Handel’s Messiah Pt.1
The Expectation of his Coming
The Bible has one central person in focus – the Messiah. After Adam and Eve sinned their only hope lay in the ‘seed of the woman’ promised in Genesis 3:15. God affirmed that this ‘seed’ would crush Satan and redeem his people through suffering and death. That seed is the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One.
In an oratorio, entitled ‘Messiah’, George Frideric Handel composed the music for words drawn exclusively from the Bible. These texts, identified and arranged in three parts by Charles Jennens, depict the life of the Messiah:
the expectation of his coming and birth
his life and ministry
his suffering, death and resurrection.
The ‘Messiah’ was first performed in Dublin on 13th April 1742. Since then its appeal has never waned, being performed annually in cities throughout the world by talented choirs.
In a series of articles it is my plan to take the Messenger readers through the ‘Life of Christ’ with particular reference to the Scriptural words of the ‘Messiah’. This article will focus on ‘The Expectation of His Coming’.
The libretto (words of the opera) begins with Isaiah 40:1-5. This passage is identified by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3) as referring to the promised Messiah. John was emphatic that he was not the One, but that his role was the preparer of the way. “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God”. (Isaiah 40:3)
In the desert region beside the Jordan John exercised his ministry. Vast crowds went from Jerusalem and other towns and villages to hear him. John’s preaching was crystallised into one pithy sentence, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” (Matt 3:2) In other words John was saying, ‘repent of your sins for the ‘holy one’ is about to appear’. Or as stated in Isaiah 40:5, “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed”.
The glory of the Lord was revealed in certain climatic moments in Israel’s history. The most dramatic being: the exodus from Egypt, the defeat of the Canaanites, the occupation of the land of promise and the return from the Babylonian captivity. These events pale into insignificance compared to the glory of the Lord revealed in the coming of Messiah to earth, in the person of Jesus Christ. How would Messiah come into the world?
Jennens very appropriately identifies a key Old Testament text which prophetically revealed how Messiah would come. Something would happen in the course of human history that had never occurred before and would never happen again – a virgin conception. God speaking in the days of Isaiah, 700BC, said: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. (Isaiah 7:14)
For a virgin to conceive a child is a biological impossibility from the human perspective. But there is another perspective – the divine. About God we read in Numbers 23:19, “Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not do it?”
How then would this child be conceived? When would this occur? Centuries would pass before that moment in history arrived. The angel Gabriel, 2,000 years ago, made a dramatic announcement to Mary, a quiet, unpretentious teenager from Nazareth. “And behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus”. (Luke 1:31) The first thought that entered Mary’s head was the biological impossibility of such a conception. She had a fiancée called Joseph. She was anticipating the day when she and Joseph would be married. Then they would live together as husband and wife with the expectation of children being born from their sexual union. But that was still future. It is with a great degree of bewilderment that she responded to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34)
Mary understood the application of the 7th Commandment to herself as a bride-to-be. “Chastity before marriage and faithfulness after marriage”. Thankfully this principle, is still recognised by covenant youth within the bounds of the Reformed Presbyterian Church and for the most part adhered to. Sadly it is a principle that is frequently ignored and often scorned and ridiculed by the majority of youth in our permissive western culture. As well as blatant disobedience to God, incurring his holy wrath, sexual promiscuity undermines human dignity and disregards emotional consequences.
Mary had not taken that route. She was a faithful Jewish girl who loved the Lord and therefore was astonished by Gabriel’s news. Gabriel carefully explained to Mary how conception would occur. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God”. (Luke 1:35)
Something supernatural was about to occur. An egg in Mary’s womb would be fertilized miraculously by the Holy Spirit. This had never happened before in human history and it would never happen again. Very appropriately the child, as well as being called Jesus, would also be called “holy – the Son of God”. (Luke 1:35) Before departing the angel said to Mary, “For nothing will be impossible with God”. (Luke 1:37)
Commenting on the virgin conception J C Ryle wrote in August 1858: “The manner in which all this was effected is wisely hidden from us. If we attempt to pry beyond this point, we … rush in where angels fear to tread. In a religion which really comes down from heaven there must needs be mysteries. Of such mysteries in Christianity, the incarnation is one”.
Mary had been given astonishing and even alarming news. Her reaction was one of humble submission. “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word”. (Luke 1:38) She was willing to accept her monumental role in redemptive history. It would be the ‘seed’ of her womb who would be the Messiah – the One who would crush the head of the Serpent and save Messiah’s people from their sins.
But what about Joseph? At some stage Joseph and Mary had become betrothed. A ‘betrothal’ was more legally binding than an ‘engagement’. When Joseph learned that his fiancée was pregnant, he concluded that some unscrupulous man has taken advantage of Mary and his only option was divorce. In Matthew 1:19 we glean much about the godly character of Joseph in how he planned to implement the divorce. “And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly”.
The reaction of Joseph is perfectly understandably. At that point he didn’t know all the facts. An angel, most likely Gabriel, promptly provided him with the information Mary had received. “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins”. (Matthew 1:20,21)
Matthew, in recording this angelic announcement, informed his readers how this fulfilled the prophetic word. “All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” (Matthew 1:22,23)
“The virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” No wonder Mary was puzzled. “How will this be” she queried, “since I am a virgin”. Mary had failed to recognise that the God she loved and worshipped was the God of the impossible. (Luke 1:37) Jesus would later say to his disciples regarding the new birth, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”. (Matthew 19:26)
The miraculous conception of the child Jesus in the womb of the virgin Mary is a fundamental truth of the gospel. How wonderful that the ‘Messiah’ should draw attention to it in the opening part of the Oratorio. What a witness it bears to a sceptical and unbelieving world. Two important implications arise from the virgin conception:
The child Jesus was conceived without his nature being tarnished with original sin. How appropriate that the angel should say to Mary that from the outset “he will be called holy”. (Luke 1:35). And Jesus would remain holy (without sin) throughout his life. When the time came for him to offer up himself, a sacrifice to atone for the sins of others it would be, “like that of a lamb, without blemish or spot”. (1 Peter 1:19)
The child Jesus, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, meant that, to put it in very human terms, he was fathered by God and appropriately named, “the Son of the Most High”. (Luke 1:32). Jesus was a unique person. He is the God/man. As such he fulfilled all the requirements to be our substitute –
to live for us a holy life; to clothe us with his righteousness
to die for us; to make atonement for our sins
A prominent chorus line in the opening part of the ‘Messiah’ is from Malachi 3:3. “… and he will purify the sons of Levi”. The ‘sons of Levi’ is a term representative of ‘the elect of God’. Every single person of that innumerable company will be purified by the Messiah; by his shed blood he will present each one “blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy”. (Jude 24)
Throughout the world each winter thousands of people sing and listen to the ‘Messiah’. What majestic words to hear and to contemplate. If you listen to these words only to admire the skill of Handel the composer, they will add to your condemnation on judgement day. But if you listen to them and have your heart and soul drawn afresh to the Messiah, you will indeed be blessed.
