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THE 24-DAY MIRACLE #1
"COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE"
It's hard to imagine that it's already time again for
Handel's Messiah. In both 1995 and 1996 we spent a full week exploring
some of the great music in that oratorio, and here it's time for our 2001
Christmas visit to the music conservatory. We've entitled this week of
programs THE 24-DAY MIRACLE, referring, as many of you know, to the 24
frantic and furious consecutive days back in the year 1741 when George
Frederick Handel composed this 252-page masterpiece.
There are 53 songs in The Messiah, so I guess we could go for about ten-and-a-half
years at the rate of five programs each Christmas before scheduling
any reruns. But here on this Monday, if I had to pose the question, What
song do you especially NEED to focus on today?, I wouldn't be surprised
if this particular tenor solo would get a lot of votes.
It's interesting to me that Handel chose this passage of Scripture to
be the very first words sung in his oratorio, right after the opening
overture by the orchestra. "Comfort Ye My People." It speaks
volumes, doesn't it, that the Christmas message in fact, all that the
Bible tells us about a Messiah begins with comfort. And this is God
talking! "Comfort ye My people, saith your God."
Tell me something. Has 2001 been a year where, here at the end, you could
use some comforting? The people of God, the Body of Christ, certainly
could benefit from some encouraging . . . but how about you, right now,
today? In a few minutes, when we play this song, I hope you can feel the
personal signature of God in this directive. "Comfort ye My people"
and He does indeed have you in mind.
You'll understand that every year when we do this Messiah radio series,
we always look up in our Bibles to study the original passages Handel
selected. Not one word of this great oratorio came just from a composer's
own imagination and that's not to take away from Handel's 24-day achievement.
But this is the Word of God speaking to us in these arias and recitatives.
And the very first song comes from Isaiah chapter 40.
Let me ask you something. Have you ever read through the entire book of
Isaiah? If you have, you know that for quite a long summer spell, there's
not much comfort there. Chapters one through 35 are kind of blistering,
filled with denunciations and a list of Israel's sins. And also a list
of the judgments they can expect from heaven in response to those sins.
"The Lord will cause men to hear His majestic voice and will make
them see His arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with
cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail."
That kind of thing. And then chapters 36-39 are a second
mini-section, so to speak, a narrative about King Hezekiah and his enemy
Sennacherib. And there's at least a brief respite from the gloom and doom
so far.
But then in chapter 40, it's as though someone abruptly opened up a massive
door and let the sunlight in. Because all at once, this stern-faced prophet
of doom begins to write about the coming Messiah. The very first words
of chapter 40 are these: "Comfort ye My people, saith your God."
And from here to the end, in chapter 66, Isaiah writes so much about the
hope Israel has because of the promised Redeemer that he's sometimes known
as the "gospel prophet."
If you read through chapter 40, or just hum your way through this tenor
solo in a few minutes now, you find this intriguing line after the "Comfort
ye my people":
" . . . And cry unto her [Israel] that her
warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned."
The past 39 chapters, remember, has really been a list
of sins or iniquities. Like a responsible father sometimes has to do,
God has sent word through His prophet about the transgressions of His
people. "You've done this wrong, and that wrong, and the other 200
things wrong too," He warns. But here in chapter 40, verse two, comes
the encouraging follow-up: "But your iniquity is pardoned."
Isn't that tremendous good news? And friend, it doesn't just apply to
Israel, but to you and me right here during Christmas 2001. Our iniquity
is pardoned too, right now.
What does it mean when it says: "Her warfare is accomplished"?
One Bible commentary says this:
"The warfare referred to includes the military
invasions of Isaiah's own time" and there were plenty of those,
as you can read "the conquests of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar
more than a century later, and, figuratively, the broader warfare of the
church against the powers of darkness in all ages."
Isaiah, as we know, was written a full century before
the Babylonian captivity. And yet this prophetic message of encouragement
comes to Israel even before that episode begins. "Your warfare is
accomplished" future tense. The NIV renders it this way: "Your
hard service has been completed." And then, according to these Bible
commentators, this promise even reaches down to today, to the challenges
the church faces here at the close of the 20th century. I think of the
problems facing the Christian church in Russia right now, the legislation
that threatens their liberties, their ability to reach out to others,
to evangelize. We don't know the political answers, all the moves and
countermoves that a Yeltsin or a Politboro might make. But God gives us
this comforting promise ahead of time: "Your warfare is accomplished.
My victories on your behalf are a done deal.'"
Again, this music and these Scripture passages are most effective when
we turn them inward and apply their power to our own experience. MY iniquities
have been pardoned; all the warfare within, my inner demons, my personal
struggles with sin . . . God promises me comfort by saying that He's going
to accomplish victory in my life. And in your life, too, friend.
Even Handel, I'm sure, had to be moved to select Isaiah 40:1 as his opening
solo by personal experience. At the height of his musical career, we read,
he was under constant attack from other people. Other musicians, particularly,
who resented this talented upstart. Maybe you remember the Oscar-winning
Amadeus film story, where the envy of Saliere was bitter, almost consuming.
Well, Handel felt that as well. Two English essayists, Addison and Steele,
ripped away at this new composer almost from the moment he arrived in
London. Their own unsuccessful attempts in the field of opera, and the
resulting financial losses, drove them to jealousy, resentment, almost
a blind hatred, for Handel.
But then there was this promise, meant for Handel too. "Comfort ye
My people. . . . Your warfare is accomplished. There will be peace again."
Friend, as we get ready to spin this CD from Musica Sacra, performed by
John Aler, let's note one vital thing. There's no "comfort"
unless there's a Messiah. The writings of Isaiah provide comfort, and
he's known as the "gospel prophet" only because Song #2 is followed
by 51 more songs that give us the Christ Child, the Redeemer of this world
and the Savior of us all.
"Comfort Ye My People," Musica Sacra, conducted
by Richard Westenburg. (3:01)
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