Sunday, May 6, 2018 pm
STUDIES IN PSALMS
Let Everything Praise the LORD
Psalm 150
We are in the final section of “Hallelujah psalms” which offer unbridled
praise. The psalms begin
with the one who delights in the law of the LORD and it ends with a call
for everything that has breath to praise Him.
This particular psalm begins
with WHERE to praise Him, then WHY praise Him, and finally, HOW
to praise Him.
a.
In His Sanctuary
– the “sanctuary” would be the place where we find God.
In our study of the psalms we have continually mentioned
Jerusalem, the temple, Zion – a reference to “the place where God meets
with His people” (which for Israel was the temple in Jerusalem).
And of course, we must consider God being in heaven – where He rules.
Recall Psalm 15 & Psalm 24:3-6.
I am reminded of Paul in Acts 17:24-25 where he notes God does
now dwell in temples made with man’s hands, nor is he worshipped with
such.
When we think of praising God, we think of our prayers ascending to
heaven (cf. Matthew 6:9, etc.)
b.
In His mighty firmament
– as we look at His creation, both on earth and beyond, we are again
reminded how design demands a designer.
This too, has been a frequent theme of the psalms.
Romans 1:20 – His invisible attributes (omnipotence, eternity,
etc.) are clearly seen by the ways of this world.
Surely as we see these things we ought to praise Him.
a.
For His mighty acts
– all that He has done.
Again, we have seen throughout the psalms the mighty hand of God with
and against Israel as well as individuals and other nations.
He has proven Himself and the Old Testament testifies to His
greatness. Consider
Deuteronomy 3:24 where Moses is pleading with God to let Him enter the
promised land. He said, ‘O
Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your
mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do
anything like Your works and Your
mighty deeds?
b.
According to His
excellent greatness
– again, we are reminding of how much greater He is than we are.
Considering His greatness causes us to humbly realize our place
before Him. The word for
excellent is frequently translated abundant or multitudes.
Truly God’s greatness is abundant – AND EXCELLENT.
Let us never forget his greatness is seen in his actions and His
attributes.
a.
With instruments
– Vs. 3-5 mention a number of different instruments of all types
including those requiring our breath (trumpet, flutes), plucking strings
(harp, lute?) and percussion (both loud and clashing cymbals, timbrel -
tambourine). This is also
accompanied by “dance”.
In our last psalm we addressed the dance and noted it was nothing akin
to modern dancing (it was somehow reverently moving to music) and cannot
be used to justify such. The
same usage of the term is found here – joyful movements.
Here we find numerous musical instruments mentioned as instruments of
praise. One source noted
that clearly the intent was that the one using these tools was
praising God with them. In
other words, it was the actions of men.
b.
Instrumental Music and
the Old Testament.
It is argued that the use of
instrumental music in the OT is justification for its use today.
Passages such as this one and others might be used as proof.
Let us examine that argument.
i.
First, we do recognize
the instruments were used in OT worship.
Whether or not they were specifically commanded by God,
authorized or merely tolerated is not clear.
ii.
In favor of them being a
part of God’s instructions would be the following:
1.
The fact that they are
frequently mentioned – in the psalms and other places. Psalms 33:2,
43:4, 68:25, 98:5-6, etc.
The frequency of their mention leans toward it being something
accepted, or perhaps commanded by God UNDER THE LOM.
2.
From early on, trumpets
were used by the priests – Leviticus 23:24 notes a sabbath rest, a
memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
We don’t know much about what all was involved in this.
3.
When Israel was freed
from Egypt and had crossed the Red Sea, we read of Miriam and the women
(no men mentioned) dancing and timbrels and rejoiced, singing to the
Lord – Exodus 15:20-21
4.
But it is David that
made them more prominent. He
used singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments,
harps and cymbals and voices raised with resounding joy as the ark was
brought into the city – 1 Chronicles 15:16.
This is interesting because this was David’s second attempt to
bring the ark. The first
time, Uzzah was struck dead for touching the ark.
The second time inquiry was made to ensure it was done properly –
1 Chronicles 15:2-3. As
David prepares the second time we read in vs. 13-15,
For because you did not do it the
first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not
consult Him about the proper order.” So the priests and the Levites
sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. And
the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by
its poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.
