All around the world.
They stood.
Why do people stand at the beginning of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”?
Watch our Truth in Two to find out we are asking the wrong question (full text below).
In this new year, this new decade, may our standing reflect our standing with Jesus.
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from Comenius (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).
Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT:
He stood up. King George the second stood for the “Hallelujah Chorus” sung during Handel’s first performance of the world-renown Messiah in 1743. No one knows for sure why the king stood. What is known, is that when the British king stood, protocol demanded that everyone else stand too.
And people continue to stand. Handel’s Messiah was sung around the world this Christmas. And right at the start of that famous “Hallelujah Chorus,” when trumpets hit their piercing high note and the choir’s voices soar, audiences stood. Even non-Christians, dutifully stand, consciously honoring these triumphant words
Hallelujah: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
The kingdom of this world is become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign forever and ever.
King of kings, and Lord of lords: Hallelujah!
What a powerful statement of the Hebraic-Christian doctrine that God, through Jesus, rules. What is truly remarkable is that, to this day, audiences traditionally rise to their feet honoring those words.
Now consider that just before the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus these words from Psalm 2 are sung:
The kings of the earth rise up,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed:
“Let us break their bonds asunder,
and cast away their yokes from us.”
He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Human defiance is on full display. Rulers and nations shake their collective fists at God. And what is God’s response? He laughs at them in ridicule.
And immediately after hearing the words of Psalm 2, people from around the world stand up to hear these words: Christ will reign forever and ever. I cannot think of a better way to begin a new year.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.
https://www.cmuse.org/the-hallelujah-chorus-traditionally-brings-people-to-their-feet/