Isaac Watts – Joy to the World
When Isaac Watts was seven years old, he sat in church listening to the singing. The songs were boring and hard to understand. After church, Isaac complained to his father about the dull music.
His father was not happy. “Then write something better, young man,” he said.
Isaac went home and wrote his first hymn. He was only seven years old.
That moment started a momentous change in how Christians worship. Isaac Watts would write over 750 hymns, including “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “O God, Our Help in Ages Past,” and the Christmas song we know as “Joy to the World.”
However, the author who explored the theme of joy experienced chronic illness and physical discomfort throughout much of his life.
A Hard Beginning
Isaac Watts was born on July 17, 1674, in Southampton, England. His family knew what it meant to suffer. His father refused to join the Church of England because of his beliefs. This was against the law.
When baby Isaac was born, his father was in prison. His mother had to sit on the prison steps to nurse her baby so his father could see him through the bars.
Isaac was the oldest of nine children. Only four lived to become adults. From his earliest years, Isaac was sick and weak. As an adult, he was only five feet tall (1.5 meters). He had constant pain and illness.
But Isaac’s mind was very smart. He learned Latin when he was four years old, Greek at eight, French at nine, and Hebrew at ten. A rich doctor offered to pay for Isaac to go to the best universities, Oxford or Cambridge.
But there was one problem: Isaac would have to join the Church of England.
Isaac said no. He would not change his beliefs for money or success. Instead, at age sixteen, he went to a different school. He got a good education, but he could never get the good jobs that came with a university degree.
Changing How Churches Sing
When Isaac came home after school, he went back to his father’s church. The singing was still boring for him. English churches only sang psalms from the Old Testament. The words were hard to understand, and the tunes were repetitive.
Isaac thought: How can Christians worship without singing about Jesus, the cross, or the resurrection?
Isaac started writing new hymns. These were not just translations of the Bible—they were new songs about Christian faith in clear, simple English.
Some people loved his hymns. Others were angry—how dare this young man write his own songs instead of using only Bible words?
But Isaac kept writing. In 1707, he published a book with 210 hymns. Some of these hymns are still famous today: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed,” and “Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove.”
The Pastor Who Could Not Work
In 1704, when Isaac was 30 years old, he became the main pastor at an important church in London. But his health got worse. He had bad headaches, felt weak, and was often depressed. By 1712, just eight years later, he could barely do his job.
A rich church member, Sir Thomas Abney, invited Isaac to his country home to rest. The arrangement was initially intended to last for several weeks. But Isaac Watts stayed there for the next 36 years, until he died.
Sir Thomas and Lady Mary Abney took care of Isaac like family. They gave him a private room to write and looked after him when he was sick. Isaac never got married. He lived quietly, writing hymns, teaching the Abney children, and writing books.
His life had many limits—but from those limits came amazing work that changed how Christians worship forever.
The Christmas Song That Wasn’t About Christmas
In 1719, Isaac published a book where he rewrote all the Psalms for Christians. One of these was based on Psalm 98: “Joy to the world! The Lord is come.”
Here is something surprising: Isaac Watts never meant “Joy to the World” to be a Christmas song.
Look at the words carefully. The song does not mention the manger, shepherds, or Mary. It is not about baby Jesus being born. It is about Jesus coming back to earth as King at the end of time.
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come” does not mean “has been born as a baby.” It means “has arrived as King in glory.” The hymn looks forward to when Jesus will rule the whole earth.
But over time, especially in America, people started singing it at Christmas. Maybe because “the Lord is come” sounds like it could mean Jesus was born. Perhaps it’s because cheerful music matches the festive atmosphere of Christmas so perfectly.
This is interesting: we sing this song to celebrate Jesus being born as a baby, but Isaac wrote it about Jesus coming back as King.
But maybe that is exactly right. Christmas is when God’s kingdom started coming into the world. The baby in the manger is the King who will rule everything one day.
Why This Still Matters Today.
Why He Wrote: The Reasons That Transform Us
Understanding why Isaac Watts revolutionized worship reveals truths that still matter deeply:
1. Worship Should Express Present Reality, Not Just Ancient History
The psalms Watts inherited spoke of a world before Christ—of waiting for the Messiah, of the law, of Israel’s particular story. They were true and beautiful, but they were incomplete.
Watts believed Christians should sing about the actual reality they lived in: a world where the Messiah had come, where grace had been revealed, where the Spirit had been poured out, where the church had been born. He wanted worship to proclaim the gospel clearly and directly.
This was not about replacing Scripture—it was about applying Scripture to present Christian experience. Watts took the emotional power and poetic beauty of the Psalms and refracted them through the lens of the gospel.
This matters for you if: Your worship feels disconnected from your actual faith. Watts reminds us that our songs should express what we genuinely believe and experience, not just repeat words we’ve inherited. Authentic worship connects ancient truth to present reality.
2. Beauty and Truth Are Not Enemies
Watts was a serious theologian—he wrote weighty works on logic, theology, and philosophy. But he also believed that truth should be expressed beautifully. His hymns are theologically rich yet emotionally powerful, doctrinally sound yet poetically elegant.
He proved that you do not have to choose between depth and accessibility, between theological precision and emotional impact. The best worship engages both mind and heart, both intellect and affection.
