George Frederic Handel’s 1741 oratorio, Messiah, is one of the most beloved compositions in musical history. The Messiah loudly sings the God-breathed words of the Old and New Testaments. Indeed, the German composer’s oratorio is entirely composed of direct quotations from Job, the Psalms, Isaiah, Lamentations, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Hebrews, and Revelation. The words unfold the biblical story of mankind’s salvation through the coming of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. The Scriptures referenced in Handel’s Messiah predict and announce the birth, crucifixion, bodily resurrection, visible return, and eternal reign of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God.
Given the prominence of the Savior’s nativity in the oratorio, the composition is regularly performed during the Christmas season as well as at other times. Recordings of performances can be found here, here, and here. Indeed, on Sunday, December 10 at 3 pm, WashU continued its annual tradition of performing Handel’s magnum opus in Graham Chapel. I was again privileged to attend this glorious performance. As is the case every year, WashU’s Messiah this December was a sing-along. While individual singers performed the various solo parts, the attendees joined in singing the multiple choruses such as And the Glory of the Lord from Isaiah 40, And He Shall Purify from Malachi 3, For Unto Us a Child Is Born from Isaiah 9, Glory to God from Luke 2 and the Hallelujah Chorus from Revelation 11 and 19.
That Handel’s musical rendering of biblical truth is still sung every December throughout a largely unbelieving Western world, such as its annual performance at Unitarian–founded and thoroughly secular WashU, is quite ironic. Although the fact that such beautiful music fills many with a sense of transcendence makes far more sense if the God of the Bible exists than if atheism were true, the beautiful music of the Messiah by itself does not prove the truth of Christianity. The Scriptures which the oratorio sings, however, do so convincingly. The incredible reliability of the Gospels and the fulfillment of countless Old Testament messianic prophecies demonstrate the unassailable truth of the Christian religion.
Handel’s Messiah also points to the reality that the Lord Jesus Christ’s sovereign rule over all will ultimately triumph, despite every vain effort to oppose the advancement of his kingdom. Consider the words sung in the famous Hallelujah Chorus: “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). Indeed, the chorus continually repeats these words and even as it also sings that Christ our Savior is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16). Jesus’ kingship over the universe, now hidden (Hebrews 2:8), will be revealed in majesty, wrath, and power. All flesh shall see the glory of the Lord (Isaiah 40:5). Jesus Christ will judge every person who has ever lived on the basis of their deeds (Matthew 25:31–46). As one passage quoted in the Messiah piercingly asks, “who may abide the day of his coming” and “who shall stand when he appeareth?” (Malachi 3:2). Who indeed.
Only those men and women whose sins have been covered and washed away by the precious blood of the Lamb of God, who was slain on Calvary to take away the sins of the whole world (John 1:29). As the Nicene Creed wrote long ago, the one who is “very God of very God” was “made man” and was born of a virgin mother, lived, died, and rose again “for us men and for our salvation.” This is the good news of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us all, good news which Handel’s Messiah proclaims boldly: “for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6), “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:3–5), “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11).
Having immersed himself in the Scriptures to do so, George Handel accomplished a masterpiece in his Messiah. The score warns of God’s coming judgment but also heralds the gospel of “the Word made flesh” who “came into the world to save sinners” (John 1:14, 1 Timothy 1:15). These “good tidings of great joy,” as Handel reminds us through his Messiah, are what the joy of Christmas is all about. The eternal God forever took on a human nature in his conception as a tiny little embryo in the womb of his virgin mother and was born in a feeding trough. From Mary’s womb and the Bethlehem manger the king of the universe reigned in all his divine majesty. He died on a cross for the whole world’s sin, and rose physically from the dead for mankind’s justification so that all who trust in him will share his eternal kingship. All we who believe in him will see the words of the Hallelujah Chorus fulfilled on a resurrected earth in our own incorruptible bodies: “he shall reign forever and ever.”