This is the hymn that I had to hear today, after my daily Bible reading landed me in Job, Jeremiah, and Revelation in succession (I’ll say more about that in the next post)–the immortal Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s The Messiah, performed by the Royal Choral Society. You might want to turn up the volume for this one!
Really, if this can’t crank you over, your soul needs a new battery.
I’m so glad I was able to find this for you today–this scene from The Greatest Story Ever Told, 1965, in which Christ raises Lazarus from the dead.
Shortly before God the Father raised Him, Our Lord raised his friend Lazarus, and called him out of his tomb to live again, so prefiguring His own resurrection.
Notice His prayer, in which we find echoes of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of the dry bones.
And when the dead man is restored to life, the people understand–some of them–that this is the Messiah who was long foretold, He has finally come: and racing to the gates of Jerusalem, to report the good news, we find the doubter, who now believes, the old blind man, who now can see, and the young cripple who can now run like the wind to delivering the glad tidings. And with it we are given the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s The Messiah.
Yes, yes, yes! He is risen! The Messiah has come, and He is risen indeed.
Let every knee be bowed to Him, and every tongue confess Him Lord. Amen!