Looking Forward to the Great and Wonderful “Hallelujah”! – September 2024 Newsletter

September, 2024

Dear Friend of Creation,

“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude… saying Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Revelation 19:6).

“…and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True … The Word of God. …And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:11-16).

The above words in bold from the book of Revelation are sung as the lyrics of The Hallelujah Chorus, within George Frideric Handel’s great oratorio Messiah. During the first performance of Messiah in London in 1743, George the 2^nd, Christian King of England, famously stood up out of inspiration from the music and respect for the King who is coming again as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Handel had received from his pastor friend Charles Jenner a collection of Bible verses for the text of the oratorio, which formed the basis of his inspiration. And he wrote all 260 pages of music to fit those verses in just 24 days – working straight through and barely eating in the process. His assistants would frequently find him moved to tears as he composed – and would often find the meals they brought him uneaten.

We have written before how music is a very special part of God’s creation which specially touches us – emotionally and spiritually. I can certainly see Handel at his harpsichord, coming up with the music as he immersed himself in the lyrics of the Word of God, writing it down and listening to how it sounded as he played it back on his keyboard. Clearly, he was deeply touched by the Word and the wonderful worship and praise he was experiencing as he composed! When he completed The Hallelujah Chorus, he famously told his servant, with tears in his eyes and overcome with emotion, “I think that I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself seated on His throne with His company of angels.”

The Bible says that the spiritual transcends the physical. The sin of man, for example, a moral (spiritual) problem, led to a physical marring of God’s creation through disease and death. According to Scripture, we are spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). This is why the Bible says we must be “born again”, trusting in Jesus Christ as our Savior (John 3:3-17). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not … ye must be born again.”

We’ve also written frequently how material things resolve at their most fundamental level into space and energy/vibration. At the root of all material objects, chemicals, and biochemistry are vibratory frequencies! Perhaps that’s a reason why music in general can be so powerful – moving (“vibrating”) the spirits and souls of Handel, King George the 2^nd, and billions of people through the passage of time! Beyond the vibrations in creation there is spiritual reality. The material gives way to the im-material. And thus, through prayer and worship, spiritual songs, Psalms and hymns, we can be energized to a refreshing level of joy and peace and fruit of the Spirit!

Interestingly, the “End-Times” truth of the Hallelujah Chorus in the book of Revelation, is curiously foretold in the very first verse of the Bible! The great celebration of the final and eternal rule and reign of the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, is a great celebration of the one who is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:13). Consider the Hebrew of Genesis 1:1.

Note that Hebrew, shown above, reads right to left. “Barashet (In the beginning) bara (created) Elohim (God) et Hashamayim (the heavens) vet (and) Haretz (the earth)” (Genesis 1:1). And note there are exactly seven Hebrew words that make the summary creation statement of the first verse of the Bible. While six of these words actually do the “work” of the statement, the seventh word just “rests”. This seventh Hebrew word which rests from the work of the statement is “et” in the middle of the verse, a place for emphasis in Hebrew sentence structure. And it is rather odd that it is included in Genesis 1:1. Its use is for punctuation, but the sentence would work fine without it.

The Hebrew word “et” is formed from the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet – the “aleph” and the “tau”. This is the Hebrew equivalent of the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, “alpha” and “omega”. Interestingly, Jesus Christ says about Himself in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible – in Revelation 22:13 – “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

Thus, the “et” in Genesis 1:1 is arguably a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ – it’s in the place of emphasis in the sentence; it is “the first and the last” as aleph and tau equivalent of alpha and omega, tying the first and last chapters of the Bible together with Christ’s own phrase about Himself! In fact, God says about Himself in Isaiah 46:9-10, “…I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done…”. Interesting indeed that the end of the Bible was “declared” in the beginning!

Biblical chronologists have calculated roughly 3800 – 4000 BC as the date for biblical creation. Famously, Bishop Ussher calculated 4004 BC. Isaac Newton calculated 3940 BC. With such calculations, the unfolding of recorded history is revealing a curious and remarkable analogy with the days of the Creation Week. In 2 Peter 3:3-9, the Bible discusses the “last days” and the promise of the 2^nd Coming of Christ to the Creation. In that passage, the Bible says that “a thousand years” is “as one day”. So by the Creation Week analogy, we have four “days” (4,000 years) from Creation to the Cross of Christ, and two “days” (2,000 years) being the “last days” from the Cross to the 2^nd Coming. Then begins the final “day” (1,000 years) of rest, the Millennium, before the New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21:1). The passage in 2 Peter also says that the Lord is “longsuffering…not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Therefore, our work in these “last days”, the last two “days” by analogy with the Creation Week (in which we may very well be in the final minutes), is the Great Commission! “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14). The Bible says that at the Second Coming of Christ, “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” [using evolution and so much other “disinformation”] will be “cast out into the bottomless pit” and bound “till the thousand years should be fulfilled” (Revelation 12:9, 20:2-3). Here is the “day of rest” from this evil age, the seventh “day” in the analogy with Creation Week.

Indeed, the time is urgent! And so we thank you for standing with us as we vibrate the earth with the frequency of His wonderful truth. Thank you for praying for us, and for giving generously to help us tell the story to “all nations” – of the everlasting truth and light of the Word of God, the Alpha and Omega, the Creator of all things, the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!

Yours in Christ,

Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman

P.S. I’m excited to bring you two great resources that will help you and your family answer questions about the age of the earth and dig deeper into the incredible topic of Bible prophecies about our Lord and Savior’s first and second comings!

All the Messianic Prophecies of the Bible

In this remarkable volume, Dr. Herbert Lockyer examines all the prophecies in Scripture concerning the promised Messiah, His ministry and His message. From the mundane to the mystifying, the book gives you a close look at how different prophecies portrayed with stunning accuracy the coming Christ: His ancestry, His birth, His character, His death and resurrection, and so much more. The most complete compendium of Bible prophecies concerning the promised Messiah is a terrific resource you’ll turn to again and again!

Radioactive Dating and a Young Earth

Is radiometric dating really proof that the earth is billions of years old as evolutionists claim? What about the evidence from radioactive decay that the earth is actually only about 6,000 years old – just as the chronologies in the Bible indicate? In this 54-minute DVD, Creation Ministries International Director Dr. Jim Mason shows you how nuclear physics supports the Bible’s timelines.

To get both or either of these outstanding resources, please click here. After selecting your items, the check-out page will also provide an opportunity for you to partner with us by adding a donation of any amount to support our Biblical World Wide Gospel Outreach.