KINGDOM FUTURE
He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout joyfully to the LORD all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.
Psalm 98:3-4 (NASB)
In 1719, Isaac Watts wrote the lyrics to the hymn that we know today as Joy to the World! The Lord Is Come. Many years later, in 1848, Lowell Mason put the lyrics to music with melodic influence from the musical oratorio of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, and the hymn became a very popular Christmas carol. The song’s lyrical content however wasn’t intended to be about the birth of Christ but was written to celebrate the second coming of Christ and stemmed from Watt’s interpretation of Psalm 98 whose words echo the coming reign of Christ as in verse 9, …for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.
Reflect on the following verses from Isaac Watts’ Joy to the World. What conditions and characteristics of Christ’s second coming and future Kingdom do you notice:
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!
APPLICATION: Thank God this morning and throughout the day for His faithfulness and lovingkindness that endures forever! Thank Him for the future fulfillment of His promise to return and to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords!
PRAYER: Thank you, Jesus, for coming to this earth, first to serve, to seek and to save me! Thank You that You are coming again to establish Your forever Kingdom, to make all things new, and that we will dwell with You, in Your house, forever! Amen.
“… Our Father in heaven…” Matthew 6:9b (NLT)
- What do You want to say to me today as my Father?
“… may Your name be kept holy.” Matthew 6:9c (NLT)
- What do You want to reveal to me about Your power today?
“May Your Kingdom come soon.” Matthew 6:10a (NLT)
- Help me make Your priorities my priorities today.
“Give us today the food we need,” Matthew 6:11 (NLT)
- Is there anything specific You want me to do with my time or the people I’m around today?
“and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” Matthew 6:12 (NLT)
- Reveal to me anyone I need to forgive or ask for forgiveness.
“And don’t let us yield to temptation…” Matthew 6:13a (NLT)
- Is there anywhere I’m vulnerable to temptation?