1. Gods Service and Our Service⤒🔗

1.1 God and the Idols←↰⤒🔗

Each nation on earth has its liturgy. When the Indians in the jungle perform their rain dance, stamp­ing the ground with their feet, waving their axes and spears in the air, while shouting their incantations, then that is their liturgy. They are conducting their "worship service"; they are trying to persuade their god to send rain. In order to influence the course of the sun the ancient Mayan nation performed their elaborate rituals, and the Baal priests on Mount Carmel, as was their custom, cut themselves in order to prod their god into action (2 Chron.18).

We are inclined to call such people primitive. But imagine for a moment that Wall Street would take a horrendous nose dive and, as a result, the world would be faced with a crisis. To be sure, no one would call on the "god of economy", neverthe­less people would go to great lengths to insure their very existence. That would require sacrifices. That thought: "you must sacrifice in order to insure your earthly existence," is precisely the same thought that motivated the so-called primitive nations.

Life on earth is risky and filled with dangers. Man must safeguard his livelihood and take the necessary precautions to insure his health. If it does not rain for a year or one becomes ill, it is very reassuring to have a couple of gods standing by who can come to the rescue, so that the rain will fall on time and a threatened illness is averted. And when the harvest is bountiful, it behoves you to express your gratitude to the god of harvest. He just might become upset and angry if you don't and withhold the rain from you next year. Therefore, from time to time you must bring sacrifices to keep him happy. If you want to keep on living, you carefully observe the rules and constantly strive to please your god. Gods after all are unpredictable and for no reason at all become angry.

Besides they are far away. You cannot see them, that fact alone poses a threat. It is, therefore, quite ingenious to make an image of your god. Then you have made him come to you and you have found a place where you can serve him. A place where you can put his food and drink, so that he won't starve (Psalm 50:12f). That way you have diminished the danger to a certain degree. Those who make an image of their distant god hold him in their hands and can control and manipulate him. If you observe certain rules, especially those that govern sacrifices, your god is satisfied and your earthly existence is assured.

All of this is not primitive. People today are faced with much the same problems. Everyone realizes that "somewhere out there," there must be a power or a god. However, one does not know him. One thinks: "If I lead a fairly decent life, this god will be satisfied." Then you hear: "Do I not live a decent life?" By doing so one makes sure that this unpre­dictable, distant force stays friendly.

Even today people try to bring this faraway god closer to them. "For me it is nature," one person says and another, "Each person is a little bit of god." Now all of a sudden this unpredictable power appears to be far less threatening. For flowers in the grass are very beautiful and people are pleasant for the most part. In any case their good side wins out.

Why this story about idolatry and heathendom in an article for reformed readers? In the first place to show that such ideas are common place in this world, not only in the past but today as well. In the second place because we are easily influenced by such ideas. The Old Testament teaches us that God's people experienced great difficulty in remaining free from secular ideas which were all around them, precisely in the matter of formulating their worship services. In a separate commandment, the second, they are warned against that danger. Liturgy is not a harmless activity. Giving form to our worship of God is not without risks.

In the worship service we appear before the majesty of the living God and it certainly matters what idea we have of Him. The preparation and arrangement of our worship services, therefore, de­mand great effort and careful thinking. Lately one detects an increasing awareness of the subject "liturgy." It is, therefore, good to think about it. The first lesson to be learned in this thought process is that the Old Testament must not remain a closed book.

1.2 Variations in Worship Services←↰⤒🔗

When we read the Old Testament, we see that Israel, just like their neighbours, brought sacrifices. Bulls were slaughtered and altars smoked in Israel as well. The Israelites, too, thanked God after a successful harvest. The difference was that the God of Israel was not called Baal but Jahweh. Was that, however, the only difference? Let us compare the two forms of worship.

Israel, in the first place, did not use an image of their God as, for example, the Canaanites did. For the God of Israel was not far away and did not need to be brought closer. He, after all, was the Creator of the whole world and thus Israel had an image of Him. When you look around, you can see and discover a great deal of God (B.C., Art. 2). We can even stay closer to home. We ourselves are living proof that God exists. God, the apostle Paul writes, "is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:24-28). Therefore, those who think they must make an image of God, must first remove Him from His own Creation.

