(Psalm 98:1-3 NLT) Sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand and holy arm have gained Him the victory. The LORD has proclaimed His salvation and revealed His righteousness to the nations. He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Isaac Watts (1674-1748) wrote the poem Joy To The World in 1719. In 1836, a well-known composer and arranger of his time, Lowell Mason, put a melody to Watts’s famous words and the song was an instant hit. Because Mason released the song during the Christmas season, it has since become the number one Christmas carol of all time. Joy To The World was not intended to be a Christmas carol. It was not written about Jesus at Christmas. It was written about Jesus at the end of the age based on . When Joy Comes To The World 1. The earth will receive her . Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing (Isaiah 53:3 NLT) He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 2. and will be no more. 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 (Mark 13:18 NLT) Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines. But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come. 3. He will the world and the prove His and . He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove, the glories of his righteousness, and wonders of his love Christmas is not only a time to look at the grace accomplished in the past. it is also a time to look to the grace that was accomplished for our future. When we sing these words, we are proclaiming the ultimate to be revealed at Christ’s second coming. (Revelation 21:1-5 NLT) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”