Joy has dawned upon the world

I. Origins

For the third album in their series of New Irish Hymns, songwriters Keith Getty and Stuart Townend focused thematically on the concept of Incarnation. At the time, Getty offered a brief explanation as to how his relationship with Townend had matured since writing “In Christ alone”:

In our writing relationship there is a strong degree of partnership, and that partnership has become more integrated the longer we have worked together and got to trust each others’ opinions on things. He has very strong opinions on melodies, being such a gifted musician, and most hymns will follow my lyrical concept for where the song should go. For the most part, however, Stuart is the lyrical genius.[1]

The album opens with Kristyn Getty reading John 1:1–18, a vital New Testament passage about the Word who was co-creator with God, who would be heralded by John the Baptist, who brought light into darkness, who became flesh and offered grace to those who would receive him. Through the songs on the album, the writers thus try to convey these ideas in various ways, fulfilling one of Getty’s mottos, “What we sing becomes the grammar of what we believe.”[2]

“Joy has dawned upon the world” is the second song (the third track) on the album, conveying an overarching narrative of that God who became flesh. Like “In Christ alone” on the first album (2001), this song was voiced by American singer Margaret Becker, this time supported by the City of Prague Philharmonic. New Irish Hymns #3: Incarnation was released on 17 September 2004.

Even in view of the song’s inclusion on this album, Getty and Townend both have referred to it being born out of their work for Apostles’ Creed (2006). Townend, for example, has published this story on his website:

Keith Getty and I wrote “Joy has dawned” as part of a project we’ve been working on entitled “Creed”—a collection of new hymns and songs based on the themes of the Apostles’ Creed. Keith and I both share a passion to see churches singing songs full of truth, compositions that not only express our love and devotion to God, but also declare the wonderful truths of the faith—truths that form the foundation of our lives. With that in mind, we realised that there was shortage on new material on a number of key themes—one being the Incarnation. We therefore set about trying to write what is essentially a Christmas carol, telling the story and significance of Christ’s birth, and this is the result.[3]

Indeed, that project was already in view when New Irish Hymns 3 was released, because the CD liner notes mention it: “In addition to developing his own Irish hymns series, he [Keith] is currently creating a new project with Stuart Townend based on the Apostles Creed.” Therefore, although the song appears to have been originally intended for the creedal project, it was brought to light first through the other series.

II. Additional Audio and Video Recordings

Following the release of New Irish Hymns 3, the song was recorded on Keith Getty’s instrumental album, An Evening in Prague (2005), featuring the Czech Television Studio Orchestra, with Getty functioning as conductor and orchestrator. The next year, the song was recorded again for the thematic album The Apostles’ Creed (2006), performed by Steve Garrett. The song was appropriately associated with the creedal clause “Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.” The CD liner notes offered this brief statement:

“Joy has dawned” is a modern Christmas Carol explaining the whole Christmas story of “Jesus, born of Mary.” Many of the greatest hymns in history have been carols and we want to be part of keeping that old tradition alive through fresh perspectives on the glory of the Incarnation.

That same year, the song was included on the compilation album Modern Hymns Live (2006), taken from an unspecified event, sung by Stuart Townend, probably at his home church, Church of Christ the King in Brighton. This track was reissued on The Best of Stuart Townend Live (2007).

The first publicly documented recording of Kristyn Getty singing the song was at a community hymn sing hosted by The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), 28 March 2006. The song has become a fixture of the Gettys’ Christmas albums and concerts, starting with Joy! An Irish Christmas (2011), performed as a medley with “Angels we have heard on high” and featuring the New Irish Choir directed by Jonathan Rea. It has also appeared on Joy! An Irish Christmas Live (2015), recorded at the Tennessee Theatre (Knoxville), The Life of Christ Quintology: Incarnation (2019), Family Carol Sing (2019), and Sing! An Irish Christmas (2019), recorded at the Grand Ole Opry (Nashville).

The oldest publicly documented video recording of the song was for a Christmas concert at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on 9 December 2010. Older videos likely exist in the private collections of churches. The following year, Keith Getty offered an informal video with a brief spoken introduction and him playing the song on piano, in a medley with “Angels we have heard on high,” posted 21 October 2011 on YouTube. The first official concert video came four years later in connection with their album Joy! An Irish Christmas Live (2015); similarly, another video was made for Sing! An Irish Christmas (2019). In 2020, the Gettys produced a special video, Getty Family Hymn Sing Christmas Special from Northern Ireland, in which Kristyn and three of their girls performed “Joy has dawned,” accompanied by Keith on piano (starting at 21:03—There is something wondrous about a group of children singing classic Christmas carols, one of which, destined to be a classic, was written by their parents). The Gettys have also produced official lyric videos (2013, 2020).

