Brown's Daily Word 12-16-09

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for Christmas, the best time of the year. Most of the world's popular music is full of sadness, loneliness, brokenness, and meaninglessness. The world's best music is that which glorifies the Savior. The best literature in the world magnifies Jesus, our Lord. The best of the world's art depicts the Savior and the wonders of His creation.
I love to listen to Handel's Messiah, especially in this season. We are going to attend the presentation of "Messiah" in Binghamton this Friday at 8:00 PM. It is to be presented by the Downtown Singers, accompanied by the Binghamton Philharmonic, with soloists from Tri-cities Opera. This is the 27th presentation of the Messiah by the Down Town Singers. The Downtown Singers were organized by one our colleagues, Rev. Hugh Miller.
It was in April, 1742 when George Frederick Handel premiered his oratorio THE MESSIAH in Dublin. The following year several performances were given in London, and King George II was present at one of them. When the King first heard “The Hallelujah Chorus,” he was so overwhelmed and inspired that, in homage to “The King of Kings and Lord of Lords”, he rose to his feet as a tribute of respect. Whenever a monarch stands, protocol demands all present must follow suit. Thus began the custom of the audience standing for the singing of “The Hallelujah Chorus,” in honor of Him Who is the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
Under powerful, Spirit led inspiration, Handel composed his masterpiece in just 24 days. He knew it was God Almighty who had gifted him to create such a masterful piece of sacred music and told a friend that while composing it, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me and the great God Himself.”
Isaiah 9:6 is the basis for the chorus in THE MESSIAH “For Unto Us a Child Is Born.” Jesus is the Mighty God, the Lord God omnipotent who shall reign forever and ever.
Mighty God is the most potent, power-packed name given to our Messiah in Isaiah 9:6. In the original Hebrew the name is “Gibbor El.” When we examined the name Immanuel, we discovered that “El” is the most common term for deity in the Ancient World. Its root meaning is “strength or might.” Most often in the Hebrew Scriptures it refers to God Almighty, the one true God of Israel. When “El” is used for the One, True Living God, it is usually paired with another term so that it will not be mistaken for some pagan counterfeit. Thus for clarity Isaiah yokes “Gibbor” with “El.” The basic sense of the term “Gibbor” is strength, might, power, powerful.
In the Ancient World a king exemplified the power of his kingdom. As Commander-in-chief he would lead his troops in battle and it was imperative that he be a “mighty warrior.” Hebrew women praised David’s military might in I Samuel 18:6-17, “As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as they made merry. They sang, “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”
This is the imagery and expectation behind the promise of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6; He would be “mighty” in similar fashion to His ancestor David. Our Mighty God is the most powerful Commander-in-chief.
Our Mighty God measures the waters of the oceans and seas “in the hollow of His hand.” A span is “the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended.” What a testimony that is to the mighty, awesome, creative power of God the Son who created all things. “Astronomers tell us that the Milky Way, our Galaxy, contains more than 100 billion stars and that there may be as many as 100 billion other galaxies in the universe. They also believe that the billions of these galaxies have billions of stars with hundreds of millions of planets like our earth. And yet this awesome, humongous universe fits in the palm of its Creator’s hand.” The great Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard pointed out that our Mighty God is even more wonderful and powerful as our Redeemer than He is as our Creator. He stated, “God creates out of nothing. Wonderful, you say. Yes, to be sure, but He does what is still more wonderful: He makes saints out of sinners.” [SOURCE: Soren Kierkegaard, Leadership, Vol. 8, no. 4.].
You and I can trust the same Mighty God, Who holds His universe in the palm of His hand and makes saints out of sinners, to care for us.
In Jesus the Wonderful Councilor and the Mighty God,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IjqEs-f53Y