One of the many delights of the Christmas season is that George Friedrich Handel’s “Messiah” is widely performed and frequently played on the classical stations. I have sung the Messiah several times, most recently at a Messiah sing-along at the White Memorial Church in east Los Angeles several years ago.
I remember one performance at the Dallas Central Church in the late 1980s; my father, who was an assistant pastor there at the time, conducted. Afterward, one of my relatives remarked, “this is exactly what we believe.” He was right. Adventists have a special affinity for Handel’s Messiah because the texts call to mind our doctrines.
The Scripture passages for “Messiah” were selected by Charles Jennens (1700-1773), a wealthy landowner who was both a patron of Handel and a librettist on some of his oratorios, including “Saul” and “Belshazzar,” as well as “Messiah.” Although an Anglican, Jennens was not of the lukewarm (or cold) variety of Anglicanism that prevailed in England during the 18th Century. Jennens was very devout and interested in “primitive” or apostolic Christianity. He had a deep knowledge of the Bible.
Charles Jennens must have been a proto-Adventist, because in essence he assembled a Bible study on Adventist beliefs.
We Sleep in the Grave Until the Resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ
Part three of “Messiah” is largely about the resurrection, first of Christ and then of the redeemed at the Second Coming. Jennens points us to the testimony of Job, that his Redeemer will stand on the earth at the latter day, and that he, Job, would see God in his flesh, not as spirit or a disembodied consciousness:
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. (Job 19:25-26)
Those who have died sleep in the grave. Paul tells us that Christ, in His resurrection from the dead, is the “first fruits” of those who sleep in the grave:
For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep. (I Cor. 15:20)
Was Jesus a spirit or ghost after His resurrection? No, indeed! Jesus’ glorified body was not ghost-like but tangible “flesh and bones.” He even ate food! (Luke 24:36-49).
Paul tells us that at the Second Coming, those of us who are still alive will be changed in an instant, and given a glorified body, while those who are sleeping in the grave will be raised with a glorified, incorruptible body:
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. (I Cor. 15:51-56)
The Lord “Shall Suddenly Come to His Temple”
Near the beginning of “Messiah,” we find a prophetic passage from Malachi:
“the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire: . . . and he shall purify the sons of Levi . . . that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Malachi 3:1-3
The most obvious fulfillment of this prophecy is Jesus’ driving the money changers out of the temple in Jerusalem (Mat. 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17). Purifying the temple, which was maintained by “the sons of Levi,” the Levites, allowed the worshipers to “offer an offering in righteousness.”
Ellen White notes how Jesus’ cleansing of the temple was a fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, but beyond that, His purification of the temple is symbolic of our need to purify the soul’s temple from sin.
“In the cleansing of the temple, Jesus was announcing His mission as the Messiah, and entering upon His work. . . . In cleansing the temple from the world’s buyers and sellers, Jesus announced His mission to cleanse the heart from the defilement of sin,—from the earthly desires, the selfish lusts, the evil habits, that corrupt the soul. ‘The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, . . . .’ DA 161
In the words of that great hymn of the church, “The temple has been yielded and purified of sin; let thy Shekinah Glory now shine forth from within.”
According to Ellen White, the Great Disappointment of the Millerite Adventists constitutes yet another fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy. The followers of William Miller had been looking for Christ to return to the Earth in 1844, but instead He “suddenly”—unexpectedly, from their perspective—came into the most holy place of His temple in Heaven:
Christ had come, not to the earth, as they expected, but, as foreshadowed in the type, to the most holy place of the temple of God in heaven. He is represented by the prophet Daniel as coming at this time to the Ancient of Days: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came”—not to the earth, but—“to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.” Daniel 7:13.
This coming is foretold also by the prophet Malachi: “The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:1. The coming of the Lord to His temple was sudden, unexpected, to His people. They were not looking for Him there. They expected Him to come to earth, “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel.” GC 424.
