A Net in Time

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Hymn Study: Joy to the World

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 Did you know that Joy to the World was not written as a Christmas song?

I KNOW!!!!!   I was shocked to learn that too.

It was actually written about the second coming to the Lord.  It was written by Isaac Watts. (source)

Can you imagine how joyful the world will be when the Lord returns?   Even the mountains and the trees will clap their hands.  🙂   All the sins and sorrows of this world will be gone!   Imagine it just for one moment…just imagine…no more sin, no more sorrow, just the joy of the Lord at his return.

Isaac Watts, the same boy who was fed up with lacklustre singing in the church, who was challenged by his dad to make something better, became “Father of English hymnody”.  If you want to know about Isaac Watts, check here.

Lyrics

Verse 1]
Joy to the World, the Lord has come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

[Verse 2]
Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

[Verse 3]
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,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

[Verse 4]
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love

Hymn Study: Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

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This hymn fit perfectly the sermon we had this past Sunday.   Speaking to how Christ left heaven to come to earth as a regular person, except he wasn’t.   He was the one the John the Baptist pointed the way to, the one to whom we are called to come to in repentance.  

Written by Emily Elliot with music by Timothy R. Matthews.   This hymn was first sung at St. Mark’s Church, in Brighton England where Elliot’s Father was rector.

In 1870, it was published in the Church Missionary Juvenile Instructor, which Elliott edited. (source)

This was a hymn written to help children understand advent and the Nativity.  (source)

Lyrics

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown,
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity.
Refrain
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.
Heaven’s arches rang when the angels sang,
Proclaiming Thy royal degree;
But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth,
And in great humility.
Refrain
The foxes found rest, and the birds their nest
In the shade of the forest tree;
But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God,
In the deserts of Galilee.
Refrain
Thou camest, O Lord, with the living Word,
That should set Thy people free;
But with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn,
They bore Thee to Calvary.
Refrain
When the heavens shall ring, and the angels sing,
At Thy coming to victory,
Let Thy voice call me home,
Saying Yet there is room,
There is room at My side for thee.
Final refrain
My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus,
When Thou comest and callest for me.

Hymn Study: Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers

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This hymn is new to me.  I’ve never sung it before and was delighted to make it’s acquaintance this morning.   I do wonder what the missing six verses were like. Anyways, it’s been translated from German and I think it’s a good hymn.   You’ll have to let me know what you think?

Lyrics: 

Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers
By: Laurentius Laurentii, 1660-1722
Rejoice, rejoice, believers, And let your lights appear;
The evening is advancing, And darker night is near.
The bridegroom is arising And soon is drawing nigh.
Up, pray and watch and wrestle; At midnight comes the cry.
The watchers on the mountain Proclaim the bridegroom near;
Go forth as He approaches With alleluias clear.
The marriage feast is waiting; The gates wide open stand.
Arise, O heirs of glory; The bridegroom is at hand.
The saints, who here in patience Their cross and sufferings bore,
Shall live and reign forever When sorrow is no more.
Around the throne of glory The Lamb they shall behold;
In triumph cast before Him Their diadems of gold.
Our hope and expectation, O Jesus, now appear;
Arise, O Sun so longed for, Over this benighted sphere.
With hearts and hands uplifted, We plead, O Lord, to see
The day of earth’s redemption That sets Your people free!

Written by Laurentius Laurentii, 1660-1722.   He was the son Herr Lorenz (Laurenti) who was a burgess of Husum in Schleswig, Germany.    He was educated in the field of music and went on to become the cantor and director of music at the cathedral church in Bremen.

Laurenti was one of the best hymn-writers of the
Pietistic school. His hymns are founded on the Gospels for Sundays and
Festivals, and they draw out the bearing on the Christian life of the
leading thoughts therein contained. They are of noble simplicity; are
Scriptural, fervent, and often of genuine poetical worth.(source)

 This
cento is from a hymn of ten stanzas by Laurentius Laurenti. It is his finest
hymn and emphasizes our Lord’s Second Advent. The hymn was published in the
author’s Evangelica Melodica, 1700, entitled “for the 27th Sunday
after Trinity.” (source)

I really liked this rendition