The second difference is that the heathens, such as the Canaanites, used their worship services to keep their god friendly. However, if you bring sacrifices to God in order to appease Him you proceed from the thought that He is angry. And that is incorrect, for air and oxygen, which God gives to man, are good things. Can they come from a god who is angry? Those who think that sacrifices must be brought to God in order for Him to let go of His anger, turn things around. God does not have to repent, He is not the evil-doer in the world. God is and does good (Psalm 119:68). All of Creation attests to His goodness and we too provide living proof of that fact: we breathe, our lungs work and our hearts beat (Acts 17:25).

There is yet another difference. The heathens always serve their god with a lot of noise and commotion. You can see this in the behaviour of the Baal priests on Mount Carmel. They whirled around like dervishes, screamed their heads off and cut them­selves to such an extent that blood was dripping from their bodies. This form of liturgy literally meant sacrifices. In the meantime they behaved more like slaves than free children of their god. In the final analysis all their efforts were in vain. Their god could not help them at all. He did not even notice that they were in deep trouble.

When we observe a child of God, an Israelite, bringing a sacrifice, we hear him singing while he does so. There we get a different picture of God and the liturgy. With God you have it good and as a God and He redeems. In the course of history the refrain: Praise Jahweh, for He is good, has acquired an ever increasing depth of meaning. The more God had to intercede on behalf of His people, the more it became clear that: those who call on the Name of God will be saved (Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Psalm 50:13f, 23).

When an Israelite brought a sacrifice, he could do nothing but sing.¹He had to say good things about his God. A God who saves, you love (Psalm 116). You do not serve Him with pain and toil. You can only serve Him one way: with gladness and joy, otherwise life becomes extremely difficult (Deuter­onomy 28:47ff).

1.3 Liberation←↰⤒🔗

When we summarize our findings, we see that the liturgy deals with questions such as: Where is God? Who is He? and How must we serve Him? And, surprisingly, we do not have to go in search of God, as the unbelievers do with fear and pain in their hearts. Neither are we forced to construct all sorts of theories about Him. We are allowed to find God. God is there. He is our Creator and we are His (Psalm 100:3a). Neither do we have to employ all sorts of complicated artifices to keep Him friendly, or to induce Him to act favourably towards us. God is for us. Because we are His and He will take care of us (Psalm 100:3b).

The worship service, therefore, is the place where we find God and His salvation. Liturgy literally means "rendering of service". However we do not go to church, because God needs the service of our human hands (Acts 17:25). We go to church, be­cause we are in need of God's service, the service of salvation. The fact that God visits us, makes us glad and that must be celebrated. (Ps. 100:4). That is why we go to church. I therefore, give the following definition of liturgy:

Liturgy is God's service to us, so that we are freed for the service to Him, to each other and to the world.

The fact that God serves us means liberation. Man only knows himself to be free when God takes him in His arms; after all those arms created him (Genesis 2:7; Psalm 139:3). So God surrounds man with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:7). Everything that could ever bother man, "oppression" the psalms often call it, God removes from life. The cords of guilt and death, of trouble and sickness He takes away (Psalm 116:3, 6). People who have been freed celebrate; they must give voice to their joy (Psalms 32:7; 51:16f; 103:19ff; 116:17ff). That is their service to God.

This joy must be shared with others. God's children travel together. They sing to each other and take care of each other on God's way through this world. For with God it is good and those who share God's favour like to be with others who take part in His goodness (Psalms 9:15; 25:22; 32:11; 34:4; 40:4; 52:11; 130:7; 148:12; 149:1).

Those who know that God saves, also want other people to learn to know Him in that way. Thus they tell the story of God's mighty deeds. For this creation finds itself in an identity crisis, it is in search of itself and will only be in harmony again when all people praise God for His good deeds (Psalm 66:1ff; 67:5ff; 96; 97; 98; 99; 100:1; 150:6).

That is liturgy and the festive and solemn celebra­tion of it takes place in our worship services.

