North, before the return of the King. Inspired by only a couple of paragraphs written by Tolkien in the appendices of the Lord of the Rings we follow Arathorn and Gilraen, the parents of Aragorn, from their first meeting through a turbulent time in their people's history.

You'll need a little over an hour to watch it.  It’s well worth your time.  I just downloaded it and watched it, without the annoying network hiccups, via FLV Player.  Here’s a line in the film from Arathorn:

 

"Arise, Dúnedain!  Remember who you are.  Let our enemies once again flee before us...."  

 

Then Arathorn, son of Arador, Lord of the Dunedain led his people in a great and valiant onslaught.  And the servants of the enemy quailed.

Get's my blood going. 

 

If you want to learn more about the Dúnedain, there is a wealth of information online.  Some more here, and here.

Merry Christmas Everyone

The Desire of All Nations Has Come

The “desire of all nations”.  Do you know what it means to desire some thing or someone with an intensity so fierce it unsettles you?  Can we desire the Lord that way and still be sober?  I mean sober in the sense of sober-minded.  Sometimes I do -  long for Him, I mean, with the same desire the heart of every desperate seeker longs with.  If we seek with with the same passion we seek our addictions with, perhaps we would be found by Him – seeking Him with everything we’ve got ‘till we can say with Eric Liddell, “I feel His pleasure.”  Oh God, we want to feel Your pleasure.  The desire of ages, the desire of all nations, Christ the Savior is born.   This is our true desire’s star – that “infinite, soul-staggering grandeur” that only He can fulfill.  Our souls were designed to be connected to something bigger, something higher – His “shocking, stunning, divine, absolute, staggering grandeur.”  The human heart was “made to be staggered by terrifyingly awesome, joyous dread and peace.” ^[1] The human heart was made to find its pleasure in God.

  “The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. . . . Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” ^[2]

 

Resources

1. Piper, John, God’s Design for History, gods-design-for-history-the-glory-of-his-mercy
2. Lewis, C.S. The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, HarperSanFrancisco 2001

Bethlehem’s Shepherds

A “Lovely Thought” Indeed

I stumbled across something the other day – something I hadn’t given any thought to before.  And although the picture of the starry shepherd’s night watch being filled with the glory of a multitude of angels singing praises to a newborn King has always delighted my imagination, I never quite connected these shepherds to the Lamb of God the way William Barclay does below.

Jim L. Wilson has been providing his Fresh Sermons for some time now; they’re available via Logos and on the Web.   I was reading his “Shepherds” sermon and was intrigued by this:

Shepherds weren’t admired in Biblical times. They are called loathsome (NAS) [Also “an abomination”, “detestable”, “loathsome”] in Genesis 46:34. In fact, being a shepherd was considered punishment. Numbers 14:33 says, “And your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they shall suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness.”

Wilson follows that up with a quotation from Barclay’s The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke that supports the above:

It is a wonderful thing that the story should tell that the first announcement of God should come to some shepherds. Shepherds were despised by the orthodox good people of the day. They were quite unable to keep the details of the ceremonial law; they could not observe all the meticulous hand washings and rules and regulations. Their flock made constant demands on them; and so the orthodox looked down on them. It was to simple men of the fields that God’s message first came.

Wilson stops the quotation there.  He is, after all, making another point - the one about the social status of the shepherds in 1st Century Bethlehem, that no one is beyond God’s reach; not you, not me, not even the despised shepherds of that day.  But I wanted to find the full attribution for this quote so I went looking, and I found something I’ve never seen before (nor heard).  That’s always a nice Christmas gift – to be able to see the old, familiar story in a new way.   It was again from Barclay, and it immediately follows the quote given above.  But this one stopped me in my tracks:

But these were in all likelihood very special shepherds. We have already seen how in the Temple, morning and evening, an unblemished lamb was offered as a sacrifice to God. The see that the supply of perfect offerings was always available the temple authorities had their own private sheep flocks; and we know that these flocks were pastured near Bethlehem.  It is most likely that these shepherds were in charge of the flocks from which the Temple offerings were chosen.  It is a lovely thought that the shepherds who looked after the Temple lambs were the first to see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Isn’t that wonderful?  And of course…but how perfect.  I’ll never read this story the same way again:

The Angels Announce Jesus to the Shepherds

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

One of the Best Christmas Videos

Breath of Heaven  and The Nativity

‘Tis The Season to Trash Orthodoxy

Must We Believe in the Virgin Birth?

