ADVENT
A CANDLE FOR PEACE
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 2:8-14
DECEMBER 16, 2007
Jesus Christ was Of course, born in Bethlehem. He was born in the city of David, born in a grotto. He was born in a cave which was used as a stable by a nearby inn. From the beginning, the grotto, the cave, the stable in which Christ was born was venerated. Early church fathers like Justin Martyr and Saint Jerome and Aurigine and many, many others pilgrimaged there and visited the cave, the grotto, the stable where Jesus was born. This continued in the early centuries until the year 325 AD. In the year 325AD the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, built a church on the site over the grotto, over the cave and stable.
That church built by Constantine was originally called “The Church of St. Mary” but as the years passed the name was changed and it began to be called “The Church of the Nativity.” Of course, it was the Roman Emperor Justinian who expanded the Church of the Nativity and through the centuries the church has been protected by Christians and by Muslims and by Jews so that, incredibly, the church still stands today.
The year was 1853 when something very controversial happened in Bethlehem at The Church of the Nativity. The Latin Church, the Catholic Church, had placed the Star of Bethlehem on top of The Church of the Nativity but the Orthodox churches didn’t want the Star of Bethlehem on top of The Church of the Nativity. They wanted some other symbol, perhaps a cross, and so they protested. The Orthodox Church was very strong in the nation of Russia and so the government of Russia, in 1853, demanded that the Latin symbol of the Star of Bethlehem be taken off The Church of the Nativity and a cross or some other orthodox symbol be placed on instead.
The Latin Church was supported by Italy and by the government of France and by the government of England and incredibly by the Ottoman Empire which was centered in what today is called Turkey and so you had Italy, France, England, and the Ottoman Empire saying we leave the Star of Bethlehem upon The Church of the Nativity and you had Russia saying we take if off and we put some other Orthodox symbol on there.” When Russia heard that the Ottoman Empire had sided with the Latin Church, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman Empire found Italy, France, and England as its allies and that was the beginning, 1853, of what today historians call the “Crimean War.” I think most of you have heard of the Crimean war. When you think of the Crimean War you think of Florence Nightingale. You think of her courage. You think of her incredible service and how she revolutionized nursing through all of her ministry during the Crimean War. Perhaps you think of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade regarded by many as a masterpiece in the history of world literature but of course, the Crimean War was not about literature. It was not about nursing. It was about life and death. Five world powers went to war. The war lasted more than three years. The war resulted in one million casualties and though it was fought more than 150 years ago. The war cost $1.5 billion.
I know many of you are thinking, “Well, that couldn’t have been caused by the Star of Bethlehem. That couldn’t possibly have been caused by the Star of Bethlehem placed over the Church of the Nativity,” and of course, historians debate this. The truth is most historians know that wars are rarely fought over issues of faith. Most wars are fought over issues of greed, power, land, and the acquisition of geographical land space on the surface of the earth. Of course, the Crimean War was no different because Russia hated the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman Empire hated Russia. They were arguing over the Black Sea and the region of the Black Sea and the land around there and who owned it. They wanted to go to war and the Star of Bethlehem was as good a reason as any other. “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace.”
Of course, you know there’s not a lot of peace on this earth. In our culture it seems like things are increasingly unstable. Sometimes violence erupts in our culture as it did this past week. Our prayers go out to the folks at New Life in Colorado Springs and the folks at Faith Bible Chapel and the folks at His Love Fellowship and the folks of Youth with A Mission, YWAM. What a tragedy and of course, for us as a church it was shocking to find out that the individual who perpetrated it all and who performed the murders is related to one of our friends, an inner-city pastor at New Love Fellowship, Phil Abeyta. We pray for him and we pray for his family. How hard that must be and then also to find out that the two sisters who were killed in the parking lot at New Life were related to one of our former staff people. Sometimes it feels like the world is small and violence comes close to home. I think we all, at times as we read the newspapers and pick up magazines and watch newscasts on television, we’re aware of the fact there’s not a lot of peace, not a lot of peace in this world.
This morning I want us to look at three different kinds of peace and I want us to light a candle for peace as we look at Jesus and His coming into the world. First of all, I want us to look briefly at personal peace. I want us to look at inward peace.
