Joy to the World -- Isaac Watts

This revolutionary writer might have intended these words first published in 1719 for some other season than when they are typically used today. Yet, would Isaac Watts have been bothered to know that “Joy to the World” has become a Christmas season song, or would this ground-breaker have been satisfied to see the season of Advent redefined with an with emphasis on Christ’s return instead of His arrival? Watts was not averse to challenging convention, since he was a Nonconformist like his father, and one might even say it was in his DNA to be so inclined. He might have thought Christmas needed some critical reevaluation (like what was observed in the illustration shown here, Josiah King’s The Examination and Tryall of Father Christmas, in 1686, which was published when Isaac Watts would have been 12 years old). Isaac wanted to express himself in his own words throughout his life as a Nonconformist, but he still recognized the great wealth of inspiration contained in the orthodoxy of scripture – like the Psalms and even Genesis – for what he penned that has survived for three centuries.

Watts may have drawn upon various scriptures for the four verses that he eventually penned about joy, according to various sources (see them below). Genesis 3:17-18, and Psalms 96 and 98 contain much of what Isaac perhaps was reading to write about Christ’s return and reign and how the creation responds (vv.1, 2, 4), and how He overturns what happened to the planet’s inhabitants shortly after creation (v.3). By his own words, Watts reported that the concluding words of the 96^th and 98^th Psalms were his stimuli for how he concluded his own poem, expressing the elation that we believers possess in trusting Christ’s rule in righteousness. We know not what time of year Isaac penned his poem, but since he writes of no angels, Bethlehem, a bright star, or shepherds, nor of the Christ-child particularly, we can deduce that it was not Christmas time. Isaac composed ‘Joy…’ for inclusion in a 1719 publication The Psalms of David, so perhaps that collection was the context of Isaac’s focus. His purpose in using the Psalms as a baseline for his poems was to recast them, “imitated in the language of the New Testament”, so that Christians could echo David’s Old Testament poetry with renewed vigor. Watts would have used other methods to emphasize his purposes in hymn-writing, for he was also a speaker-minister, theologian, and logician. One could be certain that whatever Isaac wrote, he had thought and read about thoroughly.

Its survival for 300 years indicates “Joy to the World” has something that is transcendent, something that Isaac thought was powerful, even if none of us have yet witnessed what he describes. Christmas is overtly about the Christ that has already come as a baby, clearly worth celebrating. But if that’s all He did, or is expected to do, could I be joyful? Is that what Isaac might have wondered? Although he may not have written these words during the season acknowledging the first Advent, Isaac’s character and life-purpose might have urged that His return’s import is incalculable, comparatively. The second Advent, what is yet to come, is what Isaac underlined for you and me. Attention to this is appropriate for any season of the year.               

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985.

Also see this link, showing all four original verses and a brief account of the song’s development: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/o/y/w/joyworld.htm

Also see here for song information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World  

See author information here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/a/t/t/watts_i.htm

See here also for biographic information on the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts