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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 masterwork of George Frederick
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  Speaker 1: Handel that was accomplished in the middle of the 18th century,
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  Speaker 1: believe it or not, and lives on to this day
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  Speaker 1: as if it had been written last year. There is
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  Speaker 1: something about the Messiah by Handel that not only makes
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  Speaker 1: Christmas complete, but It seems to complete the year for
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  Speaker 1: the Swindoll family. Cynthia and I, I don't believe, have
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  Speaker 1: spent a Christmas where we did not either hear a
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  Speaker 1: live or recorded performance of that great masterwork. Somehow it
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  Speaker 1: stands out as a one of a kind. Whoever has
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  Speaker 1: traveled to Paris has come, of course, to the world-famous museum,
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  Speaker 1: the Louvre. And if you have ever been to the Louvre,
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  Speaker 1: You will remember one statue, perhaps over all the others.
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  Speaker 1: It is framed at the top of a long staircase,
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  Speaker 1: and it is lit in sort of golden indirect lighting.
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  Speaker 1: It is the great winged victory of Samothrace, dated 200
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  Speaker 1: years before Christ. When Cynthia and I saw this for
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  Speaker 1: the first time, And the only time we were about
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  Speaker 1: halfway up the stairs and we stood to catch our breath.
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  Speaker 1: As we looked up in this domed area by itself,
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  Speaker 1: it looked as though she was alive, about to fly.
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  Speaker 1: As you approach closer, you see the fluid lines of
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  Speaker 1: the sculptor, whoever he was. And you begin to relive
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  Speaker 1: the scenes that must have surrounded the history. and have
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  Speaker 1: caused those chips and marks on that, what we might
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  Speaker 1: call the patina in the stone. You try to imagine
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  Speaker 1: where she was to begin with, and who did the work,
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  Speaker 1: and the battles she endured, and how she finally found
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  Speaker 1: her way to the loo. And in spite of all
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  Speaker 1: the other original works, both in cabinet and on canvas
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  Speaker 1: and up and down the endless halls of the Louvre,
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  Speaker 1: there's something about the winged victory that puts her in
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  Speaker 1: a category all her own. That's the way it is
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  Speaker 1: for me, at least in my opinion, when I think
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  Speaker 1: of Handel's Messiah. I don't know of a more meaningful
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  Speaker 1: choral work. in my life than that one. As a
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  Speaker 1: little boy, as soon as my voice and the voice
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  Speaker 1: of my brother and sister reached maturity enough to sing
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  Speaker 1: such a thing, I recall my mother taking us three
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  Speaker 1: to the First Methodist Church where it was done, at
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  Speaker 1: least that was one area that we were familiar with
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  Speaker 1: and led by a magnificent conductor and the conductor was
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  Speaker 1: gracious enough to allow some untrained voices as well as
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  Speaker 1: those who had sung it for decades. And we blended
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  Speaker 1: our four voices with the voices of those others in
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  Speaker 1: the choir. It must have been several hundred. And it
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  Speaker 1: was sung one particular evening every year. And I remember
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  Speaker 1: those pieces, and when I hear them today, I replay
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  Speaker 1: in my mind the significance of those words. And when
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  Speaker 1: I hear the story that surrounds the Christmas story, I
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  Speaker 1: again recall the music. To my amazement, most Christians haven't
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  Speaker 1: the foggiest idea what the name Messiah means. I say
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  Speaker 1: to my amazement, perhaps I shouldn't, because there was a
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  Speaker 1: time in my life when I was singing the great song,
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  Speaker 1: the great masterwork, but I didn't know the meaning of
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  Speaker 1: the word either. I suppose if you were to ask
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  Speaker 1: the average church goer, that person would say, well, that
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  Speaker 1: was one of the things they call Jesus. He was
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  Speaker 1: often called that. That's partly true and partly not. It
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  Speaker 1: is one of the things they call Jesus, but he
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  Speaker 1: was not often referred to that in Scripture. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: you may be surprised to know Only twice in the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament and only twice in the New Testament does
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  Speaker 1: the name even appear. And each time, of course, to
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus. And again, interesting fact, both of those
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  Speaker 1: references in Old and New Testament appear in the same book.
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  Speaker 1: That is, twice in the same book in the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament and twice in the same book in the New.
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  Speaker 1: Let's look at each of the four for a moment.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel chapter 9 says, In back-to-back verses, we'll read the
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  Speaker 1: name Messiah here and nowhere else in the Bible, that is,
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  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament. Daniel 9 concludes with a magnificent
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  Speaker 1: revelation of the future. That isn't our point at this moment,
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  Speaker 1: so there's no need to get into it. But just
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  Speaker 1: listen to the verses, 9, 25, and 26. So you
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  Speaker 1: are to know and discern that from the issuing of
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  Speaker 1: a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until, and here's
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  Speaker 1: the first reference in all the Bible, Messiah. Until Messiah,
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  Speaker 1: the prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks.
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  Speaker 1: It will be built again with plaza and moat, even
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  Speaker 1: in times of distress. Then after the 62 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
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  Speaker 1: Bibles you might put a reference in the margin there
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  Speaker 1: that notes these are the only two references in the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament to Messiah. I'll come back in a moment
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  Speaker 1: to the meaning of the name because it would have
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  Speaker 1: to be traced in its etymology from Hebrew because that
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  Speaker 1: is the first place it appears. And then in the
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  Speaker 1: New Testament the book of John contains both references. Not
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  Speaker 1: back to back verses but chapters rather closely related. John
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  Speaker 1: 1 and John chapter 4. Look at John 1, verses
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  Speaker 1: 40 and 41. John 1, 40. One of the two
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  Speaker 1: who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon
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  Speaker 1: Peter's brother. He found first his own brother Simon and
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  Speaker 1: said to him, that is, Andrew said to Simon Peter,
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  Speaker 1: We have found the Messiah, which translated means Christ. I'll
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  Speaker 1: come back to that a little later in this talk,
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  Speaker 1: but go to chapter 4 and verses 19 to 26.
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  Speaker 1: You'll see the other reference and the second and last
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  Speaker 1: reference to Messiah in the New Testament. John 4, 19 says,
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  Speaker 1: This brings us to the dialogue between Jesus and the
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  Speaker 1: woman at the well. The woman said to Jesus, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped
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  Speaker 1: in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said
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  Speaker 1: to her, Woman, believe me, an hour is coming when
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  Speaker 1: neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship
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  Speaker 1: the Father. You worship that which you do not know.
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  Speaker 1: We worship that which we know, for salvation is from
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  Speaker 1: the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is,
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  Speaker 1: when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
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  Speaker 1: and truth. For such people the Father seeks to be
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  Speaker 1: his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him
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  Speaker 1: must worship in spirit and truth. Now notice what the
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  Speaker 1: Samaritan woman says. The woman said to Jesus, I know
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  Speaker 1: that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When
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  Speaker 1: that one comes, he will declare all things to us.
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  Speaker 1: The first time Messiah appears in the New Testament, the
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  Speaker 1: word fell from the lips of Andrew as he told
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  Speaker 1: his brother Peter, we found him. And the second time
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  Speaker 1: it appears, it appears from the words of the Samaritan
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  Speaker 1: woman as she said to Jesus, we know that Messiah
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  Speaker 1: is coming and when he comes he will tell the
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  Speaker 1: truth to all of us. Did you notice something about
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament references not true in the Old? In
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  Speaker 1: both references, and you may want to look back at
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  Speaker 1: John 1 along with John 4, in both references there
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  Speaker 1: is an additional comment. John 1, 41 says, 41 we
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  Speaker 1: have found the Messiah parenthesis which translated means Christ and
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  Speaker 1: John 4 25 I know that Messiah is coming parenthesis
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  Speaker 1: he who is called Bear with me through a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of background. I think it will make the name
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  Speaker 1: stick more intelligently and permanently in your mind. The Greek
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  Speaker 1: name Christ is from a verb, krio, C-H-R-I-O, krio. It
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  Speaker 1: answers to the Hebrew verb, mashah. M-A-S-H-A-H. Sort of a
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  Speaker 1: guttural H. Mashiach. In fact, Mashiach is the word Messiah
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  Speaker 1: as it's transliterated into English. Messiah is nothing more than
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  Speaker 1: a Hebrew word, Mashiach. From Masha, interesting word. It meant
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  Speaker 1: originally to smear, to anoint, to spread a liquid of
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  Speaker 1: When they got into the New Testament and the New
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  Speaker 1: Testament was developed in the language of the common people,
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  Speaker 1: common Greek, the term krio, which worked its way into
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  Speaker 1: the noun Christos, Christ, took the place of Mashiach. When
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  Speaker 1: we say Messiah, we're using a Hebrew word that means
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  Speaker 1: the same as the word Christ. I think it would
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  Speaker 1: be interesting if you asked people what the name Christ meant,
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  Speaker 1: many would say it sounds to me like Jesus' second name,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. But that name really isn't the proper name.
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  Speaker 1: It is a description of that which was done unto him.
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  Speaker 1: He was the, he is the anointed one. So literally,
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  Speaker 1: if we want to be literal about it, he is
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  Speaker 1: Jesus the Christ. And when you refer to Christ, you
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  Speaker 1: could just as well refer to Messiah, for they are
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  Speaker 1: the same. There's more of interest to me. In the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament, I found that three different kinds of people
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  Speaker 1: were anointed or who had liquid spread on them, which
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  Speaker 1: was used to consecrate them to their work. First, prophets.
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  Speaker 1: First Kings chapter 19, if you have a copy of
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  Speaker 1: the Turn to 1 Kings 19 and you will see
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  Speaker 1: that Elijah, a prophet, is commanded to anoint Elisha, a prophet,
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  Speaker 1: upon whom would be placed Elijah's mantle. 1 Kings 19.16
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  Speaker 1: Take 15 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 Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king
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  Speaker 1: over Israel and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel
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  Speaker 1: Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. Interesting.
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  Speaker 1: Both are called anointed positions. One is a king and
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  Speaker 1: one is a prophet. But here it is Elisha the
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  Speaker 1: prophet who is to be anointed as a prophet. In
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  Speaker 1: Exodus 28, the priests were anointed to their roles. 28
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  Speaker 1: verses 40 and 41. Exodus 28, 40. And for Aaron's son,
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  Speaker 1: you shall make tunics of You shall also make sashes
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  Speaker 1: for them. You shall make caps for them for glory
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  Speaker 1: and for beauty. And you shall put them on Aaron,
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  Speaker 1: your brother. God's telling Moses this. And on his sons
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  Speaker 1: with him. Now note, you shall anoint them, mashach them.
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  Speaker 1: You shall spread liquid or oil upon them. And ordain
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  Speaker 1: them and consecrate them that they may serve me as priests.
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  Speaker 1: So prophets were anointed into the office. Priests were anointed
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  Speaker 1: into the office, and you've already seen, and I'd like
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  Speaker 1: you to look one more time at the example. 1
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  Speaker 1: Samuel 16 is a beautiful illustration of a king being anointed. 16, 12,
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  Speaker 1: and 13 is the familiar story of David's anointing when
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  Speaker 1: he was just a shepherd boy. 1 Samuel 16, 12.
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  Speaker 1: So he, that's Jesse, sent and brought him in. Him
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  Speaker 1: would be David. Jesse, David's father, sent to the field
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  Speaker 1: and brought in David, the youngest in the family. Now
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  Speaker 1: David was ruddy with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance.
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  Speaker 1: And the Lord said... That is, he said to Samuel,
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  Speaker 1: who was searching for a new king, Arise, mashach him,
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  Speaker 1: for this is he. And Samuel did that. That's why
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  Speaker 1: David wrote in the 23rd Psalm, You have anointed my
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  Speaker 1: head with oil. You have messiahed me. You have mashached me.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's interesting that in these positions we have
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  Speaker 1: illustrations of our Lord Christ, Lord Messiah, as prophet, priest,
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  Speaker 1: and king. It was only proper that he be the
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  Speaker 1: one who was anointed with oil. Theologically, I think there
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  Speaker 1: is more. In fact, let me suggest to you three
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  Speaker 1: or four things. Such anointing meant... Authorized separation to God's service.
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  Speaker 1: When a prophet was anointed, he was authorized to be
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  Speaker 1: separated unto God's service. In fact, he was frequently called
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  Speaker 1: God's anointed. Often in the Old Testament, people were reminded
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  Speaker 1: not to touch God's anointed. Which brings me to a
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  Speaker 1: second theological fact. Divine enablement accompanied Moshach. When one was
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  Speaker 1: anointed with oil from God, there came a divine enablement.