In John 14:27, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives unto you give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid.” That’s inward peace. That’s personal peace. Jesus isn’t talking about global peace there. He’s talking about a very personal peace. You come to the Apostle Paul and the Book of Philippians, chapter 4, and Paul says, “Have no anxiety about anything but in everything. By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Paul is not talking about global peace. Paul is talking about a very personal peace. He’s talking about inward peace. We want to light a candle today for inward peace, personal peace. Jesus offers this peace.
On November 27 in the year 1895 Alfred Bernard Nobel established, through his will, five Nobel prizes. So, on November 27, 1895, in his will Nobel established the Nobel Peace Prize and then he established the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Nobel Prize in Medicine, the Nobel Prize in Literature. Many years later, in 1969, an additional prize was established in Economics was added. These Nobel Prizes were funded and established by Alfred Nobel, a brilliant man, but who was he? He was the man, who in the year 1867, was kind of fooling around the nitroglycerin, not something that most of us would want to fool around with. He was trying to stabilize it. He was trying to stabilize nitroglycerin and he invented dynamite. It was Alfred Nobel who invented dynamite and for 29 years he made millions of dollars off of dynamite. He marketed dynamite and sold dynamite to mining companies and he sold dynamite to construction companies and he sold dynamite to the military because Of course, dynamite in those years was oftentimes used in the context of war and used even as a weapon. This bothered Alfred Nobel. It bothered him greatly and historians tell us he was riddled with guilt that he had made millions of dollars off of something that caused so much destruction and death.
A story is told that as he was approaching death, he had this dream where he saw his own obituary and, in the obituary, it listed all of the deaths all over the world that were caused by the invention of dynamite. He wanted to do something, historians tell us, to rid himself of guilt, something to give him peace inwardly, personally, something to compensate for the money he had made off of such a dangerous product and so he established the Nobel prizes including the Nobel Peace Prize.
Is that how it works? Can we compensate? Is that how we find peace? You look back on your life and maybe there are some things you wish you hadn’t have done. Maybe there’s guilt. Maybe there’s deep pain and maybe you can’t forgive yourself so do you need to compensate? Is that the idea? Just make sure you do enough good for humanity to compensate for the bad that you’ve done?
We see a lot of that in the theology of Islam. If you look at the theology of Islam as seen in the Muslim world, they believe that at the Eschaton, they believe that at the Last Judgement, you’re going to have two angels and I’m going to have two angels and they’re going to weigh us. One angel is going to weigh my bad works and the other angel is going to weigh my good works and we’ll see how the scale tips. Nobody knows until the Eschaton. Nobody knows until Judgement Day and I’ve often wondered how a Muslim possibly finds peace because apart from suicidal jihad they cannot be sure they’re going to heaven. They’ve got to wait and see how the angels weigh their good and bad works. How do you find peace living like that?
Jesus has come into the world. His Advent is corning and He came to bring peace. He was born to die that He might be the Savior of the world and that he might offer substitutionary atonement for my sins and your sins. He died in my place. He died in your place and he did this by choice and in love. He took the penalty for our sins upon Himself. His blood was shed, His body broken for us and you know the story. You know the Gospel. You know that when we come to Him, when we come to that cross and we kneel there and we receive Him as our Savior from sin and we embrace Him as Lord of life – in that moment our sin, past, present, and future is washed away. We are washed white as snow and we are declared righteous in the kingdom of heaven, in the courtroom of heaven. In the highest judicatory we are declared righteous and the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to us. Incredible and there’s a peace that comes from knowing your sin is forgiven, a peace that comes from knowing your soul is safe and secure and that your ticket to heaven has already been punched and you’re bound for heaven and a peace that comes from knowing that in the midst of the chaos of life, the valleys, and the mountaintops and all, Jesus is not only with us but He’s working for good. There’s no meaningless pam. The peace of just knowing that…
Even in death there’s peace. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He’s with me. He is Sar Shalom, Hebrew words meaning, “The Prince of Peace.” Nobody offers what Jesus offers. There’s a little film clip from the movie, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” This is a commercial from that movie. I want you to just take a glimpse at this.
