Scripture used for Handel's Messiah (NLT)
with cross references and study Bible footnotes

Headings are taken from the wordbook (libretto) published for a 1743 performance of Messiah. See https://jubalslyre.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Text-Study-of-Handels-Messiah.pdf and https://www.worldcat.org/title/messiah-a-facsimile-of-the-1743-wordbook/oclc/36454433 for more information.

Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

NIV SB Notes are taken from the New International Version (NIV) Study Bible, General Editor Kenneth Barker, © 2011 by Zondervan.

LASB NLT Notes are taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NLT, © 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.

ESV SB Notes are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible, © 2008 by Crossway Bibles.

Document prepared by Stephen H. Wheeler

PART ONE: The prophesy and realization of God’s plan to redeem mankind by the coming of the Messiah

(i) The prophecy of Salvation

Isaiah 40:1-5

¹ “Comfort, comfort my people,”
    says your God.
² “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that her sad days are gone
    and her sins are pardoned.
Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over*
*(NIV SB Notes) Full (or enough) punishment.
    for all her sins.”

³ Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
    for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
    for our God!
⁴ Fill in the valleys,
    and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
    and smooth out the rough places.
⁵ Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
    The Lord has spoken!”

      cross references: Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4-6, John 1:23

(ii) the prophecy of the coming of Messiah and the question, despite (i), of what this may portend for the World

Haggai 2:6-7

⁶ “For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Malachi 3:1-3

¹ “Look! I am sending my messenger*, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger* of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

*(LASB NLT- Notes) There are two messengers in this verse. The first is usually understood to be John the Baptist (Matthew 11:10; Luke 7:27). The second messenger is Jesus, the Messiah, for whom both Malachi and John the Baptist prepared the way.

² “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. ³ He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.

(iii) the prophecy of the Virgin Birth

Isaiah 7:14

¹⁴ All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

Matthew 1:23

²³ “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!

    She will give birth to a son,

and they will call him Immanuel,

    which means ‘God is with us.’”

(NIV SB Notes) This is the first of about 50 quotations, many of them Messianic in some sense, that Matthew takes from the Old Testament.

Isaiah 40:9

⁹ O Zion, messenger of good news,

    shout from the mountaintops!

Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.

    Shout, and do not be afraid.

Tell the towns of Judah,

    “Your God is coming!”

Isaiah 60:1

¹  “Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see.

    For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you.

Isaiah 60:2-3

² Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth,
    but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you.
³ All nations will come to your light;
    mighty kings will come to see your radiance.

Isaiah 9:2

² The people who walk in darkness

    will see a great light.

For those who live in a land of deep darkness,

    a light will shine.

Isaiah 9:6

⁶ For a child is born to us,

    a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

    And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

(iv) the appearance of the Angels to the Shepherds

Luke 2:8-11

⁸ That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. ⁹ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, ¹⁰ but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. ¹¹ The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!

Luke 2:13-14

¹³ Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in highest heaven,
    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

(v) Christ’s redemptive miracles on earth

Zechariah 9:9-10

⁹ Rejoice, O people of Zion!
    Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
    He is righteous and victorious,
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
    riding on a donkey’s colt.
¹⁰ I will remove the battle chariots from Israel
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem.
I will destroy all the weapons used in battle,
    and your king will bring peace to the nations.
His realm will stretch from sea to sea
    and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

Isaiah 35:5-6

⁵ And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
    and unplug the ears of the deaf.
⁶ The lame will leap like a deer,
    and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
    and streams will water the wasteland.

Isaiah 40:11

¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
    He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
    He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸ “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

PART TWO: The accomplishment of redemption by the sacrifice of Jesus, mankind’s rejection of God’s offer, and mankind’s utter defeat when trying to oppose the power of the Almighty

(i) The redemptive sacrifice, the scourging and the agony on the cross

John 1:29

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

(LASB NLT- Notes) Every morning and evening, a lamb was sacrificed in the Temple for the sins of the people (Exodus 29:38-42). Isaiah 53:7 prophesied that the Messiah, God’s servant, would be led to the slaughter like a lamb. To pay the penalty for sin, a life had to be given—and God chose to provide the sacrifice himself.

Isaiah 53:3-6

³ He was despised and rejected—
    a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
    He was despised, and we did not care.

⁴ Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
    it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
    a punishment for his own sins!
⁵ But he was pierced for our rebellion,
    crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
    He was whipped so we could be healed.
⁶ All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
    the sins of us all.

