Advent - We Have Found The KingSample

Have you ever left a can of Sprite sitting in your car on a simmering, hot Texas afternoon (perhaps after taking it straight from a cold fridge or after one of the kids gave it a good shake)? I have. I remember returning to my car on one such scorching day to find a can had exploded—Sprite was everywhere.

Both in Handel’s Messiah and in the Book of Revelation, the narrative builds and the pressure mounts (everything on earth spins out of control) until it reaches a crescendo: Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords! God conquers all! Similarly, in our lives, just when it seems that everything around us spins out of control, we are reminded that God Almighty reigns—He alone is in control over all things and rulers.

Throughout the Book of Revelation, first-century Christians in the seven churches in Asia Minor were reminded that God is in control of the affairs of the world and that He promises to stick with the faithful. Its literary genre, apocalyptic, was enjoyed like refreshing holiday songs are in the present-day season. From chapters 6-19, John leads his readers through a series of symbolic events that display God’s faithfulness in Christ, much like Handel leads his listeners through the story of Christ in a sweet interplay of musical delight and scriptural truth.

Chapter 19 in Revelation inspires great celebration: plagues and disasters have ended. Peace breaks into human history! This was not just a silent event of a baby born in a manger in a far-away field. No! As the trumpets and timpani swell in Handel’s Messiah, so the Scripture exclaims, “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns (Rev 19:6).’” Like my soda can exploded, this musical and scriptural can, no longer able to contain its refreshment, explodes with sounds and fury, “Hallelujah!” The praise no longer is silent. Christianity is for those who celebrate and shout.

The final chorus, "King of Kings . . . and Lord of Lords" is sung on one note, augmented by repeated calls, "Hallelujah" and "forever – and ever," raised higher and higher by the sopranos, and ultimately resolves into call and repose, “Hallelujah." One cannot but rejoice when reading the lead up in Revelation: The Rider on the white horse, the Christ, wears a robe of which the original Greek language says that it had been dipped in blood in the past and has perpetual impact. Wow! The Rider is the Crucified Messiah; the One who shed His blood and is followed by an army in white, an army of peace. He comes out of a war; He does not enter into a war, for He is King of kings and Lord of lords!

In many parts of the world, the audience rises to its feet for this part of Handel’s Messiah. Indeed, who would not rise and explode with praise as the King of kings and Lord of lords rides into human history and into our hearts? Are you standing yet? Are you shouting?

Dr. Renate Hood, Professor of Christian Studies