Jesus Supplied the Crescendo (First Sunday of Advent, 2011)

What Did Jesus Do?

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

In the beginning God did not just dispel darkness, he shattered silence. Verse 3 of Genesis Chapter 1 sounds the opening notes of the divine symphony. That God is a music lover is inescapable, but he’s also the greatest composer ever. All creation is his cantata, his Word set to the music of the spheres (musica universalis—the ancient philosophical concept that perceived the divine hand in establishing the harmony that controls the movement and proportion of the heavenly bodies). Creation is God’s magnum opus which is still being performed. God employed many authors to write the libretto, more commonly known as the Bible. Nearly three thousand years ago the prophet Isaiah was called to contribute his part of the work. It was Isaiah’s task to begin to write down the notes of the crescendo, the climactic buildup of volume that would reach its apex with the sounding of a note that has reverberated for over two millennia now. And it was Jesus who supplied the crescendo.

With the calling of his prophets, God commenced the movement that would grow in its intensity, focus, and volume over several centuries, and reach its ultimate note when a celestial choir sang out the news of the Messiah’s birth (Luke 2:13-14). Isaiah, the first of the so-called Major Prophets, commenced the crescendo, and in the ninth chapter of Isaiah we read four names which, in rapid succession, grow louder and louder, as each one speaks of the person and work of the coming Christ:

Wonderful Counselor.
Mighty God.
Everlasting Father.
PRINCE OF PEACE.

With Advent’s arrival we can once again give ourselves over to the power of the crescendo of God’s Word to prepare our hearts to receive our King. Let the anticipation and intensity of the movement towards the coming of the Messiah build within us over the next four weeks. Then, when the heavenly host of angels again proclaims, with the single loudest note of all time, the birth of the Savior, may we reply, with an equally resounding chorus, our affirmation of the reign of Jesus in justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore!

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4