Albert Mohler answers one of the standard Christmas season salvos directed at orthodoxy by some goofball named Nicholas Kristof

Matthew tells us that before Mary and Joseph “came together,” Mary “was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.” [Matthew 1:18] This, Matthew explains, fulfilled what Isaiah promised: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name ‘Immanuel,’ which translated means ‘God with Us’.” [Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 7:14]

Luke provides even greater detail, revealing that Mary was visited by an angel who explained that she, though a virgin, would bear the divine child: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God.” [Luke 1:35]

Even if the Virgin Birth was taught by only one biblical passage, that would be sufficient to obligate all Christians to the belief. We have no right to weigh the relative truthfulness of biblical teachings by their repetition in Scripture. We cannot claim to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and then turn around and cast suspicion on its teaching.

Millard Erickson states this well: “If we do not hold to the virgin birth despite the fact that the Bible asserts it, then we have compromised the authority of the Bible and there is in principle no reason why we should hold to its other teachings. Thus, rejecting the virgin birth has implications reaching far beyond the doctrine itself.”

Implications, indeed. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, who was His father? There is no answer that will leave the Gospel intact. The Virgin Birth explains how Christ could be both God and man, how He was without sin, and that the entire work of salvation is God’s gracious act. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, He had a human father. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, the Bible teaches a lie.

Carl F. H. Henry, the dean of evangelical theologians, argues that the Virgin Birth is the “essential, historical indication of the Incarnation, bearing not only an analogy to the divine and human natures of the Incarnate, but also bringing out the nature, purpose, and bearing of this work of God to salvation.” Well said, and well believed.

Read the entire thing.

Advent Week 4: Isaiah 7:14

Immanuel - God With Us

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 

“A sign was given to the house of David. A virgin (almah) would conceive and bear a son. The word almah is never used of a married woman.  Strictly speaking the word means a young woman of marriageable age. Logic demands one of two options.  The almah must be either (1) an unmarried immoral woman; or (2) a virgin.  The birth of a child by an unmarried woman is so common it could not be a ‘sign.’  For this reason the Greek translators, long before the time of Christ, correctly determined that only the word parthenos (virgin) was a suitable translation for almah in this context…The traditional view of the church is that the almah here is the virgin Mary. The Apostle Matthew saw in this verse a direct prediction of the birth of Jesus (Matt 1:22-23).”  ^[1]

Matthew confirms the prophesy is of our Lord.  And, as Isaiah later clarifies:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

“Isaiah says that the child ‘will be born to us.’ With that phrase, he affirms the humanity of Jesus. But he says more than just that—he also writes, ‘a son will be given to us.’ The addition of the second phrase clarifies the first. Jesus was born of a woman — He was born to us, but His birth was of divine origin — He was given to us. ^[2]

 

References

1. Smith, James E. Old Testament Survey Series: The Major Prophets
2. Wilson, Jim L  Fresh Start Devotionals

Advent Week 4 – Isaiah 9:2-5

A Great Light

When Darkness Covered the Land and Gross Darkness the People

2 The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shined.

Alfred Edersheim, in his monumental classic, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah writes beautifully:

Truly, it was summer in the ancient land of Zebulun and Naphtali, in the Galilee of the Gentiles, when the glorious Light that had risen chased away the long winter’s darkness, and those who had been the first exiles in Assyrian bondage were the first brought back to Israel’s true liberty, and by Israel’s Messiah-King. To the writer of the first Gospel, as, long years afterwards, he looked back on this, the happy time when he had first seen the Light, till it had sprung up even to him ‘in the region and shadow of death,’ it must have been a time of peculiarly bright memories. How often, as he sat at the receipt of custom, must he have seen Jesus passing by; how often must he have heard His Words, some, perhaps, spoken to himself, but all falling like good seed into the field of his heart, and preparing him at once and joyously to obey the summons when it came: Follow Me! And not to him only, but to many more, would it be a glowing, growing time of heaven’s own summer.

