One of the sad misconceptions of many within the conservative evangelical church has been the understanding that we are “aliens and strangers” on the earth.  In truth we are to be aliens and strangers, but to the world-to the ungodly and rebellious world system ruled over by Satan.  The Scripture informs us that this world system is going to be destroyed and its diabolical ruler vanquished for eternity.  And as a long and glorious celebration of our Savior’s victory, we are going to reign with Him on this very earth which so many of us now abuse and malign.  When we attain our final and complete adoption as children of God, we will embrace a good earth healed from the curse where thorns no longer “infest the ground.” 

It is unfortunate in a sense that Isaac Watts titled his carol “Joy to the World!”  He took his inspiration for his stirring lyrics from Psalm 98 that exults:

Sing to the lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.  Shout for joy to the lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music (Psa. 98:1-4 NIV).

Perhaps we ought to retitle the carol “Joy to the Earth” for that is indeed the very first line of the second stanza of Watt’s lyric.  It is Satan and sinful mankind that blight God’s good earth.  The Genesis account of the Fall makes it clear that the earth did not sin; the creatures did not sin; the earth is not evil.  How ironic it is that the people of God today often embrace so much of the doomed world system that suppresses and abuses the gifts of the creation, and yet despise the earth, which will be restored.  We forget this important truth revealed to Paul by the Holy Spirit:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (Rom. 8:18-22, NIV).

From this time forward, I would recommend that we sing this cherished Christmas song with a better understanding of its meaning: though sung as a celebration of the First Advent, it is in reality a description of the Second Advent.  What was promised at Christ birth may soon be fulfilled at His Second Coming.  Let us thrill at the wonderful harmonies woven by the composer of The Messiah, George F. Handel:

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing.

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.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of his love.

The second coming of the Messiah is bad news for this world system, yet glorious good news for the earth and for those of us who will reign with Him upon it.  I’m convinced that it is time that we imagine with C.S. Lewis the moment when “that hideous strength” of the enemy of God and man is finally wrestled into defeat and submission, and when all the elements, plants, and living creatures of a restored earth join in one grand united doxology with redeemed mankind in praise to our Savior and Creator, Jesus Christ: It will be the return of shalom.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever! (Rev. 5:13, NIV).

Note in that passage how John explicitly includes the entire biosphere: creatures in the sky, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea, and in the sea.  Imagine the scene: larks, dragonflies, rabbits, badgers, moles, trap-door spiders, Portugese men-of-war, sharks, and sea stars all attending to the Savior-Creator and singing!  Who says Narnia is fiction?  Remember that Aslan is the Lion of Judah! Think of the joy that will fill the Hundred-Acre Wood.  Tigger will jump higher than ever and Eeyore, then the eternal optimist, will “bouncy-bounce” with him.  Earth will be Peralandra, and Neverland will become Everland!

Many of us may need to repent of our careless lack of camaraderie with the other creatures of the earth and of our lack of care for the marvelous handiwork of God that has faithfully given witness from the beginning of His divine nature and eternal power (Rom. 1:20).  With our hearts and with our hands, let us work toward the anticipated restoration of the good Earth.

NOTE:  Wouldn’t it be a grand thing if believers came to truly understand that Thanksgiving is the Christian “earth day” when we celebrate the bounty of God’s good creation.  Imagine how the holiday seasons from Thanksgiving through New Years would take on a whole new meaning if we got off the materialistic juggernaut and celebrated the first advent of the Messiah with an active expectation of His second advent when we will join hands with all the redeemed entities of the restored cosmos.  I’m not sure how it would look, but here are some things we could do.

1.  We could make the day after Thanksgiving a fast day when we repent of our abuse of the earth.  Instead of helping to make that day the busiest shopping day of the year, we’d turn the eyes of the world away from Mammon and toward God.  For those of us who live in the north of the United States, a walk in the woods marked by the death of summer and the chill of coming winter would increase the significance of our fast.

2.  We could celebrate Christmas by using God’s great gift of creativity to us by making gifts for one another.  Revive the old custom of creatively taking of the bounty of the earth and turning it into something that will remind us with each use of the good earth and its coming day of victory: nature craft items, jams and other preserves, bird houses and bird feeders, and a single orange to remind us of the past when celebrations were homespun and simple.  We could consider specially determining not to burden ourselves with expensive toys that will only take more of our time and money — and unnecessarily make a negative impact upon the natural world.  Shun big-ticket items that in the long run reduce our ability to truly be stewards of the earth.

3.  We could celebrate the new year with resolutions that compel us to look forward to the restoration of the good earth when Jesus comes to reign.