As Handel's Messiah gets its Christmas airings, the genius of William Jennings, the librettist, in his selections from the prophet Isaiah's foretelling of Jesus Christ, will be marvelled at once more.
Tomorrow we hear one of Isaiah's prize chapters, the 35th, which flashes before us five pictures of salvation. It starts (vs.1-2) in the desert which is suddenly personalised and shouts for joy as it bursts into blossom.
Trees are transplanted from the forests of Lebanon, the fertility of the coastal plains is transferred to the arid wastes. All of it, says Isaiah, is a theatre for a display of the glory and splendour of the Lord revealed in the transformation of nature .
Scene two presents a crowd in panic (vs.3-4), perhaps an army with its morale in tatters, knees knocking, hearts failing for fear. Again, a transformation takes place as they are told, "Be strong, do not fear, your God will come....to save you." In the third scene is a group of people suffering from serious physical disabilities (vs. 5-6). It seems to be a picture of the redeemed people of God before the transforming hand of the Lord touches them.
In that state, they are blind to his glory, deaf to his Word; they cannot walk in his ways, they fail to worship him as he deserves. Dramatically, the words, "Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped", inaugurate another startling transformation.
One day, God is going to restore his disabled people to their full faculties, whether that refers to spiritual renewal now or the Last Day, when the resurrection of the body takes place.
Scene four (vs. 6b-7) focuses on what transforms a desert: water; not droplets, but torrents and deep pools - imagery which Jesus took up to announce himself as the source of living water through the activity of the Holy Spirit who transforms our lives so we become channels of blessing for others.
Finally, a highway is laid across the desert (vs.8-10) and on it God's redeemed people walk, singing as they go, enjoying fellowship; "gladness and joy will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee away."
All right, but what's the time scale here? The prophetic telescope expands three times. First, there is the immediate fulfilment in Isaiah's day, followed by the Gospel fulfillment in Jesus Christ and his church. The third epoch is Advent's focus, that day when Jesus returns and inaugurates the new heaven and new earth.
Today we live in the 'tween-times, experiencing the tensions, awaiting the King's appearance; but already, as Isaiah indicates, joy is the dominant Christian experience.
Already our sins have been forgiven; already we are adopted into the Father's family; already the Holy Spirit living in us guarantees our hope and future destiny; already we are on the highway that leads to heaven.
Enough for an ordinary Christian to be excited about this weekend? If it is, then Advent has achieved its purpose in us yet again this year. G.F.