Near the end of “Messiah,” we find another sanctuary reference, a reference to Jesus Christ as our advocate and intercessor before the Father in the heavenly temple:
If God be for us, who can be against us? . . . Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. (Rom. 8:31, 33-34)
Here is a precious promise that highlights the sanctuary doctrine. If Jesus is both our advocate and our judge in the investigative judgement now taking place in the heavenly temple, how can we lose? We cannot lose unless we fire our divine parakletos and proceed pro se.
The Lord Hath Laid on Him the Iniquity of us All
“Messiah” highlights a doctrine that Seventh-day Adventists fervently believe: the substitutionary atonement of Christ. He is our substitute and surety. The sacrifices of the sanctuary service point to Christ. As John the Baptist said,
“Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.” John 1:29.
Perhaps the clearest statement of this doctrine is found not in the New Testament, but in Isaiah 53:
“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows! He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Understanding the substitution is crucial to having even the vaguest concept of the sorrow Christ was experiencing on the cross of Calvary, as he bore the sins of the world. Jennens quotes a prophecy from Lamentations:
“Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow.”
The answer is “no.” The agony of the Father’s condemnation of sin Christ bore—”my God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me”—can “never be fully understood by man”:
Upon Christ as our substitute and surety was laid the iniquity of us all. He was counted a transgressor, that He might redeem us from the condemnation of the law. The guilt of every descendant of Adam was pressing upon His heart. The wrath of God against sin, the terrible manifestation of His displeasure because of iniquity, filled the soul of His Son with consternation. . . . But now with the terrible weight of guilt He bears, He cannot see the Father’s reconciling face. The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Saviour in this hour of supreme anguish pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man. So great was this agony that His physical pain was hardly felt. DA 753
Jennens includes a prophecy from Psalms 69:
“Thy rebuke hath broken His heart.”
But who is the “thy” in this text? It is not the rebuke of the onlookers jeering him, but the rebuke of God the Father: “my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
“But it was not the spear thrust, it was not the pain of the cross, that caused the death of Jesus. That cry, uttered “with a loud voice” (Matthew 27:50; Luke 23:46), at the moment of death, the stream of blood and water that flowed from His side, declared that He died of a broken heart. His heart was broken by mental anguish. He was slain by the sin of the world.” DA 772
This is the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why the Lamb is worthy, which is the last chorus of the work:
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever, Amen. (Rev. 5:12-14)
Earthly Kingdoms to be Replaced by Messiah’s Eternal Kingdom
One of the important themes in “Messiah” is that Jesus Christ is going to replace the kingdoms of this earth with His everlasting Kingdom. This is what the Hallelujah Chorus is all about.
Charles Jennens was a “non-juror,” meaning that he could not see his way clear to take the oath of abjuration against the Stuart heir of King James II, as was required by the 1701 “Act of the Security of the Succession.” Because he would not take the oath, Jennens was barred from holding office in the government or the Church of England; Oxford University would not even award him the degree he had earned.
The fact that Jennens was at odds with the monarchy of his day casts an explanatory light, and a poignancy, on his selection of texts that highlight the futility of earthly kings and kingdoms. One can see how Jennens would have related personally to this passage from the Psalms:
Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and why do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His anointed. Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yokes from us. He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in derision. . . . Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. (Psalm 2:1-4, 9).
After the Messiah destroys this world’s kingdoms He will set up His own everlasting kingdom:
Hallelujah: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. (Rev. 19:6) The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev. 11:15) King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. (Rev. 19:16) Hallelujah!
A prophetic passage that points to the same event is Daniel 2:44:
“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.”
Seventh-day Adventist are looking for no earthly kingdom, no earthly millennium. The millennium of the saved is in Heaven. We must bear this in mind as we watch, with overwhelming grief, the death of the American republic.
Our citizenship is in heaven; we await with anxious anticipation that glorious day when the rock cut out without human hands will smash the kingdoms of this world, crushing them into chaff, as on a threshing floor in the summer, to be blown away without leaving a trace.