The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light
(Is. 60)

Editor's Commentary

Winter is the time of year when darkness is most present. Daylight is at it's shortest. Many of us lament the onset of nighttime so early and so long. Darkness can easily darken our thoughts, our hearts, our outlook. For some it is a difficult, even depressing time. 

The next segment of the Messiah confronts a much worse and more sobering darkness: the absence of God and of goodness. The Scriptures speak of man's fall from God's favor as a curse and entry into spiritual darkness and alienation: a world of sin, sadness, and despair -- of Death.  THAT IS DARK. 

God promises, in the Book of Isaiah (written some 700 years before Christ), that the  "people who walked in darkness have seen a great light...."  This light will burst forth in the form of a child "given unto us" who will be called "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” 

THAT IS GOOD NEWS. God has done what he promised!  Even in the present darkness, may we behold the light that has come and is yet to come in fullness. 

Video Performance (5:47)

10. Accompagnato (bass) – “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” (Isaiah 60, vv.2–3)

11. Air (bass) – “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isaiah 9, v.2)

Video Performance (4:03)

12. Chorus – “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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9, v.6)

Video Performance (1:18)

13. Pifa Pastoral Sinfonia – (Instrumental)