How Things Change - Trends & Traditions

Handel’s Messiah, possibly the greatest Oratorio ever written; certainly very well loved and appreciated by millions, has just been performed in Boston’s Symphony Hall for the 154^th annual performance. It was well received. In Boston the Handel & Haydn Society perform the work as it was first presented, meaning that when the Hallelujah chorus is sung few stand up.

In the UK and other venues at this point in the music the whole audience stands. King George 3rd established standing, out of respect for the words and their meaning. (The word Hallelujah meaning, Praise the Lord). In England, when the King stands all stand. However it was not so when Handel first performed the piece in Dublin, Eire.

Therefore, traditions come and go, not necessarily right or wrong, good or bad.

It took Handel three weeks to write the initial score to the words penned by his friend Charles Jennens.

During those years in Europe, Britain and early America the words and meaning of scripture was highly respected by the majority. The Bible may not have been obeyed and lip service was given to God’s words, nonetheless it was respected and accepted as the word of God.

The Messiah’s words are taken from both the Old and New Testaments and according to the program notes, "…part 111 has no plot at all; it is actually a version of the Anglican burial service, emphasizing the resurrection of the body and Christ’s victory over sin." All of part 111 is from scripture: Job, 1^st. Corinthians, Romans and Revelation.

In contrast with today where we have virtually scores of theologians who de-bunk scripture. The bible is devalued, denied, and so studied as to make it almost meaningless. We are told that things were made up to fill in a gap in a time-line. We are not to take things literally, when clearly they are what God requires.

Much is reinterpreted for the reader. As an example, it is understood by all denominations that the Biblical day of rest, the Sabbath, is Saturday. Yet which day do we find people now believing the Sabbath to be? Sunday!

Why the change by the theologians, scholars and ministers of the various churches? The change took place early in the life of the Church that Jesus the Messiah established when He was here on the earth. In Matthew 16:18 Christ promised to build His church and added that the grave would never be victorious over it. If His word is good that the church exists somewhere today and would be the church that "…has the testimony of Jesus and keeps the commandments of God" (Revelation 12:17, 14:12), it would not change the commandments!

From Genesis to Revelation the day God requires worship on is the weekly Sabbath day, Saturday. Further, when Jesus was here He actually addressed this point in Mark chapter 2 when Pharisees (supposedly very strict Sabbath keepers) as to the actions of the disciples’ challenged him. In verse 27-28 Jesus told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Let us ask ourselves, when did Jesus become Lord of Sunday?

History shows us that the State Religion of Rome made the change. In his book, Sunday a Sabbath, John Ley states:

"From the apostles’ time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364/5, the holy observance of the Jews’ Sabbath continued, as may be proved out by many authors: yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council against it.

'Canon 29 - Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s Day they shall especially honor, and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day.' (Hefele’s Councils, Vol 2, b.6)."

It took just over 300 years for the scriptures to be reinterpreted and the concept of honoring the resurrection on the 1^st day of the week. It was a practice that neither God nor Christ ever taught; neither was it observed by the apostles and early church. In place of the day of rest given by the Father as man’s day of rest from creation thru Revelation.

There are many more examples of where humans, on their own authority, made changes or gave reinterpretations of meaning to his fellow man. As the state religion, with tremendous powers, it was hard to fight against the civil and religious authorities. Therefore, the vast majority blindly followed the Church's teachings without a Bible in hand to gainsay the authority’s decisions.

Therefore, through this time of history, the authority of the church was dominant and it was only as the scriptures came to the hands of ordinary people that once read challenges were made. Sadly, today instead of getting back to what the bible actually says to do man is stuck in his rut of tradition. What difference will it makes, some might say.

Read our booklet on How to Understand the Bible. It will open your eyes to some wonderful truths and show why we must obey God rather than men.