Advent Devotional…Handel’s Messiah, December 3

“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and cry to her that she has served her term,

that her penalty is paid, that she has received

from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

(Isaiah 40:2)

In the Dublin premiere of Handel’s Messiah in 1742, one of the female soloists, known to have lived a rather colorful life, reportedly sang so beautifully that a local clergyman stood to his feet and cried out, “Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!”

The Christ Child’s coming reminds us that the penalty for sin has been paid. Glory to God!

Prayer: Let us hear again and again O God, these words of blessing…“your penalty is paid.”  Amen.

Jim Abernathy