Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Meaning of Messiah Msg 312 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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The Meaning of Messiah Msg 312 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Almost without exception. When I hear the name Messiah, I
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  Speaker 1: don't think of a scripture. I think of a piece
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  Speaker 1: of music. I think of the master work of George
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  Speaker 1: Frederick Handell that was accomplished in the middle of the
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  Speaker 1: eighteenth century, believe it or not, and lives on to
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  Speaker 1: this day as if it had been written last year.
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  Speaker 1: There is something about the Messiah by Handle that not
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  Speaker 1: only makes Christmas complete, but it seems to complete the
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  Speaker 1: year for the Swindall family. Cynthia and I, I don't believe,
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  Speaker 1: have spent a Christmas where we did not either hear
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  Speaker 1: a live or recorded performance of that great master work.
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  Speaker 1: Somehow it stands out as a one of a kind.
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  Speaker 1: Whoever has traveled to Paris has come, of course to
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  Speaker 1: the world famous museum, the Louver, And if you have
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  Speaker 1: ever been to the Louver, you will remember one statue,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps over all the others. It is framed at the
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  Speaker 1: top of a long staircase, and it is lit in
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  Speaker 1: sort of golden indirect lighting. It is the great winged
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  Speaker 1: Victory of Samathrace, dated two hundred years before christ. When
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  Speaker 1: Cynthia and I saw this for the first time and
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  Speaker 1: the only time, we were about halfway up the stairs,
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  Speaker 1: and we stood to catch our breath. As we looked
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  Speaker 1: up in this domed area by itself, it looked as
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  Speaker 1: though she was alive, about to fly. As you approach closer,
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  Speaker 1: you see the fluid lines of the sculpture, whoever he was,
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  Speaker 1: and you began to relive the scenes that must have
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  Speaker 1: surrounded the history and have caused those chips and marks
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  Speaker 1: on that what we might call the patina in the stone.
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  Speaker 1: You try to imagine where she was to begin with,
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  Speaker 1: and who did the work, and the battles she endured,
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  Speaker 1: and how she finally found her way to the loo.
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  Speaker 1: And in spite of all the other original works, both
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  Speaker 1: in cabinet and on canvas and up and down the
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  Speaker 1: endless halls of the louver, there's something about the wing
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  Speaker 1: victory that puts her in a category all her own.
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  Speaker 1: That's the way it is for me, at least in
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  Speaker 1: my opinion, When I think of Handel's Messiah, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know of a more meaningful choral work in my life
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  Speaker 1: than that one. As a little boy, as soon as
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  Speaker 1: my voice and the voice of my brother and sister
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  Speaker 1: each maturity enough to sing such a thing, I recall
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  Speaker 1: my mother taking us three to the first Methodist church
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  Speaker 1: where it was done. At least that was one area
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  Speaker 1: that we were familiar with and led by a magnificent conductor.
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  Speaker 1: And the conductor was gracious enough to allow some untrained
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  Speaker 1: voices as well as those who had sung it for decades,
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  Speaker 1: and we blended our four voices with the voices of
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  Speaker 1: those others in the choir must have been several hundred,
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  Speaker 1: and it was sung one particular evening every year. And
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  Speaker 1: I remember those pieces, and when I hear them today,
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  Speaker 1: I replay in my mind the significance of those words.
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  Speaker 1: And when I hear the story that surrounds the Christmas story,
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  Speaker 1: I again recall all the music. To my amazement, most
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  Speaker 1: Christians haven't the foggiest idea what the name Messiah means,
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  Speaker 1: I say, to my amazement. Perhaps I shouldn't, because there
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  Speaker 1: was a time in my life when I was singing
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  Speaker 1: the Great Song, the Great master Work. But I didn't
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  Speaker 1: know the meaning of the word either. I suppose if
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  Speaker 1: you were to ask the average church goer, that person
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  Speaker 1: would say, well, that was one of the things they
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  Speaker 1: called Jesus. He was often called that. That's partly true
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  Speaker 1: and partly not it is one of the things they
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  Speaker 1: called Jesus, but he was not often referred to that
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  Speaker 1: in scripture. In fact, you may be surprised to know
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  Speaker 1: only twice in the Old Testament, and only twice in
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament does the name even appear, and each time,
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  Speaker 1: of course, to the Lord Jesus. And again, interesting fact,
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  Speaker 1: both of those references in Old and New Testament appear
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  Speaker 1: in the same book. That is, twice in the same
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  Speaker 1: book in the Old Testament and twice in the same
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  Speaker 1: book in the New Let's look at each of the
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  Speaker 1: four for a moment. Daniel chapter nine, in back to
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  Speaker 1: back verses, we'll read the name Messiah here and nowhere
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  Speaker 1: else in the Bible, that is, in the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel nine concludes with a magnificent revelation of the future.