This matters for you if: You’ve experienced worship that is either theologically empty but emotionally manipulative, or doctrinally sound but aesthetically lifeless. Watts shows that we can have both—truth that moves us and beauty that teaches us.
3. Limitation Doesn’t Disqualify You from Impact
Isaac Watts should not have been influential. He was too sick, too weak, too excluded from centers of power. He could not consistently pastor a church. He never married or had children. He lived as a permanent houseguest, dependent on others’ generosity. He died young by today’s standards—just 74—after decades of chronic illness.
Yet from that place of limitation, he shaped how millions of Christians would worship for centuries. Although he experienced physical limitations, these did not hinder his spiritual influence; in fact, they may have contributed to it in an inexplicable manner. His suffering gave depth to his joy, his limitations forced him to focus his gifts, and his dependence on others modeled the Christian life of humble community.
This matters for you if: You feel your limitations disqualify you from significance. Watts’ life testifies that God often works most powerfully through those who have the least worldly advantage. Your weakness might be exactly what makes your contribution unique and necessary.
4. Joy Is Theological Before It’s Emotional
“Joy to the World” is not about feeling happy—it’s about the objective reality that God’s kingdom is coming, that Christ reigns, that creation will be renewed, that justice will triumph, and that every wrong will be made right.
The joy Watts writes about is not dependent on circumstances or feelings. It is rooted in truth—in the unshakeable reality of God’s character and promises. This is why someone suffering chronic pain and illness could write with such exuberance. The joy is not about his life getting better—it’s about God’s promises being sure.
This matters for you if: You struggle with the gap between the joy you are “supposed” to feel and the reality of your circumstances. Watts shows that Christian joy is first a matter of what we know to be true, not what we happen to feel at the moment. We can sing “Joy to the World” in the midst of suffering because the joy is rooted in Christ’s victory, not our present comfort.
5. The Gospel Deserves Our Best Creative Work
Watts could have simply accepted the status quo of psalm-singing and focused his limited energy on other things. Instead, he spent his entire life crafting the best possible words to express Christian worship. He revised constantly, labored over every line, sought the perfect balance of truth and beauty.
He believed that the gospel—the greatest news in the universe—deserved the best artistic expression humans could offer. Not to add to Scripture, but to respond to Scripture with all the creativity and skill God had given him.
This matters for you if: You wonder whether artistic excellence matters in Christian contexts. Watts proves that craftsmanship, beauty, and artistic quality are not vanity—they are appropriate responses to the magnificence of God. The gospel deserves our best, not our leftovers.
The Music Came Later
Isaac Watts only wrote words for his hymns. He did not write music. He expected churches to use tunes they already knew.
The famous tune we know today was written by Lowell Mason in 1836—more than 80 years after Isaac died. Mason said his tune was based on music from Handel’s Messiah, but people are not sure if this is true.
What is clear is that Mason’s tune fits Isaac’s words perfectly. Together, the words and music created a Christmas song that billions of people have sung for almost 200 years.
What Isaac Left Behind
Isaac Watts died on November 25, 1748, when he was 74 years old. He was buried in London. His grave marker says simply: “His works praise him.”
Isaac Watts changed how Christians worship. Before him, English-speaking churches only sang psalms. After him, churches sang new hymns. All the famous hymn writers who came later—Charles Wesley, Fanny Crosby, John Newton—built on what Isaac started.
His hymns are still sung all over the world. “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” is often called the greatest English hymn ever written. “Joy to the World” is one of the most popular Christmas songs everywhere.
The little boy who complained about boring church music gave the church songs it would sing for hundreds of years. The sick man who could barely work as a pastor changed worship around the world. The student who could not go to the best universities wrote books that taught millions of people.
Every Christmas, when we sing “Joy to the World,” we are part of Isaac Watts’ revolution—praising Jesus in words written by a man who knew suffering but refused to stop singing.
Complete Hymn Text: “Joy to the World”
Written by Isaac Watts, 1719
Music “Antioch” arranged by Lowell Mason, 1836
Based on Psalm 98
Verse 1
Joy to the world! the Lord is 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 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.
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.
This hymn is in the public domain.
Sources and Books to Learn More
Books by Isaac Watts:
- Watts, Isaac. Hymns and Spiritual Songs. London, 1707.
- Watts, Isaac. The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. London, 1719.
- Watts, Isaac. Divine Songs Attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Children. London, 1715.
Books About Isaac Watts:
- Davis, Arthur Paul. Isaac Watts: His Life and Works. New York: Dryden Press, 1943.
- Fountain, David. Isaac Watts Remembered. Worthing: Henry E. Walter Ltd., 1974.
- Wright, Thomas. The Life of Isaac Watts. London, 1914.
About the Hymn:
- “Joy to the World,” Hymnary.org (complete history).
- Mason, Lowell. The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music. Boston, 1836.
- Julian, John. Dictionary of Hymnology. London: John Murray, 1892.
Other Sources:
- United Methodist Church. “History of Hymns: ‘Joy to the World.’” Discipleship Ministries.
- Bunhill Fields cemetery records, London.
What change might God be asking you to start? What gift do you have, even if you have many limits, that could become your lasting gift to others if you give it to God?