Psalm 22:7-8

⁷ Everyone who sees me mocks me.
    They sneer and shake their heads, saying,
⁸ “Is this the one who relies on the Lord?
    Then let the Lord save him!
If the Lord loves him so much,
    let the Lord rescue him!”

cross reference: Matthew 27:41-43

Psalm 69:20

²⁰ Their insults have broken my heart,
    and I am in despair.
If only one person would show some pity;
    if only one would turn and comfort me.

Lamentations 1:12

¹² “Does it mean nothing to you, all you who pass by?
    Look around and see if there is any suffering like mine,
which the Lord brought on me
    when he erupted in fierce anger.

(ii) His sacrificial death, His passage through Hell and Resurrection

Isaiah 53:8

⁸ Unjustly condemned,
    he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
    that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
    for the rebellion of my people.

Psalm 16:10

¹⁰ For you will not leave my soul among the dead
    or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.

(iii) His Ascension

Psalm 24:7-10

⁷ Open up, ancient gates!
    Open up, ancient doors,
    and let the King of glory enter.
⁸ Who is the King of glory?
    The Lord, strong and mighty;
    the Lord, invincible in battle.
⁹ Open up, ancient gates!
    Open up, ancient doors,
    and let the King of glory enter.
¹⁰ Who is the King of glory?
    The Lord of Heaven’s Armies—
    he is the King of glory. 

(iv) God discloses his identity in Heaven

Hebrews 1:5-6

⁵ For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus:

“You are my Son.
    Today I have become your Father.”

God also said,

“I will be his Father,
    and he will be my Son.”

⁶ And when he brought his supreme Son into the world, God said,

“Let all of God’s angels worship him.”

(v) Whitsun, the gift of tongues, the beginning of evangelism

Psalm 68:18

¹⁸ When you ascended to the heights,
    you led a crowd of captives.
You received* gifts from the people,
    even from those who rebelled against you.
    Now the Lord God will live among us there.

*(ESV SB Notes) ...The verb "receive" (Hebrew lâqakh) can have the idea of "receive in order to give" or fetch...
cross reference: Ephesians 4:7-16

Psalm 68:11

¹¹ The Lord gives the word,
    and a great army brings the good news.

Romans 10:15

¹⁵ And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

cross references: Matthew 18:18-20, Acts 1:8

Romans 10:18

¹⁸ But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have:

“The message has gone throughout the earth,
    and the words to all the world.”

cross reference Psalm 19:1-4

(vi) the world and its rulers reject the Gospel

Psalm 2:1-4

¹ Why are the nations so angry?
    Why do they waste their time with futile plans?
² The kings of the earth prepare for battle;
    the rulers plot together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one*.
*(NIV SB Notes) The English word “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew word for “anointed one,” and the English word “Christ” from the Greek word for “anointed one.”
³ “Let us break their chains,” they cry,
    “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”

⁴ But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
    The Lord scoffs at them.

(vii) God’s triumph

Psalm 2:9

⁹ You will break them with an iron rod
    and smash them like clay pots.’”

Revelation 19:6

⁶ Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder:

“Praise the Lord!
    For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

Revelation 11:15

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven:

“The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
    and he will reign forever and ever.”

Revelation 19:16

¹⁶ On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

PART THREE: A Hymn of Thanksgiving for the final overthrow of Death

(i) The promise of bodily resurrection and redemption from Adam’s fall

Job 19:25-26

²⁵ “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and he will stand upon the earth at last.
²⁶ And after my body has decayed,
    yet in my body I will see God!

1 Corinthians 15:20-22

²⁰ But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. ²¹ So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. ²² Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.

cross reference: Romans 5:12-21

(ii) the Day of Judgement and general Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:51-53

⁵¹ But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! ⁵² It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. ⁵³ For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

cross reference: 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18

(iii) the victory over death and sin

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

⁵⁴ Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.
⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶ For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. ⁵⁷ But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:31-34

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? ³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

(iv) the glorification of the Messianic victim

Revelation 5:9-14

⁹ And they sang a new song with these words:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and break its seals and open it.
For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation.*
¹⁰ And you have caused them to become
    a Kingdom of priests for our God.
    And they will reign on the earth.”

¹¹ Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. ¹² And they sang in a mighty chorus:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—
    to receive power and riches
and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and blessing.”

¹³ And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
    belong to the one sitting on the throne
    and to the Lamb forever and ever.”

¹⁴ And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb.

*(LASB NLT- Notes) People from every nation are praising God before his throne. God’s message of salvation and eternal life is not limited to a specific culture, race, or country. Anyone who comes to God in repentance and faith is accepted by him and will be part of his Kingdom.