Twenty minutes of mindless scrolling YouTube on my phone and I can’t even tell you what I’m watching anymore or why. It’s amazing how quickly time slips away without any purpose - films, music, video games, TV, books, magazines, social media, podcasts. We have more control over how we curate our content than ever before, so why does it often feel like we’re still failing when it comes to what we listen to and watch?

WE ALL love mysteries. Story writers know how we are enticed by a tale where the true causes of an event lie hidden in complex plans devised by powerful institutions. You are drawn in as you follow the hero’s discoveries, and all is put right once the evildoers are exposed and vanquished. The present popularity of conspiracy theories reaches far beyond the world of entertainment.

That feeling you get as you stand taking in the staggering height of the Cliffs of Moher, seeing the waves pound ferociously at their feet. The spine-tingling sound of a skilled musician reveling in that cello concerto. A clear day across the breath-taking Mourne mountains or the crisp, clean whiteness of newly fallen snow. Awe.

Did you know we are in the grip of another pandemic? An anxiety pandemic. Anxiety is part of our lives at the best of times. But the Coronavirus has created a perfect storm of worry. Worries about loneliness, failure, change, monotony, anxiety about work, health, finances and the future can overwhelm us. Anxious thoughts fill our minds. “What if this happens?” “What if this doesn’t happen?” Are you worried you read this?

In this fourth article attention is drawn to what happened after Messiah’s suffering and death. The fact of his ‘passion’ is captured in the ‘Messiah’ with words from Isaiah 53:8 “… he was cut off out of the land of the living … .”

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.

George Frideric Handel is given all the accolades for the oratorio, ‘Messiah’.  He is indeed worthy of the highest praise for this musical masterpiece, a masterpiece as popular today as when it was first performed in Dublin in April 1742.  Handel, however, was only responsible for the musical score.  It was Charles Jennens who was the mastermind behind the arrangement of the Scripture texts.  These are arranged to show how the Old Testament is perfectly fulfilled in the New.  In a wonderful way these texts depict the person and work of Christ.  This article will concentrate on the Birth of the Messiah.

This article introduces the second part. Through the texts identified the discerning listener can easily glean the purpose of Messiah’s suffering. It was not because of sin he had committed, because Jesus was “without blemish or spot”, but because of the sins of his people. That will become crystal clear as some of these texts are considered.