Who Gets Joy? Whos Do.

December 22, 2025

Tiny Tim, Buddy the Elf, and a whole Whoville of Whos get it. Do you, Christian?

The joy of Christmas has very little to do with your situation. The joy of Christmas is about more than circumstances. We watch these movies and smile at the messages. But we don’t always have an experiential theology that lands in the same place the sickly, youngest Cratchit does.

On the subject of Englishmen: Isaac Watts penned the words to Joy to the World in 1719. It is a Christmas Carol. It is also an End-Times Carol. The latter hymnal deserves more fanfare. But given that this is being written in December, the focus is on the former.

Watts’ lyrics were based upon Genesis 3 and, more specifically, Psalm 98.

Sing to Yahweh a new song,
For He has done wondrous deeds,
His right hand and His holy arm have worked out His salvation.

Yahweh has made known His salvation;
He has revealed His righteousness in the eyes of the nations.

He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Make a loud shout to Yahweh, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.

Sing praises to Yahweh with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of singing.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Make a loud shout before King Yahweh.

Let the sea roar, as well as its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy

Before Yahweh, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.

What is the source of the Psalmist’s joy? It is the covenant majesty of Yahweh, the God of Israel; the sustainer, judge, and savior of the world. The Psalm is focused on Him. Derived from these inspired words, Joy to the World focuses on Him.

Knowing Him will bring you joy even if you are sick and without Christmas dinner. Knowing His works will cause you to sing for joy even if you are far from home and rejected by family. Knowing His salvation will elicit joyful fellowship even if every worldly comfort has been taken from you.

That is joy.

This culture conflates joy with happiness. Happiness depends on you. Joy depends on truth (2nd John 1:4, 3rd John 1:3-4). Happiness has a list of conditions. Joy only has one: Jesus (1st Corinthians 2:2). Happiness isn’t promised anywhere in scripture. Joy is not only promised, it is commanded (Romans 12:12, Philippians 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 5:16).

Psalm 98 demands that the whole earth sing with a truth-saturated, God-focused joy. Joy to the World triumphantly and merrily echoes these sentiments. In imperfect ways, beloved Christmas stories resonate because they point to the fact that observing the holiday is about deeper truths. Dickens, Favreau, and Seuss direct audiences towards something deeper than happiness. Christians, indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, should sing and celebrate in this joy with heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Joy to the world; the Lord is come;
Let Earth receive her King;
Let ev'ry heart prepare him room,
And heav'n and nature sing.

Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns;
Our mortal songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy.

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.

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

***

Happy-hungry theology is a scourge. Many Evangelicals readily (and rightly) condemn Joel Osteen and his ilk, but quickly think your-best-life-now thoughts when their life isn’t the best. A Biblical view of joy is the solution. And this video doesn’t hurt, either.