A Young People's Meeting: The Question Box: No. 5 Musical Instruments

From: Young Christian: Volume 30, 1940

From: Music in Christian Worship and Testimony, Instrumental: Has It a Scriptural Sanction?

Young People's Meeting: The Question Box, A: No. 5 Musical Instruments

From: A Young People's Meeting: The Question Box

• 3 min. read • grade level: 9

No. 5

Question: 4. Why are musical instruments not used in the meetings of those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Answer: True Christian worship is “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24²³But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. ²⁴God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23‑24)). It is “with the Spirit” and “by the Spirit,” (1 Cor. 14:15-16¹⁵What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. ¹⁶Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? (1 Corinthians 14:15‑16); Phil. 3:3³For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. (Philippians 3:3), N.T.) and needs no fleshly aids. The Holy Spirit, indwelling the believer individually, and the assembly collectively (John 14:17¹⁷Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:17)), is the power of Christian worship. Anything else ministers only to the flesh, and, distracting the heart from the true Object of worship, is only a hindrance. It is a safe thing to say that anything that mere man in the flesh can enjoy is not suitable in the things of God. We may pray and sing and bless God in the Spirit, but has an organ a spirit? Musical instruments would no doubt aid the accuracy and the time of our singing, but would hinder the spiritual character of worship, and this alone is what is acceptable to God.

“No heart but of the Spirit taught, Makes melody to Thee.”

When we note the origin of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21²¹And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. (Genesis 4:21)), we learn that, like other things not wrong in themselves, they were first used by the family of Cain to help them forget God. This is still the use to which they are put by the world. In Daniel 3:5,7,10,15⁵That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: (Daniel 3:5)
⁷Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. (Daniel 3:7)
¹⁰Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image: (Daniel 3:10)
¹⁵Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? (Daniel 3:15), instruments of music were used in connection with idolatrous worship. Appealing to the religious sense of the flesh, they produce a false sense of worship.

Musical instruments had their place in the Old Testament, and will again be used in the Millenium (2 Chron. 5:11-13¹¹And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: ¹²Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) ¹³It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; (2 Chronicles 5:11‑13); Psa. 150⁵A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: ⁶To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. ⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:5‑7)). They, like priestly garments, and sacrifices, are connected with an earthly sanctuary. But Christian worship is of faith, not by sight; heavenly, not earthly.

Again, Matthew 9:15¹⁵And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. (Matthew 9:15) contains an important principle, relating to this subject. The Lord Jesus, despised and rejected by this world, is absent, and this should in large measure characterize our worship. The church feels the absence of the Bridegroom! The flare of trumpets is surely not consistent with our relation to the Lord, as the Absent One! How can we worship Him, Whom the world has put to death, with the very same instruments which they employ to put Him out of their thoughts? Is not our position, in this respect, that of Israel in Babylon? (Psa. 137:1-4¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. ²We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. ³For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. ⁴How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? (Psalm 137:1‑4)). Their harps hung on the willows. “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” Subduedness should characterize our worship, while we think of our Lord as the Rejected One, and mourn His absence.

How about musical instruments in connection with the gospel? Here, again, the appeal would be to what the flesh enjoys, and would have no power over the conscience. The large place given to elaborate musical services in the camp is, no doubt, an attraction to many, and that God, in His sovereignty, could use the playing of a hymn, even by an unsaved musician, to the saving of a soul, we do not question. But could we who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, outside the camp (Heb. 13:13¹³Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Hebrews 13:13)) consistently with our heavenly calling, use in our service in the gospel what God has left out as unsuited to Him in worship in His presence, and think it suited to Him in His service in the gospel, either to children or adults? Rather, may we ever seek through grace, what is suited to His presence and pleasing to Him.

Does the Word of God forbid us to possess musical instruments, and to use them in our homes? No. Christians are left free to be led by the grace of God which has saved them, and to be constrained by the love of Christ, to live, not to themselves, but to Him who died for them, and rose again (Rom. 12:1-2¹I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ²And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1‑2)).

In conclusion, while singing has a recognized place in Christian service (Acts 16:25²⁵And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. (Acts 16:25); Col. 3:16¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16); Eph. 5:19¹⁹Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; (Ephesians 5:19)), musical instruments are never once mentioned in connection with it.

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