Where Christ comes, song comes, for Jesus Christ is a singing savior.
“I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation, will I sing they praise” (
Heb. 2:12).
The writer to the Hebrews ascribes to Jesus these words taken from Psalm 22. That Psalm begins with the cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Jesus made that cry His own on the cross. But the Hebrews passages reminds us that the whole Psalm is Christ’s—note only the cry of abandonment at the beginning, but also the vow of victory at the climax (v. 22).
Jesus had sung that Psalm often before He went to the cross. Indeed, He knew and sang all the Psalms in the congregation of God’s people. Think of the meaning the Psalms had when He sang them! If you would open a new experience of worship, meditate on the Psalms as the Psalms of Jesus.
...Jesus Christ IS THE SINGING VICTOR of the Psalms, the Son (
Ps. 2:7). seated on God’s right hand (
Ps. 110:1). He is at once the righteous man who ascends into the hill of the Lord (
Ps. 24:3–5) and the King of glory for whom the everlasting gates are thrown open (
Ps. 24:7–10).
When Jesus sang the Passover Psalms in the upper room with Simon Peter, and James, and John, His Father heard and all heaven listened:
“The Lord is my strength and song; and he is become my salvation” (
Ps. 118:14). The song of Moses (
Ex. 15:2) and of the prophets (
Isa. 12:2) became the song of the Lamb. Even the angels’ song in the fields of Bethlehem could not compare with the song of the Sin-Bearer.
But now the risen Savior sings in glory. He is the sweet singer of Israel, the choirmaster of heaven. He is not ashamed to call us brethren, but sings in the midst of His assembled saints in the heavenly Zion and on earth where two or three are gathered in His name.
...You needn’t hum a hymn to begin your personal witness to a neighbor, but if your heart is singing praise, then your witness will ring true. And a praising church, full of gospel singing, is a church in which visitors will say, “God is among you, indeed!” (
1 Cor. 14:25).
