Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of Yahweh. And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of Yahweh. So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them, and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. And he stationed the Levites in the house of Yahweh with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king’s seer and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from Yahweh through his prophets. The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to Yahweh began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. When the offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.
—2 Chronicles 29:20–30
R. Scott Clark
R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
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So Musical Instruments are Ceremonial, waxen old and have been done away with
with the whole Older Testament, so to bring musical instruments into the Christian
Church is to bring Christians back under the Law, a mess of pottage in exchange for
a Gospel Birthright!
This sounds cranky, as though one had an antipathy in search of an object. Are the musical instruments in this account ceremonial in any way that the singing in it is not? Do Christians have a gospel birthright not to sing, and if so, to whom is this right precious? If ceremonial has been superseded in the new aeon, then why did Jesus mandate baptism and a supper ritual, why did the Holy Spirit descend at a festival?, why did the apostles meet at the Temple, why does St Paul quote and recommend hymns, and why did St John see ceremonies in his Revelations? Indeed, how on earth could the people of God in the New Adam refer the praise and thanksgiving of the whole Creation to him without some more or less solemn collective action? There are people are temperamentally disposed against ceremonial, just as there are people who are temperamentally disposed against theology, but I have never seen plausible scriptural evidence that either disposition has value to God or to the rest of us.
Bowman,
The Revelation is a highly symbolic revelation, which draws upon typological imagery to paint a picture of heaven, not to prescribe new covenant worship. Upon a moment’s consideration it is is evident that approach to interpreting the Revelation would yield, strange, amusing, and even bizarre results when applied elsewhere.
I’ve addressed these objections/questions in Recovering the Reformed Confession. See also the hundreds of posts in this library and in this library of posts. Here is a library on the history of Reformed worship.
On Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs see:
“And they with gladness…bowed down”
– This also should continue (in principle).