Three Cheers for Frideric Handel
by Dennis Peacocke
The problem with sin is that its self-centeredness blinds both individuals and whole cultures. Not only do we tend to see ourselves as the center of all things, we fail to measure ourselves accurately against the realities of history. This lofty thought was "grounded" for me recently as I had the experience of listening to Handel's "Messiah" live in the center of "Sinsville San Francisco." What an amazing contrast as an audience filled with sophisticated anti-Christians sat spellbound as they listened to the scriptures set to music, glorifying Christ as "King of Kings and Lord of Lords!"
Billy Graham, a true American spiritual hero, is frequently credited with having presented the gospel to more people than anyone else in history. This may well be true for the category of personal evangelism, but I would imagine that it is definitely not so for evangelism through the arts. In this category, Frideric Handel and his "Messiah" presentation must win hands down. Billy may have his tens of millions but Handel would have his hundreds of millions. Written in 1741, this incredible musical masterpiece has been heard live over the last hundreds of years by audiences all over the world in groups of hundreds to crowds as large as 80,000 or more. Presented by countless amateur choirs and professional opera troupes, when we add in the millions of recordings sold over the last hundred years or so, only God knows how many souls He has reached through His man Frideric.
In our modern world, where secular society is now obsessed with protecting its citizens from the toxic effects of Christianity, this "messiah" phenomenon stands wonderfully exempt from the secular thought-patrol legislation. I can hardly express the sheer joy I experienced seeing a massive audience in an opera hall, located a mere hundred yards or so from San Francisco's City Hall, standing on its feet as the choir and orchestra triumphantly told us that "the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ" in the so-called "Hallelujah Chorus."
In a nation obsessed with outlawing public creeds and Christmas carols in public schools, and substituting "Happy Holidays" for "Merry Christmas," Handel's musical genius slips right through these enemy lines like a rolling freight train! Three cheers for Frideric Handel indeed.
God has His ways to make sure people hear of what Jesus Christ has done. And anyone or anything that carries within itself the stamp of God's extraordinary excellence will trump and triumph over sinful man's feeble attempts to expunge the gospel from the public domain. That is, my friends, historically speaking...
the bottom line.