“Keep it holy but why remember a destructive love affair? Here at Lakuna we have perfected a safe effective technique for the focused erasure of troubling memories. Our patented non-surgical procedure will rid you of painful memories and allow you a new and lasting peace of mind we never imagined possible. Don’t forget. With Lakuna, you CAN forget.”
What do you think? Do you think we’re going to see commercials like that someday? Do you think that medical technology and science are going to provide peace? Do you think they’re going to be able to have some kind of procedure through which they can remove painful memories of things you’ve done, things others have done, things that take away your peace. Do you think medicine and science is someday going to be marketing peace?
Personally, I doubt it. I know medicine is a great blessing. I know science is a great blessing and I know that medicine offers many drugs that can ward off anxiety and drugs that can diminish depression and drugs that can enhance mood. Some of these provisions are wonderful but, you see, science will never be able to offer lasting peace.
Where do you go to find personal peace? Where do you go to find lasting peace? You go to Jesus. He’s the Prince of Peace. The Hebrew word for Peace is “Shalom.” The Greek word for peace is “Eirene.” These words mean “wholeness or complete,” to “be whole or complete,”” to be safe, to be secure.” Jesus offers these things. He can make your soul safe and secure. He can bring you back into relationship with God, His Father, and make you whole again. Only Jesus.
Secondly there is relational peace. I want a light a candle not only for personal peace but this morning I’d like us to light a candle for relational peace. Jesus came into the world. He not only offers personal peace but there’s a sense in which He offers relational peace. Now, of course, we all struggle with relationships and that has always been true. Certainly, it has always been true in The Church of Jesus Christ as well so you go to chapter 4, verses 2 and 3, and you see the Apostle Paul grieving because two women at the Church of Philippi are fighting. Paul names them. They are Euodia and Syntyche. Paul refers to them by the word “sunergas.” That means, “co-worker, fellow worker.” Paul says these two women have labored side-by-side with him in the Gospel for years and these are leaders. These women are leaders at the Church of Philippi and oh so important.
Suddenly their relationship is broken, their friendship broken. There’s a need for peace, for a ministry of peace, so Patil writes this letter to the Church at Philippi and He asked for an individual in the church to become a peacemaker. Paul calls this individual, “sunzygos.” The word sunzygos comes from “zygos” which means “yoke.” And of course ”sun,” the prefix means, “with” and so “to yoke with” is the meaning “of sunzygos.” It means, “yoke fellow.” It means, “peacemaker,” someone who brings people together, who yokes people together, a peacemaker.
Bible scholars debate today whether sunzygos is a proper name, whether there was a guy in the Church of Philippi names Sunzygos or whether Paul is just describing someone in the church as a peacemaker. They don’t know. Of course, we won’t know until we get to heaven and when we get to heaven we won’t care. There will be other things more important but sunzygos was called upon to be a peacemaker. You think of the words of Jesus in the Sermon of the Mount, Matthew 5. “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Christ wants us to be peacemakers and he pronounces a blessing on you and a blessing on me if we would work for peace in relationships, not only our relationships but we would help yolk other people together and be peacemakers there.
I know that many of you have traveled down to South America. I’ve learned after 25 years of ministry in this church that there are at least a few people in this church who have gone pretty much any place you mention so I know that some of you have traveled down to South America. Perhaps you have seen the Andes Mountains. The Andes Mountains run along the western side of South America, along the western coast. They are 4,500 miles in length. It is the longest mountain range on earth, at least it is above the oceans. Below the oceans, scientists tell us, there are mountain ranges still longer but above the water the Andes Mountains, 4,500 miles long. Of course, along that mountain range are tall peaks and some of the peaks rise over 20,000 feet. There are a lot of wondrous things to see in the Andes.
