Isaac Watts published Joy to the World in 1719, and it became the Christmas hymn that would outlast all others written in English. The opening melody is adapted from Handel, but the words are Watts's meditation on Psalm 98 and the eschatological promise: the Lord reigns.
Watts understood that Christmas is not sentiment; it is the arrival of a King. The hymn announces dominion: Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing. Watts gives us a cosmic rather than domestic Christmas, a Christ who comes not to be coddled in a manger but to rule.
The promise of the hymn moves outward: from individual hearts preparing room to the far reaches of the earth. The cursed ground itself will break into blossom. Sin will be banished. The entire created order will be set right. Joy to the World is not nostalgia for Bethlehem; it is prophecy about what happens when the Son of Righteousness rises.