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  Speaker 1: That isn't our point at this moment, so there's no
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  Speaker 1: need to get into it. But just listen to the
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  Speaker 1: verses nine, twenty five and twenty six. So you are
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  Speaker 1: to know and discern that from the issuing of a
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  Speaker 1: decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until and here's the
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  Speaker 1: first reference in all the Bible, Messiah, until Messiah the Prince,
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  Speaker 1: there will be seven weeks and sixty two weeks it
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  Speaker 1: will be built again with plaza and moat, even in
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  Speaker 1: times of distress. Then after the sixty two weeks, and
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  Speaker 1: here's the second and last reference in the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and
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  Speaker 1: the people of the Prince who is to come will
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  Speaker 1: destroy the city and the sanctuary, and its end will
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  Speaker 1: come with a flood. Even to the end there will
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  Speaker 1: be war. Desolations are determined. If you like marking your Bibles,
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  Speaker 1: you might put a reference in the margin there that
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  Speaker 1: notes these are the only two references in the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament to Messiah. I'll come back in a moment to
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  Speaker 1: the meaning of the name, because it would have to
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  Speaker 1: be traced in its etymology from Hebrew, because that is
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  Speaker 1: the first place it appears. And then in the New Testament.
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  Speaker 1: The Book of John contains both references, not back to
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  Speaker 1: back verses, but chapters rather closely related John one and
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  Speaker 1: John chapter four. Look at John one verses forty and
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  Speaker 1: forty one John one forty. One of the two who
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  Speaker 1: heard John speak and followed him was Andrew Simon, Peter's brother.
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  Speaker 1: He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him.
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  Speaker 1: That is, Andrew said to Simon Peter, we have found
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  Speaker 1: the Messiah, which translated means Christ. I'll come back to
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  Speaker 1: that a little later in this talk, but go to
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  Speaker 1: chapter four and verses nineteen to twenty six you'll see
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  Speaker 1: the other reference and the second and last reference to
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  Speaker 1: Messiah in the New Testament John four nineteen. This brings
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  Speaker 1: us to the dialogue between Jesus and the woman at
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  Speaker 1: the well. The woman said to Jesus, Sir, I perceive
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  Speaker 1: that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain,
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  Speaker 1: and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place
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  Speaker 1: where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman,
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  Speaker 1: believe me, an ours coming. When neither in this mountain
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  Speaker 1: nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father. You worship
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  Speaker 1: that which you do not know. We worship that which
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  Speaker 1: we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an
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  Speaker 1: hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers
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  Speaker 1: shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such
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  Speaker 1: people the Father seeks to be his worshippers. God is spirit,
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  Speaker 1: and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Now,
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  Speaker 1: notice what the Samaritan woman and says the woman said
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  Speaker 1: to Jesus, I know that Messiah is coming, he who
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  Speaker 1: is called Christ. When that one comes, he will declare
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  Speaker 1: all things to us. The first time Messiah appears in
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament, the word fell from the lips of
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  Speaker 1: Andrew as he told his brother Peter, we've found him.
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  Speaker 1: And the second time it appears, it appears from the
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  Speaker 1: words of the Samaritan woman, as she said to Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: we know that Messiah is coming, and when he comes,
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  Speaker 1: he will tell the truth to all of us. Did
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  Speaker 1: you notice something about the New Testament references not true
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  Speaker 1: in the Old in both references, and you may want
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  Speaker 1: to look back at John one along with John four.