2. To Live is to Praise←⤒🔗

In worship we, people, give form to our relationship with God. However, God, not people determines it. People are created by God. Besides they have for­feited all rights to this relationship, because of their common guilt. The fact that in spite of this a liturgy is possible is because the Creator makes Himself known as a merciful God. He Himself again visits people and He again re-establishes the relationship with them. When people give form to that relation­ship, they are dependent on what God reveals and makes known about Himself. God reveals Himself as a God who forgives guilt and frees His people for service to Him. Therefore, the relationship with God as expressed in the liturgy can only accent the praise of God's name.

Only liberated people are capable of this praise. This makes the liturgy of God's children totally different from the "liturgy" of people and nations, who try to catch a glimpse of their god or try to make him do something for them. Such a liturgy can never rise above an agonizing search and will never re­ceive the accent of praise. In this world we only hear this accent from those who have been found by God and who in turn have found Him.

2.1 Praise must be Learned←↰⤒🔗

Liturgy is praise and those who wish to serve God must praise Him. That is easier said than done, for praise must be learned. We will discover that when we examine Psalm 50. This psalm was written at a time when things did not go well with God's people. On the surface everything seemed to be in order. The sacrifices were meticulously observed and brought on time (vs.8), there was plenty of talk about God's law and the word "covenant" was on everyone's lips (vs.16). We would say the church services were well and faithfully attended and the study societies flour­ished. No, that was not the problem. Rather it was that the life style of God's people was indistinguish­able from that of the unbelievers. Theft and adultery were quite common and no one was safe from tittle-tattle (vs.l8ff).

Yet the sacrifices continued to be brought faith­fully and the law was endlessly discussed. That apparently was possible. It all depended on how one saw God. At that time Israel shared the idea of the unbelievers: if you give God His due on time, He will be satisfied with your life (vs.9ff). In doing so God was reduced to human proportions. He resembled man. As long as you kept God as a friend, you could do as you pleased behind His back. People thought you don't hear much of Him anyhow (vs.21). Belief became a matter of fact and no longer had any bearing on your life style. God had been neatly placed at a distance. Once that was accomplished, it became rather easy to live with God, you could even talk safely about Him.

Asaph, who wrote this psalm, tries to break through this attitude in a rather surprising way. You would expect him to say: "Don't only talk about God, but practise what you believe; keep the Ten Com­mandments. Do this and you shall live." Asaph doesn't say that, for that is what the law says (Galatians 3:12; Romans 10:5). If the law must do it, Israel is lost and God will still be further away. Those who genuinely add up all the precepts of God's law (vs.6), only discover guilt in themselves.

No, Asaph says, the sacrifice that you must bring to God is His praise. And if you cannot praise Him, because you are experiencing difficulties, call upon Him and He will help you. If you do that, you honour God and you have opened the way to God's salvation.vs.14; 23

Those who want to repent apparently must begin with singing. The praise of God is the gate to life with God. Or, the other way around, when we plan and treat liturgy in a careless, slovenly manner and pay no heed to our worship services, God becomes distant. Where there is no singing, God is far away and man won't be able to find Him anymore.²

2.2 Whoever Loses his Life←↰⤒🔗

Praise must be learned and it certainly is not an easy learning process. Whoever wants to praise God must first get rid of himself. By virtue of our baptism we are obliged to do so: we must untie ourselves and seek life outside ourselves. That difficult process of dying and rising takes place in the praise of God.

For praise begins with an essential stillness be­fore God (Psalm 65:2). That is the first thing we must learn. God does not concern Himself with sacrifices but with two open ears (Psalm 40:7) and with listening to His voice (1 Samuel 15:22). Listening to God since the Fall is no longer routine. Those who wish to listen to God must silence several inner voices. For exam­ple, the voice of pride. If we are to praise God, we must praise His mercy in the first place. In order to do so we must recognize the fact that without God's mercy, we find ourselves in an altogether hopeless situation. By confessing that transgressions hold man in their power (Psalm 65:4) man provides proof that he has carefully listened to God's voice in the law. God does not demand a burnt sacrifice but a broken spirit and a contrite heart (Psalm 51:18ff). God Himself invites us to come to Him with words of confession, so we present to Him our confession made with our lips like it was done with the sacrifi­cial animals (Hosea 14:3).³

Those who know that their guilt has risen over their heads, also know that they are dependent on God's help to put His com­mandments into practice. Thus he calls on God for help and asks to be set free (Psalm 119:146).

