Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King.
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and heav’n and nature sing.
A favorite Christmas carol, perhaps the most resounding song of the sheer excitement of Christmas ever. But let me ask you a question, to answer honestly in your heart: When you sing “Joy to the world” and “Let earth receive her King” don’t you assume that what it really means is “Joy to the PEOPLE of the world” “Let the PEOPLE of earth receive her King”?
Now it is understandable if you do. The very next line of the song is certainly encouraging people to “Let every heart prepare him room.” But what about the last lines, “And heaven and nature sing”? You see, I believe that what this carol does (that is almost universally overlooked) is point to the universal dimensions of the salvation brought in Jesus. The carol is a call to worship to the whole world, to the whole earth, to all of creation, including nature to join in the Angels praise.
As we continue our trip around the manger, we consider perhaps the most unexpected characters on that night when Christ was born. With Mary and Joseph, the Angels and shepherds, are another bunch of witnesses to the good news that is great joy for all the earth: The animals.
Now, we should be clear here. It’s the song, “Little Drummer Boy” that tells us that “the ox and ass kept time”, not the gospel accounts. Indeed, while Luke and Matthew both tell us that Jesus was born in a manger, they don’t actually mention any animals. But in almost every nativity scene we honestly and understandably assume their presence. Indeed, of all the creatures who would have been most comfortable that night the Babe was born in the straw, the only one’s who were truly at home were the animals who actually made room in their “inn.”
So what do we make of their presence? Are they simple props? Are they just bystanders to a drama that is unfolding only amongst the people of earth and the God who made them?
Think about it a bit further. Is the gospel, the good news of the reign and rule of God only about human souls? Indeed, was the whole creation story, the fall in the garden, the choosing of Abraham and his family, the rescue of the Hebrews from Egypt, the reign of David, the the coming of God to earth in the incarnation simply to set up a divine transaction so that human souls can escape this earth someday and “make it to heaven”? Or is there something grander, larger, greater at work in the birth of the Baby, the coming of the Earth’s King? Doesn’t make much more sense to think that the God who made creation in so many shapes and colors and with so many scents and tastes, with so much variety and abundance and who declared at the beginning that it was good, had actually come to this planet to make it all of it, every bit of it, every creature, every thing right—again?
This is the good news that is announced to the whole world by the angels the night Jesus was born and as this "announcement" takes hold in the hearts and lives of the people of God and we are renewed, then ultimately all of creation will be experience the renewal that it is "groaning for."
Indeed that is what is promised in Romans 8.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
If we keep this verse before us, we will then recognize that the salvation and sanctification of humans, is for the sake of the whole world. And as NT Wright points out, the hope of the incarnation and pentecost is both the good news to the world and the answer to the challenge of Paganism (especially as it is so often seen in the environmental movement.)
In the climax of Romans 8, Paul sees the whole creation, not as itself divine – that’s the mistake of paganism – but as God’s good creation which is designed to be flooded with God, renewed by the Spirit, to experience its own Exodus when the children of God are themselves raised from the dead. That which paganism has wrongly worshipped will one day share the freedom of the glory of God’s children. Paganism is, after all, a parody of the truth, wanting to steal the beautiful empty chalice instead of waiting for it to be filled with the wine of God’s love.
As Christians, we must realize that our "adoption" and "transformation" by the Spirit of God is more important than almost anything...the WORLD depends on it. And our stewardship of God's good creation is not only a responsibility born of creation, but an expression of our faith in the new creation to come (Rev. 21).
