Sing to the Lord a new song! A new song implies there are other, older songs. One suggestion is that the old song is the Song of Moses, which the children of Israel sang after crossing the Red Sea and beholding the Egyptian army destroyed by its waters. The Exodus, and the accompanying songs and rituals, are central to understanding the Hebrew Scriptures.
However, I suggest that the Song of Moses, which begins, “I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation” – I suggest that this is but the opening fanfare of the New Song which sounds the main theme in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The final stanza is yet to be sung, yet we sing it already, rehearsing for its performance at the final advent of Jesus and the resurrection of all flesh. The closing book of the Bible anticipates this event (Rev. 5), and gives us the lyrics to the New Song:
8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.”
So what is the old song? St. Augustine said, “The lust of the flesh singeth the old song: the love of God singeth the new.”
Last Friday my eye caught a sign as I drove home. It said “New church. New way to worship.” This new way to worship, it turns out, is a service centered around bluegrass music. I’m sure these people are well-meaning; but nothing about our self-chosen styles or tastes has anything to do with the new song. The sacred music of the church is never in service to itself, but always serves as a carrier of the Word, which is to say, a carrier of Jesus. As soon as the musician’s skill or style becomes the focus, we are sliding back into the old song of man’s hubris, which leads to man’s death.
The ultimate expression of the old song is in the funeral lamentations of a woman bereft of her husband, her father, her son. There is no one to help, and she dances alone, with grief as her constant companion.
To sing the new song of redemption, the Psalm says, “Bring an offering.” What offering does He desire, but that which David said? “You do not desire sacrifice, else I would give it; the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, these O God, you will not despise.”
The greatest paradox of this new song is that, calling us to repentance, we are then told, “Let the earth be glad.” Everywhere are prophets of doom; the dogs of war are again unleashed, as jets deliver missiles of fire and death. Yet still the church sings, “Let the earth be glad,” for the One who made heaven and earth shall make all things new, making wars to cease to the ends of the earth.
The temple was so organized that the Levitical choir sang outward from the court where the altar was to the court of the men, then the court of the women, then the court of the Gentiles. As the song traveled out, the good news of salvation went out into all the earth. The entire earth is envisioned as becoming the temple of God, the place where God dwells in peace with man.
The earth itself becomes the choir singing the new song: “Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord.” Trees held Jesus from beginning to end, for trees were shaped into a manger for feeding sheep, a boat carrying His disciples across stormy waters; a table for feeding His disciples; a crown of thorns to announce His kingship; and a cross for this King’s throne. These trees of the forest sang for joy: How we have been sanctified by the flesh and blood of our Maker! Praise the Lord, for He has come among His trees to redeem His people!”
All around us is cacophony, the song of lust and death. But your life does not dance to that song. You are baptized. You sing the new song of Jesus and His life.