The confession of guilt is also a component of praise. We honour God in our complaints of guilt (or troubles) (Psalm 15:15). For in them we make it known that God alone has the power to set us free. That is why God gives us the opportunity in our worship services to put all our troubles before Him. These complaints can be of a long duration and very intense and the praise of God does not always carry the accent of joyful and happy singing. The psalms make that clear on several occasions.

The second voice a man must silence is the voice of his conscience. Even though his conscience accuses him and he knows that he is guilty before God, yet he must believe that God wants to deal with him (H.C. 23). A man who gives up belief in himself may not loose God's salvation. Therefore, he confesses that God forgives his transgressions (Psalm 65:3). The sacrifice that pleases God is not a burnt sacrifice but the praise of Him for who He is: the fruit of lips that confess his name (Hebrews 13:15). In Psalm 65:3 the poet does not ask for forgiveness, he simply assumes that God forgives; he takes it for granted. That he does so shows that he has listened well to what God has revealed about Himself throughout history. God is a merciful God, who likes to forgive and again and again removes all obstacles that obstruct the rela­tionship between Him and His people (Deuteronomy 4:31). Whoever has such a God possesses something utterly unique in this world. Where in the world has it ever happened that a God wants to be where He cannot be and so He Himself cleans up the mess made by us (Deuteronomy 4:32ff)?

Such a God does not work from a distance, with His nearness man can only congratulate himself (Psalm 65:5). Those who know God as a God who forgives will also praise His election and consider it pure happiness that with God he is one of the family. It is, indeed, mercy to be welcome as guilty man with the living God. He Himself appreciates and makes that relationship possible: the sacrifices speak about it and that is the holiness of God's temple (Psalm 65:4). He who praises God finds Him. Praise origi­nates in loosing oneself but at the end of the song you find yourself back. The praise of God is the gate to who we really are.

There are then enough reasons to praise God's deeds. This also stills the voice of man's own strength. For the deeds with which God answers the praise of His people are awesome and you can observe them everywhere (Psalm 65:5). God's word is powerful and provides an anchorage and safe harbour any­where in the world (Psalm 65:6f). God is worthy to be trusted by the whole world. He guarantees righteousness and salvation in this world (Psalm 65:7). When God is near, man and the world find their respective destinations. When someone calls on God for help, he may trust that God will bring His strength and power into action, so that life according to His Word and law becomes possible (Psalm 119:73, 89-96,146). God may even come so near that we will obey the law from inside ourselves (Psalm 119:51; Jeremiah 31:33). The praise of God is also the gate to life according to God's commandments.

Meanwhile the voice of our own will has fallen silent as well. Whoever knows God and praises Him for who He is, only desires the will of God to succeed in this world (Psalm 65:6, 9). God has no interest in sacrifices but in someone who lives according to His will (Psalm 40:8). The voice of intellect becomes quiet too. A God who goes into action can only be greeted with respect and rejoicing: wherever this God ap­pears He is met with pure adoration (Psalm 9). That is the sacrifice God is waiting for, anything less will not satisfy Him (Malachi 1:11).

Those who praise God not only re-discover them­selves, they also re-discover the whole creation. For creation flourishes with a God who renders the service of reconciliation to the world. The earth gains vitality and everywhere new energies are re­leased. God is near; wherever you look, you discover Him and His gifts (psalm 65:10-14). The praise of God is the gate to new life.

Without praise no one prospers. But the nation that praises God is a gift to this world. It is impossi­ble for someone who praises God to misuse what He has made. "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God." (Proverbs 14:31). God is not interested in sacrifices but in a people that love Him and His works. He asks for sacrifices of love and mercy (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:12). The praise of God is the gate to a loving life with God and the neigh­bour.

And what is the conclusion of this song? It is a new song. In alternation the songs of liberation are sounded by Creation (Psalm 65:14). Whoever praises God never stands alone and increasingly finds more reasons to praise Him. Man can truly loose himself in the praise of God and so gain a taste of eternity. The praise of God is the gate to eternal life.

