“Now the dwelling of God is with men” (Rev. 21:3).

“No more let sins and sorrows flow,/Nor thorns infest the ground./

He comes to make His blessings known/Far as the curse is found.”

(“Joy to the World,” Isaac Watts, 1719)

Jesus was born to die. 

As Christians, haven’t we frequently heard that from a well-meaning parent or pastor? Their intention is clear: to guard us from getting so swept up in the “aw, it’s beautiful” angel chorus, miraculous star, and Magi gifts that we neglect to see the very real shadow of a cross over the manger. 

Yes, please revel in the excitement of the Messiah being born. Yes, do understand He came to offer salvation to all at the extravagant cost of His death. But now, project the “reason for the season” out further; see what Revelation promises: “‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God’” (21:3). In Luke, Jesus comes as the God-man to dwell with us for a few decades. But in this future time, He stays with us eternally, in a return to Edenic fellowship. Jesus was born, born to die, to ensure this future for all believers. 

And what a future of promises it is:

He will wipe every tear from [our] eyes (21:4).

There will be no more death or mourning, or crying or pain (21:4).

[He is] making everything new! (21:5)

[The nations will be healed…] no longer will there be any curse (22:2-3).

In fact, these future blessings are so hard to believe that God has to tell John, who must be stunned by this glorious vision, to “‘write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (22:5, italics added)! 

Just like the exiled disciple John and just like those in first-century Israel, how we long for the pain and sin around us to be replaced by blessing. To “no more let sin and sorrows grow.” To have Jesus come to “make His blessings known,” in Bethlehem, in each believer’s heart, and in the coming kingdom when “He [will rule] the world with truth and grace/And [make] the nations prove/The glories of his righteousness/And wonders of His love.”

Hymn writer Isaac Watts imagines nature, too, longing for healing, for blessing to replace Adam’s curse (Gen. 3:17-18). At the angels’ pronouncement to the shepherds, “fields and flocks, rocks, hills and plains/Repeat the sounding joy” over no more “thorns infest[ing] the ground.” Nature, too, eagerly awaits “blessings [as] far as the curse is found.” 

We will have to wait for this ultimate fulfillment of Jesus as ruler of the world, but we don’t have to wait to experience the “wonders of His love.” Grab a mug of something hot, put “Joy to the World” on Spotify repeat, sit in front of your tree illuminating an otherwise dark room, and ponder the miracle and blessings of Jesus’s nativity. Joy to the world indeed. Joy to the world then. Joy to our world now. Joy eternal in the world to come.