5.
Several other passages
reference David and his instruments of music – 2 Chronicles 29:25-28,
And he stationed the Levites in
the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and
with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s
seer, and of Nathan the prophet;
for thus was the commandment
of the Lord by his prophets. The Levites stood with the
instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Then Hezekiah
commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the
burnt offering began, the song of the Lord also began, with the trumpets
and with the instruments of David king of Israel. So all the assembly
worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this
continued until the burnt offering was finished.
This occurs as Hezekiah is
restoring true worship in Jerusalem.
1 Chronicles 16:42 makes
reference to “instruments of God” as they worshipped.
2 Chronicles 7:6, as
Solomon dedicates the temple we read,
And the priests attended to their
services; the Levites also with instruments of the music of the Lord,
which King David had made to praise the Lord, saying, “For His mercy
endures forever,” whenever David offered praise by their ministry. The
priests sounded trumpets opposite them, while all Israel stood.
This is on an occasion when God
showed His approval of their actions – 2 Chronicles 7:3.
iii.
Some suggest that God
never commanded their use but tolerated or allowed them.
1.
The above examples,
while not indisputable, seem to imply this was something God at least
approved of.
2.
Amos 6:5 says,
Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for
yourselves musical instruments like David;
This is in the midst of a
passage condemning those at ease in Zion (6:1- 8).
But an examination of the context, shows the condemnation was
their pride and arrogance.
They did many things wrong and did things for their own pleasure rather
than properly serving God.
If anything, this shows how externals can be abused and thus be
abhorrent to God.
3.
NOTE: I could say the
same thing about singing today, if we get so caught up in the externals
that we fail to worship God with a proper heart or go through the
motions in our singing, we are NOT pleasing to God.
He wants us to sing with the spirit and with the understanding –
1 Corinthians 14:15. Clearly we need to think about what we in worship
to Him.
iv.
Because of all these
things, I am leaning toward the view that God included instruments of
music under the Old Law.
HOWEVER, I am also convinced that if such is true, we have an even MORE
COMPELLING case for why we should NOT use them today.
v.
DOES the authorized use
of instrumental music in the Old Testament authorize it today?
1.
No!!!!!!!
2.
We are not under the Old
Law any more
– Colossians 2:13-17.
We do NOT appeal to the Old Law for what we do today.
While we can learn from the Old Law (Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians
10:6, all of Hebrews, etc.), we are not under it any more.
We ONLY follow the New Testament in what we do.
Because the same God ruled in times of old (cf. Hebrews 1:1-2),
we will find SIMILARITIES under the New.
But those are clearly indicated.
3.
The psalms of the OT
quoted in the NT dealing with worship BOTH mention singing only.
Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22:22 (LXX), and Romans 15:8-9 which
quotes Psalm 18:49.
These are the only 2 passages dealing with worship that quote the Old
Testament. With all the OT psalms that mention instruments of music, WHY
were these chosen? To me this is an indication of what God desires now.
4.
Consider the difference
between the intent of the Old Law and the intent of the New Law.
The New Law is a law written on the heart. 2 Corinthians 3:3,
clearly you are an epistle of
Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the
living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of
the heart.
This describes and contrasts the Old and New Laws.
Our is an inward law (yes we have to obey His commands, but it’s
a spiritual law). Continue
reading through vs. 6 – the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
This makes perfect sense in our worship as the Old Law used external
elements (sacrifices, incense, priestly garments, instrumental music(?),
etc.), while we are to be “singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19) and “singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16)
5.
There may be other
arguments one can make for instrumental music (which we have addressed
in detail in times past), but to appeal to the Old Law is not valid.
6.
APPLICATION for us:
We need to praise the LORD AS He instructs us!
vi.
Finally, consider what
we are commanded to do – sing!
Nothing more or less.
c.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD
– our final statement challenges all of mankind to submit to and praise
Him. Philippians 2:10-11
tells us that every knee should bow.
Romans 14:11 tells us every knee SHALL bow!
But here, the text says everything with breath.
Again throughout the psalms we have noted that in their own way,
all creation worships and praises Him.
But doing what it is supposed to do, it acknowledges Him.