Another Reflection on Handel’s Messiah
December 19, 2024 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
Every Advent season I listen to Handel’s Messiah several times through. Most of the time I just have it playing in the background while I am studying, preparing for a sermon, or working on email. Occasionally the lyrics or music catch my attention, and I focus on the Messiah. Several pieces are well-loved, like the Chorus singing Isaiah 9:6,
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace,”
And, of course, the Hallelujah Chorus,
“Hallelujah: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!”
This year, the passage from Haggai 2:6-7 has been catching my attention. This comes after the opening pieces from Isaiah 40. The bass vocalist sings these words, reverberating the word “shake”:
“Thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts: Yet once, a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come.”
It is a short piece but has caught my attention. It makes me want to dig into the Scripture and figure out how this passage fits in with the prophecies of Christ.
Haggai prophesied near the end of Old Testament history. He was a part of the original group of exiles who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon during the 530s BC. This group begins to rebuild the temple, but is thwarted by their adversaries (Ezra 3-4). In 520 BC Haggai begins his prophecy ministry in order to encourage the Jews to continue rebuilding the temple (Ezra 5:1 and 6:14). This short prophetic book, only two chapters, includes practical commands to do the work of building, even in the face of adversity:
“Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts” (2:4).
The prophecy, however, also looks far beyond the present circumstances of 520 BC. It is with this perspective that we hear the prophecy sung in Handel’s Messiah. Consider Haggai 2:6-9:
For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.
“The treasures of all nations shall come in…” This is a promise of the influx of wealth and people into the presence of God, represented by the temple in Jerusalem. This is partially fulfilled in the time of Haggai when Ezra returns to Jerusalem with treasures from King Artaxerxes (see Ezra 7:21-23). But it hardly could be said that the temple rebuilt in Haggai’s day had greater glory than the former house that Solomon built (see Ezra 3:12-13). Through Haggai’s prophecy, God is projecting ahead to a future, greater temple. When the apostle John receives a glimpse of the new heavens and the new earth, he observes in Revelation 21:22 & 24,
“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb… and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.”
The full fulfillment of Haggai 2:6-9 is the greater glory of the new heavens and new earth.
So, what about all the shaking? This is a metaphor of the gospel of Jesus Christ going forth to all the ethnic groups of the world. God has purchased for himself a people from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). It is through the proclamation of the gospel that all these people come to faith and enter into the presence of God (cf. Rom. 10:14-17). God shakes the nations through the advancement of the gospel!
This little glimpse from Haggai reminds us that our normal ministry and labors today play a part in a grander plan, which God is working out for his glory. We are just like those Jewish laborers in 520 BC, called to rebuild the temple. We face adversity and adversaries which oppose our work for the Lord. We are called to make disciples of all nations. Through our faithful labors of making known the astonishing grace of God, the Lord is shaking the nations. And we will, one day, be in the presence of the Lord, beholding a glory that far surpassing any glory that has been seen here on earth. That will be a glorious day. Let us remain faithful in the labor to which God has called us.
