TRISTAN SHERWIN

Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns;
Let men their 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.

Day 10…

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it.” So says John at the start of his ‘good news’ about what has happened and commenced because of Jesus (Jn. 1:5, CJB). Light has broken in, and the darkness is waning.

Admittedly, it doesn’t always seem this way. There’s tremendous darkness that remains. Like witnessing the night sky, when we witness the pain and suffering that exists in our world, it seems like there is more darkness than light.

But, to quote ‘True Detective’s’ Rust Cohle’s reply, when his partner, Marty, observes that it appears the dark has a lot more territory in the night sky: “You’re looking at it wrong… once there was only dark. You ask me, the light’s winning.”

Christmas is not only a time to look back. Christmas is also a time to look forward. Since the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus, a new creation is being unfurled. God is directing history toward restoration, repair and the renewal of all creation. What has been inaugurated at Jesus’ first coming will be brought to completion.

‘Joy to the World’, a paraphrase of Psalm 98:4-9, by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), is not a “Christmas carol” at all, even though we hear it often this time of year. The song captures what is to come, the fulfilment of what Jesus achieved, when Earth receives her King; when darkness is swallowed up in light, when pain is no more, when creation itself will be ‘brought into’ freedom (Rom. 8:21).

As some famous words paint what the future holds: “[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (‭‭Rev,‬ ‭21‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

With the coming of Jesus, it’s not that the ‘end is nigh’. Rather, the beginning, the renewal, the great renaissance has commenced.