One of the incredible things to see in the Andes Mountains is a statue. I think many of you have heard of this statue because it’s world famous. It’s called “Christ of the Andes.” Christ of the Andes towers over the border between Argentina and Chile, just rising up from the earth. It was placed there, built there, May 28, 1903. What they did was… Because Argentina and Chile had been at war for decades… In those wars they had used brass cannons and so they melted down all the cannons used in wars between Argentina and Chile through all the years. They melted the brass down and erected this statue of Jesus Christ. They placed it high up in the Andes Mountains, Christ of the Andes. There’s a plaque that says, “Sooner than these mountains crumble into the sea than shall Argentina and Chile break the peace sworn at the foot of Christ the Redeemer. It was placed there by two nation’s governments and by Great Britain who, through King Edward VII, negotiated the peace. In those days they actually negotiated peace in the name of Christ. Amazing. I don’t think nations do that anymore. I don’t think that’s done anymore.
I wonder in our lives individually, do we ever take oaths in the name of Christ? Do we take oaths in the name of Christ? I think we do. There’s a sense in which baptism is an oath sworn in the name of Christ. There’s a sense in which communion, every time we take it, is a sacred oath sworn in the name of Christ. Of course, marriage itself when viewed sacramentally as I believe marriage should be viewed by Christians, is an oath sworn at the foot of Jesus.
Thirty-six years ago, when a minister said to me, “Jim, will you have Barb to be your wife and will you give your life to her in all love and honor, in all duty and service, in all faith and tenderness to live with her a cherish her according to the holy bond of marriage. Will you?” I said, “I will” and I said that at the foot of Jesus in the name of Christ. There’s a sense in which in marriage Barb and I have found by the grace of Christ wholeness and peace and yet because we are fallen and because we are sinners and because we’re kind of messed up, the wholeness gets broken and tested from time-.to-time, but it’s Christ who keeps us together and growing in our relationship and love. It’s not just marriage. It’s friendships. It’s our relationships in the neighborhood at work. It’s relationships with friends and enemies. Jesus wants to work in all of these because He is Sar Shalom and He wants to bring something very special to our relationships. He wants to bring peace. There’s a sense in which He calls us to peace as we come to the foot of His cross.
He’s given us a prescription in the Bible, a prescription for relational peace. It kind of has to do with Lex Talionis. Do you know what the Lex Talionis is? Lex Taliones is Latin and it means, “law of retaliation, law of retribution,” and it’s the Latin phrase that described Exodus 21:24. What is Exodus 21:24? It is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, strike for strike. That the Lex Talionis, the law of retribution and retaliation. H has to do with justice. The Lex Talionis has to do with justice. The punishment, you see, must fit the crime, an eye for an eye. Lex Talionis has kind of governed nations all over the world and throughout history.
You see courtrooms in every nation where judges seek to administer punishment that fits the crime, an eye for an eye. In most nations and in most judicatories and in most courtrooms, there is a desire to temper the Lex Talionis with a little mercy and to temper the Lex Talionis with a little grace. But Jesus, you see, with regard to our relationships interpersonally, Jesus repealed the whole deal. What a shock. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapter 5… “You’ve heard it said of old. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but I say to you if anyone slaps you on the cheek, offer him the other as well. From him who takes away your coat, offer him your shirt. From him who takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.” The Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Plain. Matthew 5, Luke 6. “Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. Love those who hate you.” He follows all that up with the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
It’s kind of a prescription, you see. It’s not meant to govern nations. God has established government and it means for government to use the sword to deter evil on the earth but it’s a prescription for our relationships. Something is supposed to be different about us as Christians and we’re supposed to love our enemies. We’re supposed to not be people of vengeance and retaliation. We’re supposed to operate on a higher level than the Lex Talionis, so here’s a prescription that’s tough.
I don’t know about you but I think every day you’ve got opportunities to disobey Jesus because I think it’s in us to want to get even. If your wife says something that hurts a little, you kind of want to hurt her a little. If your husband says something that hurts you a little, you kind of want to hurt him a little. That’s true with friends. It’s true with people at work. It’s just true in general and in life. We kind of want to get even and Jesus says “no.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.” A soft answer turns away wrath. So He is Sar Shalom and He cares about our relationships.
Finally, I want to light a candle not only for personal peace and relational peace but international peace. Jesus is Sar Shalom and He offers international peace. I’m sure most of you have heard of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, who has been called the ‘Father of the Atom Bomb. Most of us would rather father something a little more lovable. He’s been called the Father of the Atom Bomb and Of course, it was Dr. Oppenheimer, a brilliant man, a graduate of Harvard, who from ‘43 to ‘45 led the Los Alamos Project in New Mexico and oversaw the construction and the building of the first atomic bomb.
