Joy to the World

I only hear this song around Christmas, but there's a "rest of the story" to be told. This song is 300 years old and Isaac Watts never intended for this song to be a "Christmas Hymn." His purpose for writing this song was not to sing the detail of Christ's first coming,  but rather to illustrate Christ's future (second) coming.

This song is sung as if it is presently applicable. Jesus came, yes, but Israel rejected her Messiah. Instead of the Messiah setting up the prophesied kingdom of Israel,  he ascended into heaven after his resurrection. His establishment of the prophesied kingdom has been postponed,  but not omitted from God's plans. It was after Israel’s rejection of Jesus that God revealed the mystery to the Apostle Paul,  which had been hidden since the world began (Romans 16:25).

I promise you this, there will not be "Joy to the World" in this present dispensation. 

Romans 5:1-2 
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

We can have peace with God, but there will not be peace on the earth, because sin still exists and Satan is still in power. 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls him the "god of this world." We are saved by trusting the gospel of the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:1-4 & Ephesians 1:13).

It's interesting to know what you're singing. 

 Each verse of the song is geared toward the future. Verse 1 is about his coming. Verse 2 is about Christ's future dominion. Verse 3 is a out destruction of sin and even the curses it has caused. Verse 4 is about His righteous rule and Godly Kingship. 

Read the lyrics again

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.