Responding To Redemption
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 (NKJV) - Indeed it came to pass, when 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 endures forever,” that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
“For He is good, For His mercy endures forever.”
2 Chronicles 7:1-3 (NKJV) - When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever.”
1 Chronicles 16:34 (NKJV) - Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
2 Chronicles 6:36-39 (NLT) - “If they sin against you—and who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to a foreign land far away or near. 37 But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’ 38 If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their captivity and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name— 39 then hear their prayers and their petitions from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you.
Leviticus 26:14-15,31,33,40-42,44 (NKJV) - But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant… 31 I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries… 33 I will scatter you among the nations… 40 But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land… 44… when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God.
2 Chronicles 36:14-16 (NLT) - Likewise, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the pagan practices of the surrounding nations, desecrating the Temple of the Lord that had been consecrated in Jerusalem. 15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them, for he had compassion on his people and his Temple. 16 But the people mocked these messengers of God and despised their words. They scoffed at the prophets until the Lord’s anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.
Ezra 3:10-11 (NLT) - When the builders completed the foundation of the Lord’s Temple, the priests put on their robes and took their places to blow their trumpets. And the Levites, descendants of Asaph, clashed their cymbals to praise the Lord, just as King David had prescribed. 11 With praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord: “He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!” Then all the people gave a great shout, praising the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s Temple had been laid.
“He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!”
“Music is the language of the soul…”
"Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven.”
-Walter Landor
Worship aligns our soul with Him:
- It takes our mind/will and sets it towards Him.
- It takes our heart and sets it towards Him.
Psalm 34:1-2 (NKJV) - I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord…
Luke 1:46-47 (NKJV) - And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
Acts 16:22-23,25 (NLT) - A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape… 25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.
“For the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever…”
It’s not JUST the WORDS, it’s WHO and WHAT they are addressing.
Our worship is for Him; it’s directed to Him and Him alone.