In that year 1945 he was brought before the United States Senate and a Senate sub-committee and they questioned him. They said, “Dr. Oppenheimer, “Is there anything more powerful than the atomic bomb? Is there anything that can stop it?” There was just silence in the room. After a brief pause, Oppenheimer whispered the word, “peace.” Peace is more powerful than the atom bomb. Peace can stop the atom bomb but of course, that’s the rub, isn’t it? There is no peace. There’s no peace now… There never has been peace. Of course, as we have seen, more men and women have died in war in the past 100 years than in all the centuries prior. We’re just not getting better. We just delude ourselves into thinking-we’re improving but there is no peace and the heart of man has not changed.
You go to the United Nations Building in New York City. That building rises high in the sky and is renowned the world over. On the United Nations Building you see a plaque and it’s a plaque that quotes Isaiah, chapter 2, verse 4, or Micah, chapter 4, verse 3. “He will beat our swords into plowshares and our swords into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. That plaque on the United Nations Building is quoting the Prophets of the Bible. I think a lot of people who work in the United Nations just walk past that plaque all the time and don’t give it a thought. If they do give it a thought, they don’t understand that those passages are Messianic.
Isaiah, chapter 2, Micah, chapter 4, these are Messianic passages. They point to the Messiah, the Christ. HE will beat our swords into plowshares, our spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. Jesus.
The United Nations is not going to bring peace to this world. Would that it could. Blessed are the peacemakers. On every level we should all seek peace but we know prophetically only Jesus is going to bring peace to this world and the peace he brings will be like the Pax Romana. If you’ve studied the Roman Empire you know about the Pax Romana, the Roman peace. It lasted for more than a few hundred years, from 27 BC to 180 AD. For more than 200 years there was the Pax Romana. During that period of time throughout the whole geographical land space of the Roman Empire, no wars—200 years with no wars.
The Roman peace, Pax Romana, was a top-down peace. It was the peace of the conquered. The reason there was the Pax Romana was no nation had the power to stand against Rome. No nation had the power to fight Rome and so there was no war, the Pax Romana, but the Pax Romana was a flawed peace because the Roman Government was flawed. I mean there was the Roman Rule of Law which was probably better than the barbarism and the chaos outside the Empire but it was still a flawed peace imposed upon a conquered people.
Understand that there’s a sense in which when Jesus comes again, the peace is going to be talked down. It will be Pax Christi. No one has power to stand against Him and so you’ll see in Revelation 19 the Second Coming of Christ. We saw this passage last week, how John said, “I saw the heavens open. Behold, a white horse and He who sat upon it was called Faithful and True, clad in a robe dipped in blood. The name by which he is called is “The Word of God.” That same passage tells us of the armies of heaven clad in white linen followed Him on white horses and that Jesus will tread the wine press of the wrath of the fury of the Lord God Almighty. He’ll smite the nations. He will rule them with the rod of iron. The kingdoms of this world, the Bible tells us, will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever. Pax Christi. He will bring peace and no one will be able to stand against Him for He is the Son of God.
Now I think many of you know the significance of the date July 29, 1969. What happened on July 20, 1969? That’s when the Apollo XI Spacecraft set down on the moon on the Sea of Tranquility, right? Isn’t that a cool sounding place to set down at, the Sea of Tranquility? Are you aware that on the earth there is not a place called The Sea of Tranquility? The reason there is not a place on the earth called The Sea of Tranquility is people are here. You see on the moon there are no people. There’s a vast Sea of Tranquility and so the Apollo XI set down on the Sea of Tranquility and Aldrin and Armstrong placed a plaque there on the Sea of Tranquility. “We come in peace for all mankind.”. That’s what the plaque says. It’s kind of ironic since we don’t have peace on earth and we can’t bring peace somewhere else.
