Bible Studies
Sixteen Candles
Do you remember or have you ever heard “16 Candles?” No I am not talking about the brat pack feel-good movie from 1984. I am talking about the song. I know that it came out a long time ago (as most of us did) but no doubt you have heard it on the oldie station or in a movie or maybe while walking around Six Flags.
While it climbed to number two on the charts I was still 8 years and a cheap bottle of wine away from blessing Harris Hospital with my arrival into this world. Still I know about “16 Candles.”
The last couple of lines say, ‘Sixteen candles in my heart will glow
For ever and ever for I love you so For I love you so!!!’
The Crests were a really different group and one ahead of it’s time when it comes to diversity. They were an usual ‘doo-wap’ quartet from Brooklyn New York with a very unusual mix. One of them was Italian, two of them were African American and the other was Puerto Rican.
The front man was a powerful singer by the name of Johnny Maestro. If you guessed that his name was a stage name you guessed right; but his familiar name was not that far from Mastrangelo, the name he was given at birth. I don’t know where they came up with the name “The Crests.” I supposed they didn’t like “The Colgates” and I bet they decided “The Arm and Hammers” would work more for a metal band.
“16 Candles,” was actually side B on another song that the label was pushing that year. It was brought in by staff writers Luther Dixon and Allyson Kent (Dixon co-wrote a ton of rock classics, including “Soldier Boy” and “Mama Said” by the Shirelles).
That next year the infamous Payola investigations would change things drastically but in 1957 disc jockeys were still playing whatever they wanted to, independent of a play list. Alan Freed of New York’s W.I.N.S. radio and Dick Clark on ABC-TV were two of the most influential deejays in America, and they liked “16 Candles” a lot more than “Beside You” which was the side A song.
Soon other disc jockeys began playing that record, which led teenagers to start buying it, which led to the song becoming #2 in the country. Now the reason they didn’t make it to number one on the charts is because that same season was the year that “The Chipmunk Song” sold about two million copies before Christmas. Nothing could’ve knocked it out of #l. A birthday theme song is one thing but Alvin saying “Me, I want a hoo-la-hoop,” was quite another.
16 is really quite a neat number. Biblically it is a number that is associated with the Love of God. In 1st Corinthians chapter 13 there are sixteen descriptions of the God kind of Love. It says, 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails (NIV)
It is no coincidence that throughout the Old Testament God reveled Himself through 16 Jehovah Titles in progressive revelation. Let’s take a sip of them.
1. JEHOVAH-ELOHIM: The eternal creator (Genesis 2:4-25)
That means you can count on Him to be Bigger than anything temporal or anything made.
2. ADONAI-JEHOVAH: the Lord our Sovereign; Master Jehovah (Genesis 15:2,8)
That means you can count on Him to be in charge.
3. JEHOVAH-JIREH: the Lord will see or provide (Genesis 22:8-14)
This means that you can count on Him to be your full provision.
4. JEHOVAH-NISSI - the Lord our banner (Exodus 17:15)
This mean you can count on Him to step out onto your battlefield and change the momentum in your favor.
5. JEHOVAH-RAPHA - the Lord our healer (Exodus 15:26)
That means you can count on Him for health.
6. JEHOVAH-SHALOM - the Lord our peace (Judges 6:24)
This mean that He knows how to give you a right mind.
7. JEHOVAH-TSIDQENUW - the Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6,33:16)
This means you don’t have to be good enough. He is good enough and He gives you credit for it.
8. JEHOVAH-MEKADDISHKEM - the Lord our sanctifier (Exodus 31:13, Leviticus 20:8,21:8,22:9,16,32, Ezekiel 20:12) That means he sets you apart for His special service for His special plan.
9. JEHOVAH-SABAOTH - the Lord of hosts (1 Samuel 1:3, etc. 284 times)
This means that when the devil brings a knife He brings a nuclear weapon. He is the lord that comes with an army.
10. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH - the Lord is present (Ezekiel 48:35)
This means that you can count on Him to never run off and leave you.
11. JEHOVAH-ELYOWN - The Lord Most High (Psalms 7:17,47:2,97:9)
This means that He is above the name of cancer and poverty and any form of despair that the world throws at you.
12. JEHOVAH-ROHI - the Lord my Shepherd (Psalms 23:1)
This means that you can count on Him to lead you, protect you and to feed you.
13. JEHOVAH-HOSEENU - the Lord our Maker (Psalms 95:6)
This means that He made you on purpose with a purpose. Then there is
14. JEHOVAH-ELOHEENU - the Lord our God (Psalms 99:5,8,9)
15. JEHOVAH-ELOHEKA - the Lord thy God (Exodus 20:2,5,7)
16. JEHOVAH-ELOHAY - the Lord my God (Zechariah 14:5)
It is no coincidence that there are 16 descriptions of the Love of God and sixteen description of God’s office. See, every time He reveals himself to us He says ‘I Love You’ in a whole new way.
Blessings and Peace on you as you drink from the Carpenter’s cup and may you find Him and fall in love with Him like never before.
Contact the Brewer at [email protected] or (817)-297-6911.
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