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  Speaker 1: In both references there is an additional comment John one
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  Speaker 1: one we have found the Messiah parenthesis, which translated means Christ.
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  Speaker 1: And John four twenty five, I know that Messiah is
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  Speaker 1: coming parenthesis, he who is called Christ. Bear with me
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  Speaker 1: through a little bit of background. I think it will
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  Speaker 1: make the name stick more intelligently and permanently in your mind.
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  Speaker 1: The Greek name Christ is from a verb creo hrio creo.
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  Speaker 1: It answers to the Hebrew verb ma shock m a
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  Speaker 1: sh ah, sort of a guttural age my shock. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: mashiack is the word Messiah as it's transliterated into English.
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  Speaker 1: Messiah is nothing more than a Hebrew word Mashiah from
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  Speaker 1: masha interesting word. It meant originally to smear, to anoint,
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  Speaker 1: to spread a liquid. When they got into the New
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  Speaker 1: Testament and the New Testament was developed in the language
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  Speaker 1: of the common people common Greek, the term creole, which
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  Speaker 1: worked its way into the noun christos Christ took the
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  Speaker 1: place of Mashiah. When we say Messiah, we're using a
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  Speaker 1: Hebrew word that means the same as the word Christ.
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  Speaker 1: I think it would be interesting if you ask people
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  Speaker 1: what the name Christ meant. Many would say it sounds
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  Speaker 1: to me like Jesus's second name, Jesus Christ. But that
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  Speaker 1: name really isn't the propert It is a description of
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  Speaker 1: that which was done unto him. He was the He
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  Speaker 1: is the anointed one. So literally, if we want to
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  Speaker 1: be literal about it, he is Jesus the Christ. And
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  Speaker 1: when you refer to Christ, you could just as well
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  Speaker 1: refer to Messiah, for they are the same. There's more
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  Speaker 1: of interest to me. In the Old Testament. I found
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  Speaker 1: that three different kinds of people were anointed, or who
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  Speaker 1: had liquid spread on them, which was used to consecrate
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  Speaker 1: them to their work. First Prophets, First Kings, Chapter nineteen.
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  Speaker 1: If you have a copy of the Old Testament, turned
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  Speaker 1: to First Kings nineteen, and you will see that Elijah,
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  Speaker 1: a prophet, is commanded to anoint Elisha, a prophet upon
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  Speaker 1: whom would be placed Elijah's mantle. One Kings, nineteen sixteen.
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  Speaker 1: Take fifteen with it. The Lord said to Elijah, return
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  Speaker 1: on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when
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  Speaker 1: you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Syria,
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  Speaker 1: and Jahu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint king
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  Speaker 1: over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaifat of Abel Mehola,
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  Speaker 1: you shall anoint as prophet in your place. Interesting, both
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  Speaker 1: are called anointed positions. One is a king and one
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  Speaker 1: is a prophet. But here it is Elisha the prophet
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  Speaker 1: who is to be anointed as a prophet. In Exodus
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight, the priests were anointed to their roles twenty
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  Speaker 1: eight Verses forty and forty one. Exodus twenty eight forty
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  Speaker 1: And for Aaron's son, you shall make tunics. You shall
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  Speaker 1: also make sashes for them. You shall make caps for
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  Speaker 1: them for glory and for beauty, and you shall put
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  Speaker 1: them on Arin your brother. God's telling Moses this and
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  Speaker 1: on his sons with him. N note, you shall anoint them,
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  Speaker 1: my shock them. You shall spread liquid or oil upon them,
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  Speaker 1: and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve
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  Speaker 1: me as priests. So prophets were anointed into the office.
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  Speaker 1: Priests were anointed into the office. And you've already seen.
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  Speaker 1: And I'd like you to look one more time at
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  Speaker 1: the example. First Samuel sixteen is a beautiful illustration of
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  Speaker 1: a king being anointed. Sixteen twelve and thirteen's the familiar
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  Speaker 1: story of David's anointing when he was just a shepherd boy.
