Different Sound, Same Song

              

M

y favorite piece of classical music is Pachelbel’s Canon in D.  I just can’t seem to get enough of it!  When I hear it, or any portion of it, I immediately stop what I am doing, crank up the radio, sit back, and drink in the wonderful strains pouring forth from the speakers.  I love the work so much that I purchased a CD recording of the Canon played in just about every way imaginable.  That’s right, there is only one song on the whole CD but it is played in so many different ways.

Now you may think I’m just a little odd to buy a CD with only one song on it, but I know what I like.  I have purchased a CD that had a whole slew of songs on it I didn’t like just to listen to the one song I wanted to hear.  To my mind, it is less odd to spend money for what you do like than to purchase what you don’t like.  But hey, that’s just me!

In any event, I’m digressing—back to the Canon.  Every time I hear that CD I am amazed by the many different ways that composition can be played.  Yet, no matter how upbeat the tempo, no matter the composition of the orchestra playing it, and no matter how the particular conductor interprets Pachelbel’s work, one thing remains the same—the music!  It is unmistakable and the telltale notes and sounds of the Canon are readily and immediately recognizable.

The writer of the book of Hebrews would have appreciated my recording of Pachelbel’s Canon.  In one sentence, he encapsulated the one overriding theme of the Scriptures.  This statement is found in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Every page of the Bible looks forward to the coming of God’s Messiah and the redemption of the human race.  The writings of the prophets are filled with the refrain, the sacrificial system of the Old Testament speaks about him, and God’s own words promise that He would send a redeemer to restore the relationship between Him and man.

That promise was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer of mankind.  Jesus said that his gospel would be preached to the whole world and that his followers would be his messengers.  Since the giving of the Great Commission, the good news of Jesus Christ has gone out to the entire world.  Jesus never taught in any language other than his own and yet the gospel has been recorded and told in almost every language known to man.  Jesus never used radio or television and yet the good news of his salvation is beamed to all points of the globe.  Jesus never had a computer yet through the Internet millions have an opportunity to hear and to learn about God and the salvation He offers mankind through His son, Jesus Christ.

Yes, composition of the orchestra, the means of delivery, and even the tempo of the message may be different than it was in Jesus’ day, but the message is the same.  Jesus Christ is the same today as he was yesterday.  He is the same God present at the creation of the world and the same God reconciling man to Himself on Calvary’s cross over two thousand years ago. He will be the same God tomorrow that He is today.  He will not change.  No matter the method of delivery, by Internet, by radio wave, by television antenna, in French, Spanish, Swahili, Polish, Russian, Italian, Arabic, Hebrews, etc, the message is still the same.  Jesus saves!

Are you a part of this orchestra?  Are you reading the music and playing it so that others can hear?  As Christians, we are called upon to share the gospel with all those around us.  The sound may be different; but the music is still the same!  Are you tuned up and ready to go today?