The praise of God then consists of various ele­ments: confession of sin and guilt, confession of faith, prayer for God's help and praise, thanksgiving and adoration of God. We can summarize all these elements with the expression: "calling upon the Name of God," an expression which can be found in the Bible, in the Old as well as in the New Testament, as a technical term for the liturgy of God's congrega­tion.⁴All the elements which constitute this calling upon God's Name must be found back in an "order of service" and must determine its structure.

2.3 The Most Important Part that God Requires of Us←↰⤒🔗

When, for a moment, we return to Psalm 50, we understand why Asaph wanted to teach the people about God. He does not burden the people with something they cannot carry. He does not use a legalistic whip. God does not require too much from His people; He is not out to get them (vs.9). God does not want us to do or give Him something. He wants us to be something for Him: a happy and thankful people who praise Him for who He wants to be for us.⁵Apparently all sacrifices without praise are meaningless.

That is the lesson of Psalm 50 and with it Asaph guards God's people against a life without love. When Israel had to have it from the law, it had to look for a compromise in some way, in order to keep life with God viable. However, then faith looses all its surprises and one's neighbour always becomes the victim (vs.l8ff). Therefore, Asaph shows us a better way: the way of love. Love, mercy, faith, trust and obedience are practical synonyms in the service of God, because these "fruits of thankfulness" come into existence wherever God is praised for who He is and wants to be for His people: both Creator and Redeemer. Where God is so known (to know is also a synonym of to love, Hosea 6: 6), a song is born and there is no sacrifice that pleases God more:

I will praise God's name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.Psalm 69: 30, 31

We can now also begin to understand why the Catechism calls prayer, (i.e., calling upon God and thanking Him) — that includes the singing of the psalms — the most important part of thankfulness which God requires of us (H.C. 45).⁶ It does not look like much but in reality it is everything.

We also begin to understand what Moses wanted to teach God's people in Deuteronomy 28. We read there that when we do not serve God with joy and gladness our enemies will gain the overhand in our life (vs. 47), then an economic crisis follows which brings everybody to the very edge of the abyss (vs. 51ff). In the final analysis Israel would be back where it all started, working as slaves "in Egypt" (vs. 60, 68).

From such a future God wants to protect His people. That is why God gave Israel separate commandments to celebrate at appointed times. On the Sabbath and during Passover, for instance, the Isra­elites were not allowed to work (Leviticus 23:7, 31, 30, 36). After all God had brought His people out of Egypt and He cannot have them working like slaves. He, therefore, instructed them: rejoice where I am (Leviticus 23:40f). Feasting on command! That is why each worship service must be a feast and de­mands a form that befits such a festive occasion.

3. With all the Saints←⤒🔗

3.1 Liturgy by Royal Command←↰⤒🔗

Prayer is necessary for Christians, because it is "the most important part of the thankfulness that God requires of us" (Heidelberg Catechism L.D. 45). In order to support this statement the Catechism refers to Psalm 50:14, 15. This word of Asaph provides us with the marks by which we can recognize God's children, namely that Christians honour their God by praising Him and by calling on Him in prayer. The answer of Lord's Day 45 is deeply rooted in what God teaches us concerning the liturgy. Everything that concerns our relationship with God, from the confession of guilt to the praise of God's mercy; from calling for God's help to thanksgiving for the given rescue; and from the faith in God's salvation to the adoration of God for who He will be for us and the world, we can summarize in the expression "calling upon the Name of the Lord." By referring to Psalm 50:14f, the Heidelberg Catechism gives prayer a much broader meaning than we commonly do. All life with God is typified as "liturgy" (cf. Romans 12:1).

We will now trace how the believers in the Old and New Covenant gave form to their relationship with God in their lives. Our voices can only begin to sound, when we join in with all the saints who preceded us in the service of God (Hebrews 11:40).

