There are some categories of Christian life that very little music is written for. One of those is for a Missions emphasis service. As our younger generations get further away from hymnal singing, it gets harder to find and pick Missions oriented music.
This past week I was trying to find a good opening song for our 2nd week of Mission's services. I remembered reading about a hymnal that Issac Watts published in 1719. It was titled Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. Watts paraphrased 138 of the Psalms with the intent of having people who sang these hymns, sing them from a New Testament meaning and style.
Psalm 98, verses 1 through 3 says: Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
This Psalm anticipates the time when Jehovah will be the God of the whole earth and His kingdom will reign over all the nations. With this Psalm talking about God's salvation and revealing His righteousness to the nations, it seemed like the perfect hymn for our Missions service. In giving this Psalm a New Testament expression of praise for the salvation of God, Watts chose to begin by giving praise for the God who became incarnate as the Babe of Bethlehem. Issac Watts titled Psalm 98, The Messiah's Coming and Kingdom.
Sometime later, the title was changed to Joy To the World, and has become one of the most beloved Christmas hymns. I must admit, it was a little weird, but we sang Joy To the World yesterday, October 14th, as a Missions hymn. I think it worked.
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