Voice Of Praise In Collective Service

by SEDDON, J. W. | Category: N/a | Oct 2006

As the children of Israel stood on the far side of the Red Sea and, at the command of God, Moses stretched out his hand to cascade death upon their pursuing enemy, they witnessed God’s seal upon their great deliverance. In Exodus 15:1 we read, ‘Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and spoke saying: "I will sing to the LORD for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him, My Father’s God, and I will exalt Him."‘

And so throughout the next 40 years of divine visitation, when God manifested His power in giving them victory over all their enemies, songs of thanksgiving and praise rose spontaneously to Him. However, from the time when God first revealed to Moses His desire to dwell among His people, there had been no collective service of praise within God’s dwelling until it was initiated by David, ‘the sweet psalmist of Israel’ (2 Sam.23:1).

Please read 1 Chronicles 16: 1-10. David had brought back the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom and in verse 4 we read, ‘And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the LORD God of Israel. On that day David first delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren, to thank the Lord’ (v.7). The RV margin reads, ‘on that day did David make it the chief work to give thanks unto the LORD by the hand of Asaph and his brethren.’

And so the voice of praise rises for the first time in collective service, and how fitting are the opening words to the occasion, ‘Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name.’

It was by this name that He endeared Himself to this people as the covenant-keeping God of Israel, the self-existing One, the unchangeable God, who is ‘the same yesterday, today and forever’. In verse 9, they were exhorted to ‘Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works!’ and in verse 12, to ‘remember His marvelous works’.

It was God’s desire that they should never forget His great deliverance from Egypt through the blood of the lamb and the parting of the Red Sea and the many victories He brought about for them in the land of Canaan. But how lamentable it is that the Psalmist had to record these words, ‘Therefore the Lord ... was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation’ (Ps.78:21,22).

The voice of praise had become silent as far as their collective service was concerned. As we look back upon the history of that great nation and God’s aspirations in relation to them, we have cause to remember that

... we have known redemption, Lord,

From bondage worse than theirs by far;

Sin held us by a stronger cord,

Yet by Thy mercy free we are.(Mrs Peters)

Paul writing to the Ephesians in chapter 2:11, exhorted them to ‘remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh - who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands - that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ’.

Here Paul draws out the tremendous contrast of what the Gentiles were, and what they are now by grace, brought near through the blood of Christ.

So nigh, so very nigh to God,

I cannot nearer be;

For in the person of His Son

I am as near as He. (C. Paget)

In Ephesians chapter 1 Paul reveals God’s purpose for the redeemed of Israel, not only that they should be brought into a relationship with the Gentiles as children of God, but also together as God’s new covenant people, and in verse 12 we read that this new covenant people ‘should be to the praise of His glory’.

This was not only to be in an individual capacity in Christian experience, but also in collective service. What, then, was to be the theme of their praise? It was to be the same as that of Israel of old: their great deliverance; in their case, from the bondage of Egypt; in ours, from the bondage of sin and its ultimate consequence.

In the song of praise of l Chronicles 16: 12 they were exhorted to ‘Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgements of His mouth’. But how fickle and how prone to forget is the human heart!

The Lord Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, had filling His vision all the purposes of God that would emanate from the cross, upon which he was about to accomplish the great work of atonement and from which He would create ‘living stones ... built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’ (1 Pet.2:5).

Those who would be the spiritual counterpart to Israel of old were to be ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. His own special people’, to proclaim ‘the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy’ (1 Pet.2:9-10).

And there with Him in the upper room was the nucleus of that holy nation: men, who at that very moment were seeking to glorify themselves, contending with each other as to which of them was accounted to be the greatest, men who would, in the near future, give glory to God in collective praise and worship. And so, ‘When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer ... "... And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you"‘ (Luke 22:14-20).

Thus was instituted by the Lord Himself, what we rightly refer to as, ‘the Remembrance’. It was the Lord’s intention that the thoughts of our hearts might be directed to Calvary, to consider Him who endured the cross and despised the shame, thoughts which are calculated to give us an appreciation of Him and are bound to express themselves whilst we are together, in worship and praise to God His Father for His adorable Son.

Thoughts of His sojourn in this vale of tears;

The tale of love unfolded in those years

Of sinless suffering and patient grace,

I love again and yet again to trace. (Mrs. Walker)

SEDDON, J. W. | Oct 2006
N/a