Joy to the World - The Hope Beyond the Curse

A devotional look at Joy to the World: the curse of sin on creation and the hope of Christ’s blessings flowing to all the earth.

Of all the Christmas carols, “Joy to the World” has always been my favourite. The words were written in 1719 by the English minister and hymn writer Isaac Watts, based on a Christian interpretation of
Psalm 98,
Psalm 96 (verses 11 and 12), and
chapter 3 of the Book of Genesis (verses 17 and 18). The carol is usually sung to the tune “Antioch” by Handel, as arranged by the American composer Lowell Mason in 1848.

The Three Stanzas of “Joy to the World”

The lyrics of this carol reflect a biblical worldview, one that brings honour to God in all that we do. The first stanza has to do with the joyful anticipation of Christ’s rule. The second stanza encourages us to delight in the ongoing reign of our Saviour. The third stanza acknowledges that there is much wrong with the world. Here is the third verse:

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…

What Is the Curse?

What’s the curse? The sins, sorrows and thorns referred to in the first half of the verse, which references
Genesis 3
– the curses released as a result of the fall of the angels in the first instance, and later Adam and Eve. Sin didn’t just bring judgement (the curse) on the people, but on the ground…on the earth. Accordingly, there is trouble on Planet Earth. Read the newspapers, listen to the radio and TV broadcasts. War, violence, corruption, famine and environmental degradation are everywhere. The sexual revolution has led to sexual revulsion! Just as it was with our first parents, God’s truth is exchanged daily for despicable lies. Sin has been woven into the fabric of life. All the earth has been ravaged. We can turn nowhere in life that the curse on our planet is not found. That’s the bad news.

The Promise of Blessing

But the carol also contains good news. We notice that this stanza concludes with the wonderful phrase: “He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.” Even in the midst of so many ugly realities there is the faithful promise of the ruling King. He comes to make his blessings flow – not because we deserve his blessings, but simply because he delights to give them.
Psalm 98
acknowledges this truth with profound relief and joy:

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy…
(vs.4-8 NIV)

It is often true: life is hard. Good deeds are rewarded with tragedy. Purity is exchanged for debauchery. Our planet reels from the selfish indulgence of people who use it for their own purposes. Beauty and death go hand-in-hand in the wilderness of earth. But the psalmist rejoices that where sorrows, sins, and thorns have reigned, Jesus comes to make his blessings flow. The seas, the rivers, the mountains—all of the earth has been subjected to the horrors of the wretched angelic and Adamic choices. Verse 3 of the carol acknowledges what is wrong, but it also revels in the rule of the King who makes things right.

The Incarnation: God Entering the Curse

This is why the incarnation of Jesus, which we celebrate during Advent and Christmas, is so significant. Douglas and Jonathan Moo comment:

There is no more dramatic demonstration of the goodness of creation than the incarnation of Jesus Christ. That the one who is wholly other, the Lord of the universe, should take up the material stuff of this earth and enter into the earthy, dusty, sweaty, bloody life of this world is the most radical affirmation that the given world remains the arena of God’s glory, however threatened by sin and corruption it might be….

It is necessary that Christ be a human being if he, as the “last Adam,” is to reverse the curse and do what we could not do for ourselves, if he is to reveal to us what it truly is to bear God’s image and reconcile us to God (1)

Jesus’:

miraculous birth
exemplary life
atoning death
and physical resurrection in the power of the Holy Spirit

has cosmic significance. He began a new creation, reversing the curses of the first and reconciling all things under the sovereignty of God the Creator. Jesus accomplished our redemption, but he also began a new order of things, not ruined by sin but renewed by the Spirit. It is in Christ that God’s promises reach their fulfilment, in Christ that the future is secured, and in Christ that the new creation begins to break into the old.

Paul’s Reflection in Romans

Paul summed up the essential message of the carol in
Romans 1:20-21:

“Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” (NLT)

Living in Hope Until Christ Returns

The profound hope of Christ’s rule applies to both the first and second comings of Jesus. Today he rules in the hearts of those who acknowledge him, those who pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” At present that prayer is only partially answered, but one day it will be answered in full when Jesus returns not as a baby but as a sovereign.

While we’re waiting for and working towards that day, we can help “make His blessings flow far as the curse is found” by bringing the presence of Jesus into our everyday lives and by taking care of the wonderful creation he made and will one day liberate – by tending it as his caretakers and enjoying it as his daughters and sons.

Now is the time for joy to resound far as the curse is found!

Douglas J. Moo, and Jonathan A. Moo, Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018): 114,116.

Far as the Curse Is Found