Handel's Messiah: The Person and Work of Christ

19. 'Behold Your God'

By Dr. Paul M. Elliott
A recent survey shows that only a minority of self-described Evangelicals truly understand who the Messiah is, what He has done, and why it matters.

From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 19 of a series. Read part 18.

Are we, as individual Christians and as the church, pointing people to the authentic Messiah? A recent survey shows that only a minority of self-described Evangelicals truly understand who He is, what He has done, and why it matters.

Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

John's Fearless Proclamation

We now focus on the last phrase of this great prophetic statement from Handel's Messiah. John the Baptists, as the forerunner of the imminently-appearing Messiah, indeed lifted up his voice fearlessly, and shouted to all, "Behold your God!"

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."

And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1:30-35)

"He Brought Him to Jesus"

We must also note well the response of two men who heard this repeated proclamation:

The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"

They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"

He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).

One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. (John 1:36-42)

"Behold your God!" "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" This is a prophetic word for Christ's true church today, It raises a supreme challenge, not only for pastors and leaders, but for every believer in Christ: Are we, individually and as the Body of Christ, lifting up our voices with strength? Are we proclaiming the true Messiah in all of His fullness? Are we proclaiming Him fearlessly? Are we proclaiming to the world not a mere man, but God Himself - all the fullness of the Godhead in a body (Colossians 2:9)?
This is the Messiah about whom the world needs to hear, and the Messiah we must worship and adore.

The Pathetic State of the Evangelical Church

Can it be said of you, as it was of Andrew, that you bring souls to Jesus? Never was the need greater - within the Evangelical church! According to a recent survey,

  • Only 50% of self-described Evangelicals believe God is a perfect being who cannot make a mistake.
  • Only 53% believe that there is "one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit."
  • Only 40% believe that Jesus Christ is both truly God and truly man.
  • 53% believe that Jesus Christ was created by God - which is also the false teaching of cults like Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witnesses.
  • Only 40% of self-described Evangelicals believe that "Jesus' Christ's death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin."
  • Only 45% believe the Biblical account of Christ's resurrection is accurate and actually occurred.
  • Only 33% believe that "only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God's free gift of eternal salvation."
  • Only 41% of self-described Evangelicals believe that there will be a time when Christ returns to judge all people who have lived. [1]

"Putting Up With" Those Who Proclaim a False Messiah

In other words, the majority of self-described Evangelicals today simply do not believe in the Christ of the Bible. They have made a god and a "Jesus" in their own image. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul declared that Christians and the Church must have a zero-tolerance policy for such unbelief:

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted - you may well put up with it! (2 Corinthians 11:3-4)

This is exactly what is happening in the nominally Evangelical church today. Far too often those who claim to believe in the Christ of Scripture are "putting up with" those who preach another Jesus, another spirit who is not the Spirit of Christ, and a different gospel that encourages men, women, and children to remain comfortably on the path to Hell.

How it with you? How is it with your church? Are you beholding the true Messiah, or "another Jesus"? Are you believing the false gospel reflected in the majority of survey responses, or the true Gospel of the all-sufficient God-man?

The True Source of Gospel Proclamation

Just as the earthly tabernacle was a pattern of the true in Heaven, earthly Zion is the pattern of the true heavenly Zion where the Lord is enthroned in that heavenly tabernacle. The ultimate proclamation that the Church is to bring to the dying world emanates from the heavenly Zion.

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: "And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow." And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.")

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven." (Hebrews 12:18-26)

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame."

Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the Word, to which they also were appointed.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:4-10)

References:

1. The State of American Theology Study 2016, Final Report, as viewed at http://lifewayresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Ligonier-State-of-American-Theology-2016-Final-Report.pdf on 10/31/2016.

 

Next: "Arise, Shine, for Thy Light Is Come"

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