There was a dim tradition in the Synagogue, that this prediction, ‘The people that walk in darkness see a great light,’ referred to the new light, with which God would enlighten the eyes of those who had penetrated into the mysteries of Rabbinic lore, enabling them to perceive concerning ‘loosing and binding, concerning what was clean and what was unclean.’ Others regarded it as a promise to the early exiles, fulfilled when the great liberty came to them. To Levi-Matthew it seemed as if both interpretations had come true in those days of Christ’s first Galilean ministry. Nay, he saw them combined in a higher unity when to their eyes, enlightened by the great Light, came the new knowledge of what was bound and what loosed, what unclean and clean, though quite differently from what Judaism had declared it to them; and when, in that orient Sun, the promise of liberty to long-banished Israel was at last seen fulfilled.

It was indeed, the highest and only true fulfillment of that prediction of Isaiah, in a history where all was prophetic, every partial fulfillment only an unfolding and opening of the bud, and each symbolic of further unfolding till, in the fulness of time, the great Reality came, to which all that was prophetic in Israel’s history and predictions pointed. And so as, in the evening of his days, Levi-Matthew looked back to distant Galilee, the glow of the setting sun seemed once more to rest on that lake, as it lay bathed in its sheen of gold. It lit up that city, those shores, that custom-house; it spread far off, over those hills, and across the Jordan. Truly, and in the only true sense, had then the promise been fulfilled: ‘To them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.’

Mary Did You Know

Michael English

It’s Still the Greatest Story Ever Told

Share it With Your Family This Christmas

This emotional clip from Sermon Central shows the power of gathering as a family during the Christmas holiday and reading the account of Christ's birth. For everyone, everywhere, it's still the greatest story ever told.

Advent Conspiracy

Some of the better videos from the folks at Advent Conspiracy

if you want a little history of Advent Conspiracy, try this.   And now, for the videos: The first is well worth the three and a half minutes.  This is stuff many of us think about every Christmas, and it’s done so well here by the founder of Advent Conspiracy, no less, Rick McKinely:

Spend Less, Worship More

The second is another 08 version, also well done, and another video that helps to turn the affections on course.  It’s slightly dated, but more appropriate now than it was even then.

Seven Basic and Brief Points for Writers

From Douglas Wilson

Over at Blog and Mablog, Douglas Wilson has posted, way back in April, some writing tips where he encourages those who want to learn the writer’s life “to approximate something like the following”:

1. Know something about the world, and by this I mean the world outside of books. This might require joining the Marines, or working on an oil rig, or as a hashslinger at a truck stop in Kentucky. Know what things smell like out there.

2. Read. Read constantly. Read the kind of stuff you wish you could write. Read until your brain creaks. Tolkien said that his ideas sprang up from the leaf mold of his mind. These are the trees where the leaves come from.

3. Read mechanical helps. By this I mean dictionaries, etymological histories, books of anecdotes, dictionaries of foreign phrases, books of quotations, books on how to write dialog, and so on. The plot will usually fail to grip, so just read a page a day. If you think it makes you out to be too much of a word-dork, then don't tell anybody about it.

4. Stretch before your routines. If you want to write short stories, try to write Italian sonnets. If you want to write a novel, write a few essays. If you want to write opinion pieces for the Washington Post, then limber up with haiku.

5. Be at peace with being lousy for a while. Chesterton once said that anything worth doing was worth doing badly. He was right. Only an insufferable egoist expects to be brilliant first time out.

6. Learn other languages, preferably languages that are upstream from ours. This would include Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon. The brain is not a shoebox that "gets full," but is rather a muscle that expands its capacity with increased use. The more you know the more you can know. The more you can do with words, the more you can do. As it turns out.

7. Keep a commonplace book. Write down any notable phrases that occur to you, or that you have come across. If it is one that you have found in another writer, and it is striking, then quote it, as the fellow said, or modify it to make it yours. If Chandler said that a guy had a cleft chin you could hide a marble in, that should come in useful sometime. If Wodehouse said somebody had an accent you could turn handsprings on, then he might have been talking about Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. Tinker with stuff. Get your fingerprints on it.

Know when to stop.

The comments are also worth reading.  Drop by and read some more. Douglas has some very good resources linked on his blog.  Much of it is the categorization of his own prolific blogging/writing/reading.  He also links to his Goodreads account from his “About” menu, which is a pretty good indicator of how widely read he is.  I’ve also noted one of the lists there on Goodreads that goes along this same topic: Best Books on Writing.

Lessons From The Christmas Story For Every Season

From Andrew Wommack Ministries 

Christmas is a time of wonder for young and old alike. Despite all the commercialism, the message of God's love for mankind rings louder at Christmas than any other time of the year. You can go into nearly any store and hear great songs like "Joy to the World" and see scenes depicting the birth of Christ in places that otherwise would only use Christ's name in  profanity.