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  Speaker 1: One Samuel sixteen twelve. So he that's Jesse sent and
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  Speaker 1: brought him in him would be David. Jesse, David's father
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  Speaker 1: sent to the field and brought in David, the youngest
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  Speaker 1: in the family. Now David was ruddy, with beautiful eyes
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  Speaker 1: and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said that, as
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  Speaker 1: he said to Samuel, who was searching for a new king,
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  Speaker 1: arise my shock him, for this is he. And Samuel
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  Speaker 1: did that. That's why David wrote in the twenty third Psalm,
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  Speaker 1: you have anointed my head with oil, you have messiahed me,
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  Speaker 1: you have my shocked me. I think it's interesting that
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  Speaker 1: in these positions we have illustrations of our Lord Christ,
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  Speaker 1: Lord Messiah as prophet, priest and king. It was only
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  Speaker 1: proper that he be the one who was anointed with oil. Theologically,
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  Speaker 1: I think there is more. In fact, let me suggest
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  Speaker 1: to you three or four things. Such anointing meant authorized
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  Speaker 1: separation to God's service. When a prophet was anointed, he
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  Speaker 1: was authorized to be separated unto God's service. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: he was frequently called God's anointed. Often in the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament people were reminded not to touch God's anointed, which
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  Speaker 1: brings me to a second theological fact, divine enablemented Mashak.
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  Speaker 1: When one was anointed with oil from God, there came
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  Speaker 1: a divine enablement. In the days while scripture was being completed.
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  Speaker 1: The enablement might include the ability to do miracles, to
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  Speaker 1: work phenomenal works at will, to stand out in a crowd,
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  Speaker 1: to speak truth without error. So it was with prophets,
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  Speaker 1: so it was as priests served in the Holy Place,
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  Speaker 1: places where the average citizen could not go because they
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  Speaker 1: had been anointed. One more thought on this. Ultimately, the
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  Speaker 1: promised Redeemer bore the title Mashiak, and no one else,
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  Speaker 1: no one else, though he may have been anointed, was
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  Speaker 1: ever called the Messiah. Only the true Son of God
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  Speaker 1: yet to come. Now, let me be very specific here
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  Speaker 1: about the title. Messiah was to be the agent of
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  Speaker 1: God through whom the destiny of Israel was fulfilled. Messiah
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  Speaker 1: was the agent of God through whom the destiny of
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  Speaker 1: Israel was fulfilled. And that may mean very little to you,
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  Speaker 1: gentiles and to those of us who were not of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: But to those who are the Israel of God, it
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  Speaker 1: is remarkable what that means. This one, and this one alone,
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  Speaker 1: who was to be anointed as the fulfillment of my destiny,
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  Speaker 1: my nation's destiny, is the one I await, I anticipate.
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  Speaker 1: I look for him. Back in John chapter on one,
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  Speaker 1: versus forty and forty one, there is there is something
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  Speaker 1: that is implied by Andrew's words when we look at
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  Speaker 1: what the name actually means. Andrews says to Simon Peter,
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  Speaker 1: we have found the Mashiak. We found him. What does
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  Speaker 1: that imply, Well, it implies that they were looking for him.
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  Speaker 1: If you've lost something and you've told the family that
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  Speaker 1: you've lost it, and you find it, you say I
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  Speaker 1: found it, I located it means you were looking, and
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  Speaker 1: maybe they with you were looking for it. And that's
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  Speaker 1: the way it was with Messiah. It wasn't a half
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  Speaker 1: hearted or haphazard statement. Oh, by the way, we found
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  Speaker 1: out the Messiah's around. It was listen, Peter, We've located him.
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  Speaker 1: He's here. He's calm at Robertson says Andrew and John
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  Speaker 1: had made the greatest discovery of the ages, far beyond
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  Speaker 1: gold or diamond mines. We have found Messiah. He's the one.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, we're not looking any further. The question
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  Speaker 1: comes now, did Peter really believe him? Did he acknowledge
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  Speaker 1: that he was in fact Messiah. Matthew, chapter sixteen, verses
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  Speaker 1: thirteen to sixteen, Peter reaches the zenith of his career
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  Speaker 1: as a disciple. In fact, he never before distinguished himself
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  Speaker 1: more greatly. In Matthew sixteen thirteen, when Jesus came into
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  Speaker 1: the district of Cesarea, Philippi began asking his disciples, saying,
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  Speaker 1: who do people say the Son of Man is? Who
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  Speaker 1: are they saying I am. What's the end? What's the
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  Speaker 1: scuttle butt? What names do you hear coming out from
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  Speaker 1: people as they talk about me? He asked his disciples,
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  Speaker 1: and they said, some say you're John the Baptizer, and
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  Speaker 1: some say you're Elijah, and others even say you're Jeremiah.
