panta dokimazete
Puritan Board Post-Graduate
Matt M. said:It is, to me, a bit too simple, to just say "hey, we should write brand new songs". That is WAY over-simplified.
And I hope you understand, it seems WAY to simplistic to say, "Hey, let's forget the command to sing new songs, and just stick with the Psalms, it is safer that way - we'll just legislate our way out of worshipping God with our whole heart, mind and strength by only having to compose new tunes!"
John specifically told us in 1 John 2:7 and 2 John 5 that the OLD commandment was the NEW commandment. The law has a NEW PERSPECTIVE about it. But the law does not change. Worship has a NEW perspective about it, but it does not change. We sing those songs, those Psalms, with theologically rich content.
You know - I was pondering these exact verses - compare what he says:
7Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
To Isaiah's prophecy:
6"I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
7to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8I am the LORD; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
9Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them."
10Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,
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If the light has come and been revealed clearly, why would we not heed the command and sing completely new songs that celebrate with absolute clarity that which was known only in part and in darkness? Why not rejoice and obey the OLD command and sing NEW songs in the light of our NEW PERSPECTIVE?