But you see it’s Jesus at His Advent. Jesus has come in peace and He’s come in peace for all mankind and He offers inner peace and to wash your sin away and to secure your soul and to punch your ticket to heaven. He offers to be with you always. He offers relational peace and He’s repealed the Lex Talionis. He offers international peace. In fact, that title given to Jesus, Sar Shalom, primarily is a title for international peace. Isaiah, chapter 9, “Unto us a Child is born. Unto us a Son is given. The government shall be upon His shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father Everlasting, Prince of Peace, Sar Shalom, and of the increase of His kingdom and of His peace there shall be no end.”
Of course, that thought is followed up prophetically just two chapters later in Isaiah 11 where the Bible prophesizes, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.” Jesse was the Father of David and from the line of David came Jesus. “A branch shall grow out of His roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall be upon Him, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what His eyes see nor decide by what His ears hear but with righteousness He shall judge the poor and He shall decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be the girdle of His loins and faithfulness the girdle of His waist. In that day, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kids and the calf and the lion and the fatling together and a little child shall them. The cow and the bear shall feed and their young shall lie down together. A suckling child shall play over the hole of the asp, a venomous snake, and the weaned child shall place his hand in the adder’s den and they shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the oceans cover the sea In that day the root of Jesse, the Christ Jesus, shall stand as an end sign to the nations and Him shall the nations seek and His dwellings shall be glorious.” Sar Shalom. Prince of Peace.
I know all of you have seen the peace symbol, right? You’ve all seen the peace symbol? Some of you are younger, certainly younger than me and you don’t remember the 1960’s but I was in my prime in the 1960’s and you couldn’t find, in those days, a VW bus that didn’t have the peace symbol on it. I think a lot of folks in the Christian world have kind of demonized the peace symbol and in a sense, I understand that because it looks like an inverted cross, an upside down cross with arms broken and it is true from the time of the Middle Ages, this symbol has, at least in some form, been associated with evil.
We should also understand that the peace symbol as it developed in the 1960’s really came out of a different context. After the Aldermaston Peace Walk in England in 1958, they developed the peace symbol. They developed the peace symbol using the Semifar Flag Code. The Semifar Flag Code, if the flag is vertical, that’s a symbol for the letter “D”. If the flags are down and out like this, that’s a symbol for the letter “N” so they combined these and formed the peace symbol which represented nuclear disarmament. The big cry in the 1960’s was “Make peace, not war- nuclear disarmament.” That really was the force of the peace symbol in the ’60’s and for some people today.
I think we all know the key to world peace is not nuclear disarmament because this world had no peace even before the atomic bomb. Before Einstein, before Oppenheimer, we still had no peace. Something is wrong in the heart of man. Something is wrong in the Council of Nations. Something is wrong. The key to peace is Jesus. He’s the key to peace in our hearts. He’s the key to peace in our relationships. He’s the key to peace internationally and one day He will come again and He will bring peace. His First Coming is linked to His Second Coming. The two are joined and He will come again as once He came.
This is the season of Christmas. We sing Christmas hymns. I love Christmas hymns. One of my favorites is “Joy to the World.” Do you love that? Joy to the World? There’s only one problem with Joy to the World. It’s not a Christmas hymn. It has nothing to do with Christmas. Did you know that? “Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King.” It has nothing to do with Christmas. It was written by Isaac Watts. Isaac wrote “Joy to the World” in 1719, a brilliant man. He wrote over 600 Christian hymns. He wrote 52 books dealing in everything from grammar to philosophy and they were used in schools and school systems. A brilliant man but by his own testimony he patterned “Joy to the World” after Psalm 98, verses 4-9, and it has nothing to do with Christmas. It’s all about the Second Advent, not about the First Advent. It’s about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Of course, they took the words from Isaac Watts and they joined them in 1742 with music from George Frederick Handel and took some of the tune from Handel’s Messiah, combined it with the word from Isaac Watts and “Joy to the World.” But I ask you… When will He rule the nations in righteousness? When will sorrows no longer grow? When will thorns no longer infest the ground? It has nothing to do with Christmas. It’s the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and yet I would say this. I believe this. It’s good to sing “Joy to the World” at Christmas. I’m going to keep singing it because His First Coming is joined to His Second Coming and He’s going to come again and He will bring a new day and peace to the world. Let’s close with a word of prayer.