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  Speaker 1: You're a prophet, one of the prophets. And he looked
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  Speaker 1: at them and he said, but you, who do you
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  Speaker 1: say I am? That was most important. As he looked
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  Speaker 1: at his circle of immediate friends, who do you say
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  Speaker 1: I am? Simon Peter said, you are Machiak, You're you're Christos,
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  Speaker 1: You're the Christ, noticed the Christ, the son of the
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  Speaker 1: living God. So literally Messiah means the anointed one. The
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  Speaker 1: title Christ is not that common in the snopt Matthew
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  Speaker 1: uses it thirteen times, Mark six times, and Luke only twice.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, there was some confusion even in the minds
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  Speaker 1: of people regarding John the Baptizer's identity. Some thought he
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  Speaker 1: was Messiah. And you see that when you turn to
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  Speaker 1: Luke chapter three, verse fifteen. Luke three fifteen. While the
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  Speaker 1: people were in a state of expectation, and all were
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  Speaker 1: wondering in their hearts about John as to whether he
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  Speaker 1: might be the Messiah. I mean, after all, he came
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  Speaker 1: and did phenomenal things, and people came out of the
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  Speaker 1: woodwork to come into the wilderness and to hear him
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  Speaker 1: preach and to be baptized by John. Some must have said,
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  Speaker 1: this is indeed the Christ. He's a prophet, obviously, and
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  Speaker 1: he is unlike religion that we know today. He stands
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  Speaker 1: alone and a revolution virtually is taking place. He must
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  Speaker 1: be the Messiah. I noticed in John one twenty that
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  Speaker 1: John himself denied that he speaking through John's pen here
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  Speaker 1: said one twenty. He confessed and did not deny. He
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  Speaker 1: confessed I am not the Messiah. It was terribly important
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  Speaker 1: to John that no one think of him as the Messiah.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, the Messiah was the big coming event, not
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  Speaker 1: John the baptizer. We who live in California live over
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  Speaker 1: all kinds of faults jib geological faults, and we are
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  Speaker 1: those who, every time a little tremor occurs, or maybe
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  Speaker 1: one that shakes us up a bit, the big question
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  Speaker 1: is is this the big one? Is it the big one?
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  Speaker 1: I remember early October nineteen eighty seven and sitting in
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  Speaker 1: my study and winding up with big reference volumes on
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  Speaker 1: my head, and I remember thinking, is this the big one,
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  Speaker 1: and hoping this was it, that that's how all the
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  Speaker 1: would be to it. But everything we read you expect
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  Speaker 1: some relief the next day. But the papers read it
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  Speaker 1: wasn't the big one. Just keep waiting. Christ was the
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  Speaker 1: big one. Not John. The baptizing, just a little tremor,
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  Speaker 1: just a little shaking up of the nation. But when
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  Speaker 1: the Anointed One came, people set up and took notice.
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  Speaker 1: There will not be another like he. This is the one.
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  Speaker 1: This is Messiah. Prophetically, Christians have believed for years that
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  Speaker 1: there are many Old Testament predictions of the Lord Jesus
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  Speaker 1: woven through the fabric. The Anointed One is yet to come.