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  Speaker 1: In the days while scripture was being completed, the enablement
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  Speaker 1: might include the ability to do miracles, to work phenomenal
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  Speaker 1: works at will, to stand out in a crowd, to
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  Speaker 1: speak truth without error. So it was with prophets. So
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  Speaker 1: it was as priests served in the holy place, places
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  Speaker 1: where the average citizen could not go because they had
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  Speaker 1: been anointed. One more thought on this. Ultimately, the promised
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  Speaker 1: redeemer bore the title Mashiach and no one else. No
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  Speaker 1: one else, though he may have been anointed, was ever
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  Speaker 1: called the Messiah. Only God. the true Son of God
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  Speaker 1: yet to come. Let me be very specific here about
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  Speaker 1: the title. Messiah was to be the agent of God
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  Speaker 1: through whom the destiny of Israel was fulfilled. Messiah was
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  Speaker 1: the agent of God through whom the destiny of Israel
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  Speaker 1: was fulfilled. And that may mean very little to you
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  Speaker 1: Gentiles and to those of us who are 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
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  Speaker 1: alone who was to be anointed as the fulfillment of
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  Speaker 1: my destiny, my nation's destiny, is the one I await,
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  Speaker 1: I anticipate, I look for him. Back in John chapter 1,
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  Speaker 1: verses 40 and 41, there is something that is implied
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  Speaker 1: by Andrew's words. When we look at what the name
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  Speaker 1: actually means, Andrew says to Simon Peter, we have found
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  Speaker 1: the Mashiach. We found him. What does that imply? Well,
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  Speaker 1: it implies that they were looking for him. If you've
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  Speaker 1: lost something and you've told the family that you've lost
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  Speaker 1: it and you find it, you say, I found it.
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  Speaker 1: I located it. It means you were looking and maybe
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  Speaker 1: they with you were looking for it. And that's the
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  Speaker 1: way it was with Messiah. It wasn't a half-hearted or
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  Speaker 1: haphazard statement. Oh, by the way, we found out the
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  Speaker 1: Messiah's around. It was, listen, Peter, we've located him. He's here.
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  Speaker 1: He's come. A.T. Robertson says, Andrew and John had made
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  Speaker 1: the greatest discovery of the ages. far beyond gold or
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  Speaker 1: diamond mines. We have found the 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 16, verses
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  Speaker 1: 13 to 16, Peter reaches the the zenith of his
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  Speaker 1: career as a disciple. In fact, he never before distinguished
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  Speaker 1: himself more greatly. In Matthew 16, 13, when Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: into the district of Caesarea 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 scuttlebutt? What names
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  Speaker 1: do you hear coming out from people as they talk
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  Speaker 1: about me? He asks his disciples. And they said, some
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  Speaker 1: say you're John the baptizer. And some say you're Elijah.
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  Speaker 1: And others even say you're Jeremiah. You're a prophet, one
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  Speaker 1: of the prophets. And he looked at them and he said,
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  Speaker 1: but you, who do you say I am? That was
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  Speaker 1: most important as he looked at his circle of immediate friends.
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  Speaker 1: Who do you say I am? Simon Peter said you
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  Speaker 1: are Mashiach. You're Christos. You're the Christ. Notice the Christ.
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  Speaker 1: The son of the living God. So literally Messiah means
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  Speaker 1: the anointed one. The title Christ is not that common
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  Speaker 1: in the synoptics. Matthew uses it 13 times. Mark 6
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  Speaker 1: times and Luke only twice. In fact, there was some
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  Speaker 1: confusion even in the minds of people regarding John the
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  Speaker 1: baptizer's identity. Some thought he was Messiah. And you see
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  Speaker 1: that when you turn to Luke chapter 3, verse 15.
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  Speaker 1: Luke 3, 15. While the people were in a state
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  Speaker 1: of expectation... And all were wondering in their hearts about
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  Speaker 1: John as to whether he might be the Messiah. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: after all, he came and did phenomenal things. And people
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  Speaker 1: came out of the woodwork to come into the wilderness
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  Speaker 1: and to hear him preach and to be baptized by John.
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  Speaker 1: Some must have said this is indeed the Christ. He's
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  Speaker 1: a prophet, obviously. And he is unlike religion that we
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  Speaker 1: know today. He stands alone and a revolution virtually is
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  Speaker 1: taking place. He must be the Messiah. I noticed in
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  Speaker 1: John 1.20 that John himself denied that. He, speaking through
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  Speaker 1: John's pen here, said, 1.20, he confessed and did not deny.
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  Speaker 1: He confessed, I am not the Messiah. It was terribly
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  Speaker 1: important to John that no one think of him as
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  Speaker 1: the Messiah. I mean, the Messiah was the big coming event,
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  Speaker 1: not John the baptizer. We who live in California live
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  Speaker 1: over all kinds of faults, 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 is,
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  Speaker 1: is this the big one? Is it the big one?
