JOY TO THE WORLD

THE LORD IS COME!

Joy to the world! The Lord is come; let earth receive her King.

Joy to the world

The promise of Joy given by the prophet Isaiah

The promise of joy given to the remnant who returned to Jerusalem from exile finds it ultimate fulfillment in the elect remnant, who return to God from their exile in sin, having been reconciled to God through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 35:10 And the ransomed of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion with everlasting joy upon their heads. Sorrow and mourning will flee away, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.

Romans 5:8-10 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

The promise of Joy given by the angel

Luke 2:10-11 The angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all people (not just Jews but also Gentiles); for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior (of sinners), who is Christ (the Messiah) the Lord.

The Lord is come

the Lord (kurios - the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew “adonai” which was a name for God)

is come (is come in the flesh, Immanuel, “God with us” Matthew 1:23; John 1:1, 14)

The fall of man had brought sin, and with sin, sorrow. Through the incarnation of Jesus Christ the Messiah, the hope of joy had come into the world.

John 1:4-5, 10-13 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him. He came to that which belonged to Him (His own—His domain, His creation, His world) and they who were His own did not receive Him (did not welcome Him).

But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (the power, privilege, and right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in His name (believe in who He is and what He has done, God in the flesh, the Messiah and only savior of sinners). Those who believe have been born again, not of natural birth, nor of human decision or man’s will, but of God.

let earth (an imperative, not a suggestion) receive (accept) her King

Pilate said to Jesus: So you are a king? Jesus answered; you say correctly that I am a king John 18:37.

Paul said concerning believers: For we have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son God, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins Col 1:13.

Let every heart prepare Him room and heaven and nature sing.

Let every heart (another imperative, not a suggestion; kardia – the seat of a man’s conscience, his intellect, emotion and will – with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness Romans 10:10)

 prepare Him room (more than just make room; prepare room through repentance of sin and dethroning of self)

and heaven and nature sing (There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over a sinner who repents).

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground.

The result of man’s fall into sin was sorrow upon sorrow, and one of the curses of the fall was that the ground would produce thorns.

In Christ sin will one day cease and with it sorrow and there will be a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness will dwell.

2 Peter 3:10-13 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Revelation 21:1-4 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people,

and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.

He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.

Where sin increased the blessings of God’s grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:20-21).

The curse of sin has permeated everyone and everything and yet God’s redeeming grace flows as far as the curse is found.

Not only are repentant sinners in all the world set free in Christ from the bondage of their sin, the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Romans 6:17-18, 22 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness…But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove (attest to) the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love.

Jesus did not come to rule the nations with a rod of iron at His incarnation, as He will at His return when He will judge and destroy the nations of the earth.

Jesus was born to rule the world with the truth of His gospel of grace for all those who would turn from their sins and place their compete trust in Him for forgiveness of sins and righteousness.

In John 18:37, Jesus said that for this very reason I came into the world to bear witness to the truth; truth about God, about man and sin, truth about how sinners can find pardon and acceptance before the God against whom they have sinned and before whom they must stand on the day of judgment.

Jesus rules the world with truth and grace because He is the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

The Bible says that by the sin of the one man (Adam), death reigned (physical and spiritual death), and through the one man, Jesus Christ, righteousness reigns in life (spiritual and eternal) by the abundant provision of God’s grace Romans 5:17.

By grace alone through faith alone believers throughout the world come to glory in Christ’s righteousness and wonder at His love for hell-deserving sinners like us.