There has been one man who clearly understood what God's Kingdom was all about and who learned the lesson of Moses and Asaph well, king David. When he became king, David understood that there would be no future for his people, if they did not give careful attention to the "liturgy." Therefore, his first concern was to bring the ark to Jerusalem. The ark, after all, spoke of God's reconciliation. The worship service was regulated by Law. Liturgy, however, was a matter of state and David saw it as the most important point on the agenda of his government plans.

He personally organized the worship service. He appointed poets, singers and musicians; he took care of the temple choirs and orchestra (1 Chronicles 25; cf Nehemiah 12:31, 36, 46). In a nation where the Holy God Himself is present with His mercy, sounds of joy may not be missed, on the contrary, they must be loud and clear (1 Chronicles 15:16). The service of reconciliation demands festive music. All sacrifices without praise are meaningless and demand musi­cal instruments (1 Chronicles 16:6) to give the service of reconciliation added power and splendour (2 Chronicles 5:1ff; 26, 25ff; 30:21). There must be music in the life of God's people. It is a bad sign when musical instruments fall silent among God's people. It means that the service of reconciliation no longer makes an impression and that the refrain: "Praise the Lord for He is good" is no longer heard. And where that happens, death conquers life (1 Chron. 16:34; cf. Isa. 24:8; Jer. 33:11; 7:34 and Ez. 26:23).

David understood that the great deeds of God must be praised by us with all our might (1Chronicles 16:7ff). For on earth there is a place where there is reconciliation, where man can meet God and yet remain alive. In that place the praise of God must be safeguarded and the world shall know it (1 Chroni­cles 16:8f, 14, 23ff). Where festive music is heard, there apparently sure proof is to be found that God is present with His salvation. How otherwise shall God's name be maintained and be great for ever? (1 Chronicles 17:24). Such apparently is the great im­portance of the liturgy and, therefore, worthy of the king's personal attention.

To be busy with liturgy can never be a matter of hobbyism or an itch for something new. David knew that everything was centered on praise⁷ and that it demanded good organization. The people he hired to take care of the music in the temple and to proph­esy to the accompaniment of instrumental music ­apparently music is an excellent means to intone the Word of God — had a full-time job with an appropri­ate salary. These officials had to be experts. There were special schools for learning to write poetry, to prophesy, to sing and to make music (1 Chronicles 25:70). David wrote the complete script for the lit­urgy and when it was put into effect, he himself directed it (e.g., 1 Chronicles 16:4ff; 25:1ff). He under­stood that the work of the temple servants was more important than the activities of his army. In Chroni­cles the list of musicians comes before the list of the army officers; a war could not be won if God was not praised first. The affairs of the ministry of defense were subordinate to the ministry of liturgy! The praise of God had to be learned and organized, for the safety and well-being of the people was served by it.

It, therefore, is understandable that Nehemiah became furious, when, after the exile, he found out that the singers and musicians had gone home to work their fields, because they no longer received their wages (Nehemiah 13:1ff). For that reason the praise of God had fallen silent and a nation which had been snatched from the grave of exile ought to know better. God had done great things by bringing a nation that deserved death back to life (Psalm 126). When after such an event you still do not sing Alleluia, you give up your identity as a people of God and lose all right to exist. Nehemiah understood that and restored the musicians to their task (Nehemiah 13:30). When her majesty Queen Elizabeth visits this country, the visit is prepared well in advance. Scripts are written, experts are consulted and everyone shows his best side. The speeches and music are rehearsed to perfection. His majesty king David did not consider himself above these mundane liturgical matters. He knew that in the worship service, we appear before the majesty of the living God and it certainly matters how we do that. In the relationship with His people, God tested them (1 Chronicles 29:10-20). In our worship God wants to see His work back. In other words, the liturgy must show where it comes from.

