Does our King rule arbitrarily? No. He governs through His eternal laws and ordinances. People and nations will prosper, living within the framework of God’s order. They will suffer impoverishment and enslavement by choosing to live outside of this order. We are measured against God’s laws and ordinances. The Lord’s Prayer
Tag: Isaac Watts
Total 6 Posts
How are we to respond to this good news? The answer is found in the second line of the stanza: “Let men their songs employ!” What does this mean? To employ is “to use as an instrument of means” (Noah Webster’s 1828). We use a saw for cutting, a pen
Let me continue to unpack the words of this incredible New Year’s carol. The second stanza reads: Joy to the earth, 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
In the second line, Watts says “Let earth receive her king.” Note that the object of the first two lines has changed, from world to earth. I don’t think this was a slip of the pen or poetic variation in his writing. Watts was not only a hymn writer, he was
Now I want to look in detail at the New Year’s carol – Joy to the World. In the next installments of this blog series we will examine the significance of each stanza for our lives as we enter this New Year. As we have said, this hymn celebrates the
Like so many young people today, Isaac Watts (1674-1748.) was frustrated with the quality of the hymns at his church. After one Sunday service, he complained to his father, who challenged Isaac that if he did not like the hymns, he should produce something better. The next Sunday, at age 18,