III. Publication

The song was first published in New Songs 2005/06 (Kingsway, 2005 | Fig. 1). It’s first appearance in a hymnal was in the Baptist Hymnal (SBC, 2008 | Fig. 2). It was later included in the songbooks for Joy! An Irish Christmas (2011) and Family Carol Sing (2019), and in concert programs for the Gettys’ Christmas performances. Scores have also been made available through the Kingsway Music website (now defunct), and the Getty Music website, in addition to other arrangements prepared by third-party distributors.

IV. Analysis

Keith Getty has offered his own summary of the song, saying, “It’s a storytelling song. It’s a little bit like ‘In Christ alone’ for Christmas in that it tells the story of Christmas and then explains the themes as it goes along.”[4] Reformed scholar Emily Brink outlined the message of the song as follows:

“Joy Has Dawned” draws a big picture of the birth, life, and reconciling work of Christ. The first line reaches back to the beginning of creation, “Joy has dawned upon the world, promised from creation.” Four stanzas later, the song ends with the work of Christ accomplished, “the Lord of history.” The first stanza also reaches across the globe with the coming of Christ as a world event with “hope for every nation.” Then begins the paradox of the “humble gift of love” (st. 1) contrasting the might of the Prince of Life with the humility of his birth (st. 2). The story of Jesus’ birth comes in stanza 3, and the final stanza erupts in praise to the Lord of history.[5]

Scripturally, the “promise from Creation” likely refers to the prophecy in Genesis 3:15, where it tells of the one who would bruise the serpent’s heel. Isaiah foretold the joy from the arrival of that promise, writing, “You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest” (Is. 9:3). But this promise was not for a single nation, it was for all nations: “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Is. 52:10). The promised child did not arrive in a palace, but via a woman with no wealth; as Mary declared in Luke 1, “he has looked on the humble estate of his servant”:

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

The second stanza speaks more directly about the circumstances surrounding the birth, picturing angels (Luke 2:8–14) and stable (Luke 2:7). The moniker “Prince of Life” appears in Acts 3:15 in some translations, including the KJV and NASB. As the opening lines of the book of John attest, this word-made-flesh was present at Creation (John 1:3).

The third stanza continues to set the stage, adding the shepherds (Luke 2:8–20), referring to the child as a Lamb (John 1:29), acknowledging the gifts of the magi (Matt. 2:11), hinting at their meaning, and foreshadowing the death of this Lamb. The final stanza continues that thought. Here Jesus is described as both a son of Adam (Luke 3:38) and a son of heaven (1 Cor. 15:47), given as a ransom (Mark 10:45), reconciling God and humanity (2 Cor. 5:18–19), victor (1 Cor. 15:57), Savior (Luke 2:11), friend (John 15:15), and divine mystery (Rom. 16:25, Col. 1:26, 1 Tim. 3:16).

The overarching narrative of the hymn echoes the Christ-hymn in Philippians 2:5–11. Baptist church music professor Carl Stam [6] associated the hymn with Philippians 4:4–7:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (ESV).

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
2 December 2021

Footnotes:

1. Emily R. Brink, “Advent and Christmas songs by Keith Getty,” Reformed Worship, no. 81 (Sept. 2006): RW

2. Joan Huyser-Honig, “Keith Getty on writing hymns for the church universal,” Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (1 Sept. 2006): CICW

3. Stuart Townend, “Joy has dawned upon the world,” Stuart Townend: ST

4. Keith Getty, “Joy Has Dawned with Angels We Have Heard on High—from Joy! An Irish Christmas” (21 Oct. 2011): YouTube

5. Emily Brink, “Advent and Christmas songs by Keith Getty,” Reformed Worship, no. 81 (Sept. 2006): RW

6. Carl Stam, “Biblical Joy, ‘Joy Has Dawned upon the World,’” Worship Quote of the Week (14 Dec. 2010): wqotw.org, archived at the James P. Boyce Centennial Library, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and at Archive.org.

Additional Resources:

“Joy has dawned upon the world,” Getty Music: https://store.gettymusic.com/us/song/joy-has-dawnedangels-we-have-heard-on-high/

“Joy has dawned upon the world,” Stuart Townend: https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/song/joy-has-dawned/

“Joy has dawned upon the world,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/joy_has_dawned_upon_the_world