Sermon Tone Analysis

Great Mercy

This morning we have already lit the first advent candle, the candle of hope, and as this was being done, you heard some scriptures that tied into that theme.

Something to keep in mind each advent season is that the candles are not simply to get us excited about Christmas.

They are not only a Christmas tradition that brings warmth into our heart, but they are to prepare the hearts of believers ultimately to be prepared for the return of Jesus, our King and Lord and Savior.

Yes, we are reminded of prophecy fulfilled as we go through the advent season.

We are reminded of the kindness of God that was manifest in the birth and life of Jesus, of the faithfulness of the many characters in the Christmas story, of the excitement of the shepherds, the longing of the wise men, the joy of the angels.

We will remember that this child, the Christ child, was predicted for centuries through many prophecies, such as those on the banners in the sanctuary.

These things about the Christmas story are well worth remembering and celebrating.

But let us not leave our Christmas celebration as only a backward looking remembrance of Immanuel, God with us.

Let our anthem for Christmas be the Hallelujah Chorus.

You have certainly heard that song, even if you did not know what it was called.

It is the most familiar song from Handel’s Messiah.

But the Hallelujah chorus has nothing to do with Christmas, at least it has nothing to do with the nativity story.

The Hallelujah Chorus is straight out of Revelation 19.1-10

So keep that in mind when you next hear the wonderful hallelujah chorus.

By the way, it may be worthwhile for you at some time to sit and listen to the entire Messiah oratorio.

It is as close, I believe, to inspired music as you will ever get.

Handel set orchestration to the Bible story about Jesus, and the reason kings stood to their feet at its conclusion, is because although the music was swelling and moving people, it was the story being told, which culminates in the Hallelujah Chorus, where we have moved all the way from “For unto Us a Child is Born”, also straight out of scripture, to these stunning lines from Revelation.

“Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The kingdom of this world Is become the kingdom of our Lord, And of His Christ, and of His Christ; And He shall reign for ever and ever, For ever and ever, forever and ever, King of kings, and Lord of lords, King of kings, and Lord of lords, And Lord of lords, And He shall reign, And He shall reign forever and ever, King of kings, forever and ever, And Lord of lords, Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

And He shall reign forever and ever, King of kings! and Lord of lords!

And He shall reign forever and ever, King of kings! and Lord of lords!

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

My friends, Handel wrote this not like some composers of his day, who wrote songs for the church, but may not have been a true believer.

He wrote these songs with full faith in His Lord and Savior, Jesus, and I believe that just as God, by his Holy Spirit, enabled those men of ancient times to beautifully and artistically build the temple and all of the ornaments therein, Handel was likewise empowered from on high to write this music.

I don’t know how else to understand how this song can move people to stand to their feet whenever and wherever it is performed.

So in the end, the Hallelujah Chorus, while it has nothing to do with the birth of Christ, it has everything to do with the final disposition of Christ, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and who will reign forever and ever.

So remember this every Christmas, that we thank God and celebrate his love that was demonstrated in the nativity and this should remind us of the glorious return of Christ that will happen someday, in a sudden and amazing way, and that those who are found to be faithful to Christ, will sing with that heavenly chorus.

Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, as wonderful and moving as it is, is but a glimpse of that Chorus to come, that those who are in Christ will sing with the multitude in heaven, and so we light these candles, not simply as remembrance, but as promise yet to be fulfilled.

We take the comfort of knowing prophecies concerning the Messiah were fulfilled in Christ, and this helps to preserve our hope that the future he has promised to all His saints is a certain future.

With all of that in mind, let us return to our study of Luke, and this morning we will briefly look at what happened at the birth of John the Baptist.

Last week, we looked at the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise and worship.

Her baby, so newly conceived that in a normal pregnancy, the mother would not have even noticed yet that she was pregnant, and yet, this child was very different, very special, and had caused a reaction from her cousin Elizabeth’s child, who leapt in the womb when Mary entered the house.

