WINDSOR, ONTARIO – Have you read the fascinating story of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah? According to one source, on Saturday, August 22, 1741, Charles Jennens brought a scrapbook with him to Handel’s small study. “Here is a collection called The Messiah,” he said. “Can you make an entertainment out of it?”
As soon as Jennens had left, the master started reading the text he had received. The words, Handel noticed, were all taken from the Scriptures; but in arranging the quotations, the master felt, Jennens had outdone himself. The words seemed to sing by themselves.
Handel started writing at once. He wrote so fast that the ink had scarcely dried on one page before he started another. The score was covered with splotches, but Handel did not notice them. He forgot the whole world around him. “Whether I was in my body or out of my body as I wrote The Messiah,” Handel said later, “I know not.”
For twenty-four days he remained in the little front room on the first floor of his house near Hanover Square in London, setting down thousands of notes to Jennens’ biblical excerpts. At regular intervals Handel’s servant brought him food, but the master left it untouched. Sometimes the servant stood in silent wonder as Handel’s tears fell on a page and mingled with the ink while he penned his notes.
Once the servant found the Master sobbing with emotion. He had just finished the “Hallelujah Chorus.” The main theme of this famous chorus is a direct quote from the King James Version of Revelation 19:6: “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
Does a Christmas season ever pass that isn’t adorned with the magnificent melody of Handel’s masterpiece? Rising to a majestic crescendo in churches and concert halls, the glorious harmony of “hallelujahs” rings forth from enthusiastic carolers everywhere. Yet, oddly enough, if you were to ask most people what the title Messiah actually means, they wouldn’t have a clue.
The Greek word for Christ is a translation of the Hebrew term mashiach, meaning Messiah. Simply put, Christ and Messiah are synonymous terms, and they share a common definition -- “the Anointed One.”
We can uncover still more about the meaning of mashiach by also examining its theological implications.
First, an anointing proclaimed that someone was authorized to serve the Lord in a position of great honor and responsibility. Second, though the anointing ceremony may have been physically performed by a priest or a prophet, biblical writers often referred to God as the true anointing agent (see 1 Samuel 10:1). Third, divine enablement accompanied mashiach. “The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon” both Saul and David in connection with their anointing (1 Samuel 16:13; see also 10:6). And fourth, though many were anointed, only one would be the Anointed One, mashiach, through whom the destiny of the nation of Israel was to be fulfilled. All through Old Testament history, Israel anxiously awaited the arrival of the Messiah, the Anointed One whom they believed would immediately establish God’s rule on earth forever.
We acknowledge Him as the Anointed One
We often speak of Jesus Christ as if Christ were his second name. But as we have seen, it’s really a title, a description. Jesus is the Christ, and when we acknowledge him in our hearts as Messiah, we claim Him to be the Anointed One. There is no other. He alone is the fulfillment of God’s promised Redeemer, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end and everything in between!
We declare our search has ended
We also declare that our search for any and all other so-called messiahs has ended. When Jesus asked His disciples if they wanted to leave him, Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God" (John 6:68-69). For the disciples, the search was over. They had found the Messiah. And we affirm this same truth each time we call him Christ.
We announce that He is our satisfaction
Finally, we announce that He alone provides us with all we need for lasting peace and satisfaction. No one can lift you from the deepest despair like Christ. As Corrie ten Boom’s sister Betsie put it, “There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.” That’s Messiah. Hallelujah!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Garth Leno is the Pastor/Planter Care Specialist with the BSCM. He serves in a similar role with the Canadian National Baptist Convention, and he is the founding pastor of The Gathering Church in Windsor, Ontario, a church he planted with his wife, Patty, and a few of their friends.