In this series, Andrew shares some of the most profound truths that the Lord has given him. The teachings on How to Conceive a Miracle and The Gospel of Peace are truths that everyone who wants to live a victorious Christian life must know.

Note:  Andrew is one of my all-time favorite human beings.  Besides being a wonderful man of God – full of love, faith and the power of the Holy Spirit, he’s a mighty oak of patience and faithfulness, and one of the clearest teachers of the Word of God I know. 

Advent Week 3 – Matt 11:2-11

The Consolation of John the Baptist

Andrew' Wommack’s commentary on this is wonderful.

2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you ithe one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,

  ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
  who will prepare your way before you.’

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear,let him hear.

Songs for Christmas 2010

Some Good Recommendations

Worship Matters is recommending some music for Christmas.  Check it out.  I’m always on the look out for new Christmas or meditative music.   I’m especially excited about New Irish Hymns #3 and one I’m not familiar with, but a “favorite” of Bob’s, Stuart Townend’s From the Squalor of a Borrowed Stable.

Here’s the post.  Go and read.

Advent Week 3 - Psalm 146:5-10

Blessed is He Whose Hope is in the Lord His God

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,

6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;

7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;

8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10 The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope! (Ps119.116)

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.  (Ps2.12)

Advent Week 3 – Isaiah 35:1

The Future of The Ransomed is Glorious to Contemplate

The Ransomed Shall Return

35 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;

2 it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.

9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.

10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

The work of God (35:3–7). Isaiah urged those who were spiritually perceptive and understood the implications of the preceding prophecy to encourage the people who were discouraged and fearful. In the messianic age God would come to (1) execute vengeance on those who oppose him and his people; and (2) save his people (Isa 35:3f.). The latter receives the emphasis here.

The work of salvation would begin with a healing ministry. Blindness, deafness, dumbness and lameness would be corrected (Isa 35:5–6a). Jesus cited these verses when he responded to John’s question regarding his identity (Matt 11:4-5.). By so doing Jesus was claiming to be deity as well as Messiah for it is the coming of God which effects these physical transformations.

The work of salvation involved the provision of abundant water. In that day the dumb would shout for joy, not only because of their own healing, but for another reason as well. Waters would break forth in the wilderness bringing life to barren land (35:6b–7). Isaiah was using concrete imagery to depict the refreshment which Jesus, the Water of Life, would bring to a spiritual waste land (John 4:11–14).

The way of God (35:8–10). Isaiah depicted the life of the redeemed in the messianic age as a pilgrimage along a special way. This is a raised way — a maslul, i.e., something built up above the surface, obvious to all who are looking for it. This is a holy way restricted to those who have been cleansed and who desire to live a life of holiness. This is a plain way for “the simple will not stray from it” (NIV mar). It is a safe way, for no ferocious beast will harm those who stay on it. It is the freedom way, for those redeemed from bondage, ransomed by payment of a price, find deliverance from bondage here. It is a straight way, for it has as its sole destination Zion, the city of God. It is a sure way, for those who travel it will reach their destination. It is a joyous way, for they will enter Zion with singing. It is the glory way, for those who arrive in Zion will receive an everlasting crown of joy. Only the redeemed, those ransomed by the Lord, may walk in that way.^[1]

References
Smith, James E., Old Testament Survey Series: The Major Prophets (1992)

Joy to the World

Hymn for the Day

Joy to the World, a favorite Christmas hymn noted for it’s joyfully triumphant music portraying “all of the glow and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ” comes from Isaac Watts’ efforts to bring New Testament meaning to the Psalms.  Watts based Joy to the World on the last half of Psalm 98:4,8 -  “Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth, . . . 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.” 

Songs and Hymns notes that Joy to the World “includes references to other Bible verses as well, including Gen. 3:17, Rom. 5:20, and Luke 2:10. Yet despite its lack of reference to Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, wise men, or the manger, it became one of the most loved Christmas carols. In a season for celebrating our Savior's birth, Watts' hymn beautifully expresses our joy at the coming of our Savior.”

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.

Be sure to listen to The Adoration Songbook episodes at the bottom of the Songs and Hymns page.  See the section “Hear Us on the Radio” for some great background to this Isaac Watts favorite.