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  Speaker 1: The references are far more numerous than you and I
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  Speaker 1: would have ever believed. Allow me. Alfred Eeddersheim, quoted by
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  Speaker 1: Merrill Hunger and his Dictionary, stated there were upward four
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six references references to Messiah, the Messiah,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus, and the Old Testament. So I pulled
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  Speaker 1: off my shelf The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,
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  Speaker 1: Volume two, and I found that not only has Eddersheim
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  Speaker 1: stated that but he actually listed them briefly commented on
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  Speaker 1: this on those in the tiniest of print, from pages
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  Speaker 1: seven hundred and ten to seven hundred and forty one,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: one reference after another, with annotation added to each one
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: of the references, as only Eeddersheim could do. He includes
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: statements from the Apocrypha, the tal Mu, and other rabbinical writings,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: as he, with laborious care, places before the reader each
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: prophetical reference of Messiah. And then he comes with a disclaimer,
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  Speaker 1: as only Edersheim could do. He says, despite all labor
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: and care, it can scarcely be hoped that the list
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  Speaker 1: is quite complete. From Genesis through Malachi, reference after reference
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: after a reference after reference to my Siak, He's coming.
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  Speaker 1: He's coming. He will be the fulfillment of God's promise
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: concerning the nation, concerning his plan for this world program.
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  Speaker 1: How about Jesus himself, I mean, if he was indeed
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  Speaker 1: the fulfillment, did he acknowledge it? Look at Luke chapter four,
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  Speaker 1: will you There's something I don't want you to miss.
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  Speaker 1: The beauty of fulfilled scripture is that when it happens
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: within the pages of scripture, our faith is enhanced. Isn't
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  Speaker 1: something some dream for the future. But in fact it
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: was stated in the Old Testament, and we see it
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: fulfilled in the New And I find my faith bolstered. Luke,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter four, verse sixteen. Jesus came to Nazareth. Remember Nazareth,
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  Speaker 1: that ring a bell, That's the place where he was raised.
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  Speaker 1: He went back to his home town where he had
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  Speaker 1: been brought up, says Luke. And as was his custom,
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  Speaker 1: he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and he stood
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  Speaker 1: up to read I love this, and the book of
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: the Prophet Isaiah was handed to him, literally the scroll.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Someone handed this young prophet the scroll, the scroll of Isaiah.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus took picture it, the scroll of Isaiah, the same
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: passage as we read from the great prophetic book. He
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: took the scroll and he unrolled it, and he found
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  Speaker 1: the place where it was written. The spirit of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord is upon me, because he mus shocked me to
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  Speaker 1: preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me
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  Speaker 1: to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of the
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: sight to the blind, to set free those who are
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: down trodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: People must have been on the edge of their seats
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: in the synagogue, and he closed the scroll and gave
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: it back to the attendant and sat down, and the
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him, and
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  Speaker 1: he began to say to them, don't miss the first word. Today, Today,
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  Speaker 1: this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. That mustn't
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: have been a great moment. I think you probab could
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: have heard him suck in their breath. The problem is,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: many of them thought the oddacity this fella son of
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: a carpenter, if that claims to be the Christ crucified
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: when he had been raised from the dead. The end
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: of Luke's Gospel, chapter twenty four turned there finally, Luke
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: twenty four, he's still making the same statements about himself.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Luke twenty four, twenty four. Some of those who were
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: with us went to the tomb and found it just
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: exactly as the women also had said. But Jesus, they
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: did not see. These two men are reporting. They don't
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  Speaker 1: know it. But the man who's joined them on the
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  Speaker 1: journey is the resurrected Christ. They don't know it is.
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  Speaker 1: But him they did not see. And he said to them, oh,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: foolish men, and slow of heart, to believe all that
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for look
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: at the term he uses the Messiah Christos. Was it
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: not necessary for Christos to suffer these things and to
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all
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  Speaker 1: the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself
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  Speaker 1: in all the scriptures. Great, that's one of the few
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: times Jesus exposites the word. And of course these men
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: suddenly realize this the Christ. When we acknowledge Jesus as Messiah,
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  Speaker 1: first of all, we claim we claim him to be
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  Speaker 1: the anointed one. There will not be another. God made
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: certain through a paper trayal that this one and not
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: another would come. When he came, he would be the
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: fulfillment of God's promise. We claim him to be the
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: anointed one. When you hear the music of the Messiah,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: it is the music of the Redeemer who has come,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: fulfilling the promises that God gave of his son. Second,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: when we acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, we declare our search
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: for any and others so called Messiah's has ended. We've
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: landed upon the one who was promised. We declare our
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: search for any other so called Messiah has ended. There
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: is no other. I love the way Peter put it.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus has thinned the ranks of those who were following
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: him because they were getting their stomachs filled. And he
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: looked at his own men, and he said to them,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: interesting the way the original reads that you don't also
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: want to leave, do you? And Peter answered, Lord, to
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: Our search is over. You're the Messiah. There's no one
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: else to turn to. You don't need to look for
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: another individual to be a savior. You found him, if
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: you found Christ. When we acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, we
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: announced that he alone fulfills our deepest longings. He alone satisfies.