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  Speaker 1: I remember early October 1987 and sitting in my study
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  Speaker 1: and winding up with big reference volumes on my head,
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  Speaker 1: and I remember thinking, is this the big one? And
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  Speaker 1: hoping this was it, that that's all there'd be to it.
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  Speaker 1: But everything we read, you expect some relief the next day,
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  Speaker 1: but the papers read it wasn't the big one. Just
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  Speaker 1: keep waiting. Christ was the big one. Not John the baptizer.
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  Speaker 1: Just a little tremor. Just a little shaking up of
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  Speaker 1: the nation. But when the anointed one came. People sat
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  Speaker 1: up and took notice. There will not be another like he.
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  Speaker 1: This is the one. This is Messiah. Prophetically. Christians have
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  Speaker 1: believed for years that there are many Old Testament predictions
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord Jesus woven through the fabric. The anointed
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  Speaker 1: one is yet to come. The references are far more
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  Speaker 1: numerous than you and I would have ever believed. Allow me.
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  Speaker 1: Alfred Edersheim, quoted by Merrill Unger in his dictionary, stated
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  Speaker 1: there were upward 456 references. References to.
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  Speaker 1: Messiah, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 1: So I pulled off my shelf, The Life and Times
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus the Messiah, Volume 2, and I found that
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  Speaker 1: not only has Edersheim stated that, but he actually listed them,
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  Speaker 1: briefly commented on those in the tiniest of print from
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: pages 710 to 741. one reference after another with annotation
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: added to each one of the references as only Edersheim
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: could do. He includes statements from the Apocrypha, the Talmud,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: and other rabbinical writings. As he with laborious care places
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: before the reader each prophetical reference of Messiah, and then
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: he comes with a disclaimer as only Edersheim could do.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: He says, despite all labor and care, it can scarcely
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: be hoped that the list is quite complete. From Genesis
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: through Malachi, reference after reference after reference after reference to Mashiach,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: he's coming, he's coming, he will be the fulfillment of
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: God's promise concerning the nation, concerning his plan for this
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: world program. How about Jesus himself? I mean, if he
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: was indeed the fulfillment, did he acknowledge it? Look at
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Luke chapter 4.
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  Speaker 3: Will you?
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: There's something I don't want you to miss. The beauty
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: of fulfilled scripture is that when it happens within the
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: pages of scripture, our faith is enhanced. It isn't something,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: some dream for the future, but in fact, it was
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: stated in the Old Testament and we see it fulfilled
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: in the New, and I find my faith bolstered. Luke
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: chapter 4, verse 16. Jesus came to Nazareth. Remember Nazareth?
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: That ring a bell? That's the place where he was raised.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: He went back to his hometown where he had been
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: brought up, says Luke. And as was his custom, he
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and he stood up
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: to read. I love this. And the book of the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: prophet Isaiah was handed to him, literally the scroll. Someone
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: handed this young prophet the scroll, the scroll of Isaiah.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Jesus took Picture it, the scroll of Isaiah, the same
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: passages we read from the great prophetic book. He took
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: the scroll and he unrolled it and he found the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: is upon me because he mashacht me to preach the
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: release to the captives and recovery of the sight to
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. People must have
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: been on the edge of their seats in the synagogue.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: And he closed the scroll and gave it back to
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: say to them, don't miss the first word, today. Today,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. That must
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: have been a great moment. I think you probably could
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: have heard them suck in their breath. The problem is,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: many of them thought, the audacity. 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 24, turn there finally, Luke 24.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: He's still making the same statements about himself Luke 24
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: 24 some of those who were with us went to
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: the tomb and found it just exactly as the women
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: also had said. But Jesus, they did not see. These
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: two men are reporting. They don't know it, but the
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: man who's joined them on the journey is the resurrected Christ.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: They don't know it is. But him they did not see,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: and he said to them, O foolish men, and slow
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Was it not necessary for, look at the term he uses,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the Messiah, Christos. Was it not necessary for Christos to
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: suffer these things and to enter into his glory and
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: beginning with Moses and all the prophets? He explained to
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. Isn't
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: that great? That's one of the few times Jesus exposits
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: the word. And of course, these men suddenly realize this
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: is the Christ. When we acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, first
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: of all, we claim him to be the anointed one.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: There will not be another God made certain through a
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: paper trail that this one and not another would come.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: When he came, he would be the fulfillment of God's promise.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: We claim him to be the anointed one. When you
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: hear the music of the Messiah, it is the music
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: of the Redeemer who has come fulfilling the promises that
