To celebrate our anniversary, my sweet husband took me to hear the Atlanta Symphony and the Atlanta Choral Society perform their annual Christmas program. There is a longstanding tradition in our country that, when the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah is performed, the audience, wherever they are, rises to their feet during the performance. I love this part! And at the same time, it made me sad last night to look around at that audience in downtown Atlanta and know that most of those in the audience who were standing at this majestic song are lost, and do not even know it. And yet, God's truth, so powerfully delivered in this choral piece, almost cannot be denied. I think this must be why people, even lost people, get to their feet.
"The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground." Ezekiel 38:20
"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:9-11
Additional Resources
God Came Near
God Came Down
The Glory of Jesus