What’s your favorite Christmas hymn?

“Silent Night” sung by candlelight?

“O Holy Night” sung by Josh Groban?

For me, it’s “Joy to the World.” It is a song that’s in just the right key to belt out. And its notes welcome trumpets and drums and any other instrument the church can offer.

But more important, I love the lyrics.

The author, Isaac Watts, paints the picture of all creation on earth rejoicing as Jesus has come to reign. Fields, floods, rocks, hills, and plains all repeat the sounding joy.

I loved this hymn as a child, but I’ve come to appreciate it even more now that I know its true meaning. You see, Watts didn’t write this hymn for Christmas but for Advent. He wasn’t describing Christmas but the Last Day.

That’s right. The best Christmas hymn is not about Jesus’ first coming but his second.

Watts tells a story many Christians forget today: The same Jesus who was born of a virgin, lived, died, and rose is coming again to raise us in the body. And the same Jesus who created the world will make this world new. And when he does, the earth itself will rejoice.

Read the lyrics from stanza 3, but instead of imagining a baby in a manger, picture a resurrected Savior restoring the world:

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.

Although “Joy to the World” is not a Christmas hymn, I still love to sing it at Christmas. During this cold and dark season, where sin and sorrow can grow, I long for the day when Jesus returns, not as a humble baby but as a triumphant King. I wait with eager expectation for creation to be liberated from its bondage and to watch as God recreates all things “as far as the curse is found.”

So I pray this Christmas season that you join the fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, repeating the sounding joy. For our Savior from sin is coming back again to make all things new, including you.