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: God gave of his son. Second, when we acknowledge Jesus
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: as Messiah, we declare our search for any and other
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: so-called Messiah has ended. We've landed upon the one who
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: was promised. We declare our search for any other so-called
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Messiah has ended. There is no other. I love the
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: way Peter put it. Jesus has thinned the ranks of
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: those who were following him because they were getting their
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: stomachs filled. And he looked at his own men and
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: he said to them, interesting the way the original reads,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: that you don't also want to leave, do you? And
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: the words of eternal life. Our search is over. You're
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: the Messiah. There's no one else to turn to. You
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: don't need to look for another individual to be a savior.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: You found him. You found Christ. When we acknowledge Jesus
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: as Messiah, we announce that he alone fulfills our deepest longings.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: He alone satisfies. No one like Christ can lift you
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: from the deepest depression. I love the way Corrie ten
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Boom put it. There is no pit so deep. that
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: he is not deeper still. That's Messiah. If I may
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: go back to the middle of the 18th century, to
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: the story surrounding George Frederick Handel and the composition of it,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: it may help you to appreciate all the more the
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: events that followed and led up to the composition. One
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: failure after another marked Handel's life. By 1737, he was
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: swimming in debt. Facing financial ruin, he was actually threatened
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: with debtor's prison. The next year, at the urging of friends,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: he was persuaded to perform a musical benefit for himself
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: that would enable him to raise enough money to pay
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: off his enormous debts. He took his music to the theaters.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: The 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 1739. He was
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: attacked for bringing the words of scripture into such crass
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: places that his handbills were torn down. and other concerts
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: were deliberately disrupted by enemies. He lost one friend after another,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: and finally he felt had lost his last friend. By 1741,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: he had used up all of his resources, and London
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: considered him a burnout musician. Rumors swirled about him that
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: attacked his character. He fell into a deep depression. Nothing
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: broke until by the summer of 1741, he was commissioned,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: almost out of the blue, to write an oratorio on
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: the theme of the Redeemer. It was to be totally
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: from Scripture. That seemed to change everything. His initial response
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: was that it would no doubt take him a year,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: perhaps two, to compose such an oratorio. But his motivation
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: began to revive. Listen to this. On August the 22nd,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: he sat down in a little house on Brook Street
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: in London after receiving a grant in Dublin to do
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: the work. Six days later, he had completed part one.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: In nine days, he had written part two. In another six,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: part three. He took an additional three days to fill
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: out the orchestration. That was nice of him. In 24 days,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: he filled 260 pages of manuscript. a phenomenal physical feat
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: in itself. He hardly ate and seldom slept. Sir Newman
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Flower writes, considering the immensity of the work and the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: short time involved, it will remain perhaps forever the greatest
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: feat in the whole history of musical composition. Having done
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: a little bit of writing in my life, And none
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: of music. I can't imagine. Composing the Messiah. In 24 days.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine. Composing the chapter. In 24 days. But
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: he wrote the piece. His depression had lifted. The Savior.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Became real. And significant to him. He had. met the Messiah.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: And it lives on in his legacy. I'd like us
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: to bow for a few moments of meditation, quietness, and reflection.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: And I'd like us to end this meeting in a
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: most unusual manner. Our Father, meet with us in a
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: very special way during this season of the year. bring
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: to our minds again afresh and anew the significance not
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: of one man's work, immortal though it is, but of
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: your marvelous plan for your people. Humble us with the
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: fact that you came for us, that the Christ has
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: been anointed to end our search for relief and fulfillment
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: And it is in his grand name that we dedicate
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: these closing moments of this meeting to you.
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Alleluia!
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: Alleluia!
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: Alleluia!
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © transcript Emily Beynon The kingdom
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: of this world Is become The kingdom of the Lord
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: And he shall reign forever and ever. And he shall
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: reign forever and ever. And he shall reign forever and ever.
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: And he shall reign forever and ever. Forever and ever. Alleluia.
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: Alleluia.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: Forever and ever.
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: Alleluia. Alleluia. Amen. Amen. Amen.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, The Meaning of Messiah, was copyrighted in 1987, 1992, 1998,
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: and 2022. and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. is grateful
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: to Stonebriar Community Church for permission to use their 2013
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: performance of The Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah, composed by George
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: Friedrich Handel, edited by Walken Shaw, Published by Novello and
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Company Limited.