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  Speaker 1: No one like Christ can lift you from the deepest depression.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I love the way Cory Tenboom put it. There is
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: no pit so deep that he is not deeper still.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: That's Messiah. If I may go back to the middle
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: of the eighteenth century, to the story surrounding George Frederick
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: Handel and the composition of it, it may help you
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: to appreciate all the more the events that followed and
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: led up to the composition. One failure after another marked
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Handel's life. By seventeen thirty seven, he was swimming in debt,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: facing financial ruin. He was actually threatened with debtor's prison.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: The next year, at the urging of friends, he was
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: persuaded to perform a musical benefit for himself that would
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: enable him to raise enough money to pay off his
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: enormous debts. He took his music to the theater. The
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: crowd would be large and the giving would be great.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: But the church turned tail and criticized Handel for taking
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: sacred music to the theater, and this was simply another
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: strike against him. The criticism accelerated. By seventeen thirty nine,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: he was attacked for bringing the words of Scripture into
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: such crass places that his handbills were torn down and
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: other concerts were deliberately disrupted by enemies. He lost one
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: friend after another, and finally he felt had lost his
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: last friend. By seventeen forty one, he had used up
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: all of his resources and London considered him a burnout musician.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Rumors swirled about him that attacked his character. He fell
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: into a deep depression. Nothing broke until by the summer
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: of seventeen forty one, he was commissioned, almost out of
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: the blue, to write an oratorio on the theme of
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: the Redeemer. It was to be totally from scripture that
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: seemed to change everything. His initial response was that it
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: would no doubt take him a year, perhaps two, to
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: compose such an oratorio, but his motivation began to revive.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Listen to this. On August the twenty second, he sat
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: down in a little house on Brooks Street in London,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: after receiving a grant in Dublin to do the work.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: Six days later he had completed Part one in nine days.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: He had written Part two in another six Part three.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: He took an additional three days to fill out the
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: orchestration that was nice of him. In twenty four days
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: he filled two hundred and sixty pages of manuscript, A
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: phenomenal physical feat in itself. He hardly ate and seldom slept,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Sir Newman Flower writes, considering the immensity of the work
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: and the short time involved, it will remain perhaps forever
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: the greatest feat in the whole history of musical composition.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: Having done a little bit of writing in my life
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: and none of music, I can't imagine composing the Messiah
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: in twenty four days. I can't imagine composing the chapter
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: in twenty four days, but he wrote the piece. His
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: depression had lifted, the Savior became real and significant to him.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: He had met the Messiah, and it lives on in
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: his legacy. I'd like us to bow for a few
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: moments of meditation, quietness, and reflection. And I'd liked us
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: to end this meeting in a most unusual manner. Our Father,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: meet with us in a very special way during this
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: season of the year, bring to our minds again afresh
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: and a new The significance not of one man's work,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: immortal though it is, but of your marvelous plan for
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: your people. Humble us with the fact that you came
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: for us, that the Christ has been anointed to end
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: our search for relief and fulfillment. And it is in
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: his grand name that we dedicate these closing moments of
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: this meeting to you.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: So.
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: So, so, so so so at.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, The Meaning of Messiah was copyrighted in
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty seven, nineteen ninety two, nineteen ninety eight, in
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty two by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: is strictly prohibited. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindall Inc.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: Is grateful to Stonebrier Community Church for permission to use
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: their twenty thirteen performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah,
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: composed by George Friedrich Handel, edited by Walkinshaw, published by
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Novello and Company Limited,