Heaven and Nature Sing

The lyrics to a favorite Christmas Hymn is actually a song about the return of Jesus. "Joy to the World" was written by Isaac Watts as a hymn to the Triumphant Return of Christ, foretold in the book of Revelation.

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.

The thing is, it really works well as both. After all, His triumphant Returning wouldn't even be possible without His first coming to Earth. This cultural juxtaposition of beginning (Christ's birth) and end (His return) also serves as a reminder to us:  be ready.

In Luke 5, Jesus is challenged by Pharisees because His disciples don't fast like John's disciples do.

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

And then, as we see in Matthew 25, after he is gone, we must wait for His return, and be prepared for it. 

¹⁰ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
¹¹ “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
¹² “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
¹³ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

So, in celebrating His birth -- His arrival here on Earth -- we remember to live as though He could return at any time.  


He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,