A Season of Joy While Grieving

Christ on the White Horse, Giusto de' Menabuoi

I was one of those annoying know-it-alls as an elementary schooler.  (Maybe I shouldn't say "was"...)  Teachers either loved me because I was a quick and eager learner or they couldn't stand me because I could and did point out just about every mistake they ever made.

Imagine my glee one year when I discovered that "Joy to the World" isn't actually about Christmas.  I had lots of annoying know-it-all fun informing people that they had failed to examine the words they were singing and had bought into the mistaken idea that "Joy to the World" is a Christmas song.

You see, if you have only heard the first verse, you might be like the unenlightened masses who think that "Joy to the World"  is one more rendition of what the angels sang to the shepherds in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. 

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.

But it is actually a celebration not of Christ's first coming, as a baby, but of His second coming.  The rest of the verses make that clear. 

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.

Sins and sorrows are still growing.  They were growing when Jesus was born, and they haven't stopped.  Thorns still infest the ground.  Jesus' rule and reign never really got off the ground in Jerusalem in AD 27...He didn't deliver the Jews from the Romans.  The only crown He wore was one of thorns.  He had no palace, no government, no throne. 

All that to say, I don't mind singing "Joy to the World" at Christmas time, even though it's not technically a Christmas carol.   It reminds me that Jesus has only completed half of His job of salvation and deliverance.  While we can rejoice in the spiritual salvation and deliverance that His life and death have bought us, "Joy to the World" calls us to imagine what it will be like to rejoice when Jesus comes back to this earth, bringing physical salvation and deliverance for our world.

This Christmas finds me a little bit like Jesus' disciples.  "Is NOW the time when You will establish Your kingdom?"  Sometimes it's hard to see the spiritual deliverance right before your eyes when your physical reality is screaming for some real, tangible deliverance.  "I'm glad You came to save us from our sins, but could You please get rid of the long succession of ungodly rulers who oppress, enslave, and kill us?" the disciples might have said.  Similarly, my heart cries, "I'm glad You came to save me from my sins, but could You please get rid of suffering and death?"

"Joy to the World" lets me rejoice in the future, when Jesus keeps His promise to rule the world in truth and grace, when His blessings flow far as the curse is found.  His first coming to earth didn't change our physical world that much.  But when He comes again, everything will be different.  Even when I don't feel like rejoicing about today, I can rejoice that Jesus is coming back, and this time He won't be a little baby who grows up to be executed by the oppressors of His people.  He will be a mighty king who rules forever and ever, who abolishes sin and death and all the pain that they bring.

I can rejoice in His first coming because it purchased my spot in the perfect kingdom of His second coming. I can rejoice in His first coming because it assures me that His second coming is imminent.  Right now, all I have is joy for my heart, but one day there will be joy for the world. 

I look forward to the day when this physical world repeats the sounding joy because it has been set free.