Our Prince of Peace

I was about sixteen years old when I experienced my first full on encounter with the music of Handel’s Messiah. I connected with each note, arrangement, voice, and chord so much that I took those CDs and my portable CD-player around with me wherever I went, even to church. I was not new to classical/choral music, but I was new to classical/choral music that was centered on Christ. I mean, after all, this was George Frideric Handel, one of the most well known composers to ever live, and he created an entire work that was one huge breath of hallelujah! to Jesus. And not only were the music and lyrics all about Jesus, but they were absolutely beautiful. I had never encountered anything like it before and I had no idea that Scripture could be conveyed in that way.

And my favorite song? Yes, you guessed it: For Unto Us a Child Is Born, whose lyrics are taken straight from today’s scripture – Isaiah 9:6-7a NIV – For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.

The lyrics boldly proclaimed:

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given,
And the government shall be upon His shoulder.
And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

When I first heard that song I knew that what I was experiencing was different. I had always had a special connection to music, and I still do. I can hear a certain melody or lyric and instantly my heart feels lifted, my body is flooded with the sensation of millions of heartfelt hugs given by those who love me the most, or my psyche is brushed with the sorrowful caress of the emotions conveyed by the artist. But, when I listened to For Unto Us a Child Is Born it was as though I felt something shift in my heart, mind, body, and soul. At the time, my sixteen-year-old self had no idea how to describe that sentiment. All that I could do was listen, smile, cry, and tell everyone with whom I came into contact how wonderful the music was and that they absolutely had to listen to it.

Little did I know that the experience that I had while listening to that song was a foreshadowing of the experience that I would later have when I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior one calm January night in Florida at a typical and rather unassuming non-denominational church service at my local church at that time. The congregation was standing throughout the room, eyes closed, hearts open and receptive to God. A number of us had our hands raised – for some of us it was something that we were used to, that we had done time and time again. But for others, like me, it was a completely new thing because this time when I raised my hands and closed my eyes my heart was open to Him and I meant it when I told Him that I was a sinner who needed Him and I asked Him to come into my life and be my Lord. The tears began to flow and for a few moments the rest of the world slipped away and I was only aware of Him and me. It was then that the same sweet and overwhelming feeling that I had experienced while listening to that song enveloped and filled me before magnifying itself to levels that I never knew to be possible. His touch was beyond compare, and I would not realize it until some time later that what I experienced that night, among other things, was the tangible expression of being held in Jesus’ arms.

Now that I am in my early forties I can easily say that I have listened to the music of Messiah so many times that I have lost count, but every time that I hear those songs I am catapulted back to the experience and the feeling of that night and I remember Him. I remember His arms. I remember new life. Be blessed. #sanguinemango