3.2 Perfect Past Tense?←↰⤒🔗

However, in the meantime we are living under the New Covenant and up to now we have been "stuck" in the Old Testament. I did that purposely, be­cause — certainly where it concerns the liturgy — an incorrect contrast is made between the Old and New Covenant. We are quick to relegate the Old Testament worship service to the shadows of the law which ended with the coming of Christ.⁸

But it is precisely in the New Testament that we come across much Old Testament data. When Mary wanted to sing a song because the Lord had done great things to her, she referred back to the song of Hannah; her voice could only sound with that of Hannah (Luke 2:46-55; 1 Samuel 2:1-10). Paul lis­tened well to Psalm 50. All his letters begin with praise.⁹We will celebrate the "marriage feast of the Lamb" with joy and gladness (Revelation 19:7) and in it we come across the words that can be found back in Deuteronomy 28 (cf Acts 2:46). It describes the same future as Deuteronomy 28:47ff. The world where God is not served with joy and gladness is a world that is totally bankrupt (vs. 17). Where no musical instruments are played and all merriment has disappeared from life forever (vs. 22). Where liturgy is a forgotten chapter all life bleeds to death.

Fortunately the New Testament paints a differ­ent picture. Before we get to see the new city of God, we first hear a hymn that praises God. The New Jerusalem may no longer have a temple, but entrance into this city is the same as entrance to the temple of former times. You can only enter into the New Jerusalem (Psalm 100:4) with a song; with joy and gladness you enter its gates. When you have es­caped death for the second time (Revelation 20:6), you certainly learn to sing.

3.3 No Music of the Future←↰⤒🔗

That this song must be learned now, can be con­cluded from it. The vision of Revelation 14:1-5 depicts the situation of the congregation of the New Covenant, in other words, our situation.¹⁰ We hear how this congregation sings a new song that pen­etrates into heaven, even to the throne of God. The choir consists of followers of the Lamb. They are people, who — already now — are no longer subject to God's wrath. The blood of the Lamb took care of that. They may live before God and their song is music to His ears. They also use instruments (vs. 2). Thanks to Jesus Christ, God is at peace with them and that makes them rejoice (cf. Romans 5:2, 11). Here, too, everything in God's kingdom is centred on praise.

How this song will sound later in God's new world is described in it. There we come across words from the song that David made when he had fin­ished all his work for the service of reconciliation and saw it crowned with God's mercy (vs. 12 and 1 Chronicles 29:12).¹¹ He was allowed to make a song for the new earth. Here the power and durability of song becomes apparent.

Meanwhile, the believers do not have to hold off on their singing until they are on the new earth. For then they would fall behind all of creation, those who went before them and the angels in heaven. Revelation 4 and 5 shows us that heaven is an open heaven. By His bitter suffering, Christ has made that possible. In Revelation 4 and 5 we see how He, the Lamb of God, is praised for this victory. It is an imposing spectacle. From all corners of the globe, Christ receives honour and the mightiest nations on earth fall on their knees before Him.¹²It is precisely this world we enter, when we go to church on Sunday (Hebrews 12:23ff).

We may close the church doors behind us but the gates of heaven are open. We leave the car on the parking lot and walk into the direction of the city centre where the living God dwells. We approach Jerusalem in heaven and the thousands of angels.

We meet our friends and suddenly we are participat­ing in a festive, solemn gathering of the first born whose names are written in heaven. We chew our peppermints and chatter with our neighbour, but meanwhile we have approached God Himself, the Judge of all. Maybe we are barely awake and our wet hair is still plastered to our head, but still we ap­proach the spirits of the righteous people who have reached the goal of their pilgrimage. We even ap­proach the blood which Jesus poured out, the most costly and most valuable possession there is, and even if you would add up all the money in the world, you would not be able to pay for it. That we may appear before God and His angels comes at a very high price, the life of God's own Son.

3.4 The New Song←↰⤒🔗

As we already saw in the Old Testament, the coming of Christ makes clear that God was not concerned only with sacrifices. After all, the blood of bulls and rams lack the power to reconcile sin (Hebrews 10:4). Sacrifices simply showed that God had the power to do so. God makes the impossible possible, because He wills it. Christ knew His Father and how He loved the world, how much He wanted to have a relationship with it, but was unable to do so because it was ruled by sin. Then Christ gave Himself to the Father and became the Mediator between God and His people. God came as man on earth. All of a sudden the priests were out of work and the altars obsolete. No longer did anything need to stand in the way of the relationship between God and man. From heaven Christ's voice sounds and since the Spirit tells His story to the world, the good news of recon­ciliation reaches all people on earth. And those who understand it, praise the great deeds of God (Acts 2:11). There is a place on earth where the wrath of God was really kindled. A grave was dug and with Christ, we died and yet we live before God (Colossians 3:3). What would Nehemiah have to say to us? When Paul relates this story, a song comes into being as if on its own accord (e.g., Philippians 2:6ff; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:11-14).

