December 19 - Messiah - Isaiah 53:8

December 19 - Messiah - Isaiah 53:8

He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgressions of Thy people was He stricken.

Charles Jennens had supplied texts for Handel’s oratorio, Saul from 1738, Belshazzar in 1744 and was involved with Israel in Egypt, also from 1738.  They didn’t really get along.  As much as Jennens admired Handel, he was not afraid to criticize his work.  It is said that Handel later chose to work with lesser, but more amiable writers.  However, that didn’t stop Jennens’ admiration of the man or his support.  He had been collecting Handel’s scores since 1725 as a subscriber and his immense library of Handel’s work continues to be a great resource.

For the sins of the people, Christ was killed.

He knew that it was necessary.

In John 12, when he told his disciples that the hour had come, he said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).  His death was necessary so that the world would be saved.

He goes on in John 12:31-32 and says, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

Jesus Christ had to die to break the hold that sin … that the prince of this world had on humanity.  He was the sacrificial lamb, the purest sacrifice possible.  In him there was no sin, but he gave his life as a sacrifice so that sin would no longer have power over us, so that we could find forgiveness and then be in a complete and whole relationship with God.

For our sins, Christ was killed.  It was for us that He came to earth. It was all for us.