Two unborn children, not potential humans, not simply embryos, are in some way relating to one another.

Elizabeth and Mary had both experienced God’s gracious provision.

In Elizabeth’s case, a child, after she had long given up hope of motherhood.

In Mary’s case, the gift of being selected by God to carry the Messiah, God with skin on, as some people like to say.

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit because of her encounter with Mary and the unborn baby Jesus.

She recognized that Mary’s baby was her Lord.

And Mary reacted with that beautiful confession of faith; she was a Psalmist and a prophet at the same time, and she, a young woman, or we may even say a girl, spoke words so beautiful and eloquent and powerful and true that they became for all time part of holy scripture.

Remember this.

Our confession of faith is that scripture is breathed out by God, it is without error, and infallible.

So we are certain that Mary truly said those things, and so did Elizabeth.

Now, in verse 56 it says that Mary remained with her (Elizabeth) about three months and then returned to her home.

If we do the math, she came to Elizabeth when Elizabeth was in the 6th month of her pregnancy, so it is possible, maybe even likely, that Mary was present at the birth of John.

One writer even suggested that Mary may have delivered this baby!

However, we can not be certain.

She stayed about 3 months, so she would have been there either until right before John was born or right after.

That she returned to “her” home, and not to Joseph’s home indicates that they still have not began to live together.

This statement is very straightforward, and sometimes we may ignore something like this because it seems so obvious.

It was time to give birth and she gave birth.

Not many of us describe our own experiences this way.

I don’t think I have ever said anything about my girls being born that way.

The time came for Jenelle to give birth, and she bore a daughter.

We tend to say much more, to describe the timing, and the hospital, and so on.

How long was the labor?

What was the height and weight?

How many fathers have been chastised, when they have called family or friends to say, “It’s a girl!”

only to be grilled on the height and weight and all of that other stuff that grandmothers and aunts want to know about.

And many of us fathers, well, we don’t worry so much about those things.

So most of us would not simply say, like verse 57 “the time came to give birth, and she bore a son”.

Well, maybe an engineer would keep it that simple.

But if you are like me, you may say, as I did when Gaby was born, “We were at my brother-in-law Mike’s birthday party and the water broke, and he was hoping she would be born on his birthday, but the labor went until 3:17 the next afternoon.

It was exhausting that it took that long!…

And it was rough on Jenelle, too.”

Yet in the simplicity of verse 57, let us remember that the very birth itself needs no embellishment, nor does it need to record the weight in pounds and ounces nor the height, how many inches the boy was.

So for all the aunts and grandmothers out there, may I say with certainty that the bible does not record these details, so they must not be that important.

So when a new dad doesn’t know the height and weight, give him a break!

Hopefully by the second child he will know that this is vitally important information that must be conveyed to all interested parties.

And what is the response of the neighbors and relatives?

The same response we ought to have for any good news, especially the birth of a child.

Luke1.58

Of course they did!

Good neighbors and good relatives rejoice with those who rejoice.

And in this case, it had to be known that this was not the typical pregnancy.

And so they rejoiced.

Why?

Because they had heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her.

Elizabeth had joined the likes of women who were legends to the people of Israel, yet nothing like this had been recorded in centuries!

Sarah, Rachel, Hannah.

Now Elizabeth.

This was very significant.

Remember, these are people who only had known about things God had done in the ancient past.

This was not something that was the normal course of things.

There had been no prophet, none of the miraculous, not in their lifetimes, not even in the memory of anyone they knew.

Suddenly, God was acting in a real and tangible way in their midst!

Though the infant Jesus was yet to be born, and many years from beginning his ministry, John’s birth was a sign that maybe, just maybe, God was beginning to work in this generation.

And is it not the same for us?

We seem unaware of God in the personal way.

We’ve heard of him, we maybe know something of his Word, but it is impersonal, it doesn’t make sense to us.