4. With Heart and Mouth←⤒🔗

4.1 Liturgy from Heaven←↰⤒🔗

In the previous section we saw that the liturgical facts from the Old Covenant return with power in the New Covenant. With the coming of Christ, forms may have changed, but the worship service of God's people continues. We still appear before the face of the living God. More so than the believers under the Old Covenant, we now know how much God appre­ciates the relationship He has with us. We conclude this from the price He paid for it. Wherever the story of God's love is told, a song is loosened in the congregation of Christ.

Christ in heaven serves His church on earth in that He is the liturgist of God (Hebrews 9:11ff). Therefore, He is the host in each church service and ministers to us the fruits of His sufferings. In this way enormous forces are set free, "dead" people begin to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14). Who­ever thinks that the word "sacrifice" can be done away with, makes a mistake. For those to whom Christ ministers can only find more reasons to praise God. He brings God a sacrifice of praise without ceasing (Hebrews 13:15)¹³

And with that the Old Testament concept "sacrifice" returns. The priest of the old Covenant may be pensioned off and the altars may have stopped smoking, but there are as many priests and altars as there are Christians. The liturgy of God's people did not end, but really came into its own! For God's service came to its climax. The demand to exercise care and the call to engage experts in order to come to a proper liturgy, as can be distilled from facts in Chronicles especially and which came as a command of the Lord to the people of God (2 Chronicles 29:25), comes at the congregation of the New Covenant with all the more emphasis. In Christ, God's name now stands firm and shall be great forever.

He comes in the midst of our lives with the word of reconciliation. He touches our heart, so that our mouth can sing, "Jesus is Lord!" and "God has raised Him from the dead!" (Romans 10:8ff). With that song and that confession, all preaching ends (Rom. 10:14ff). Now that God has made Himself known in Christ, we also must make ourselves known. Now it must be heard in our voices, what God has done in our hearts. It was David's prayer that God's people would praise Him with heart and mouth and that this attitude would continue to typify the people of God's covenant (1 Chronicles 29:18). If we want to pass the test of God we cannot stay behind the people of the Old Covenant (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:17).

It is thus out of respect for God's Word that we continue to examine our liturgy critically. When, for example, we ask ourselves whether it is not better to sing the Credo or to have the congregation speak the word Amen, to indicate that the Word of God has indeed reached us and that God has addressed the very root of our existence.

As under the Old Covenant the service of recon­ciliation loosened tongues and caused instruments to be played, so Christians now address each other with alternate singing, with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs of God's great deeds. That is sure proof that the Word of Christ has reached them and dwells richly in them. How come we no longer sing in alternation? Do the deeds of God no longer mean anything to us? Do we no longer have a message for each other? The New Testament congregation has many more reasons to serve God with joy and glad­ness. Her mood is typified by heartfelt singing (Ephesians 5:18). In a most remarkable way, texts such as Ephesians 5:18f and Colossians 3:15 show how exuberant the liturgy of God's new people must be.

Apparently God is not stingy in the distribution of His grace. That means that we may search out all the talents that God has given us by His Spirit and make them subservient to the joyful meeting with our Lord. The fact that everything in the congrega­tion of Christ, the liturgy as well, should be done in a fitting and orderly way (1 Corinthians14:40), does not mean that we should be satisfied with a mini­mum of joy because sobriety is best. It means that we correctly channel the "traffic" that has been released by the Word in the congregation.¹⁴We do not need to do more than what has been given us. Happily that is always the measure that God, in His mercy, sets for us (Romans 12:3). We do not have to offer God more than we have received. Precisely for this reason we show Him what we do have and will not hold that back from Him in our liturgy. In this mutual rela­tionship it must become apparent how much Chris­tians have understood of God's grace. When they are indifferent about the liturgy, when their service is not joyful and glad, it is apparently a sign that they have not understood much of God's grace. And how will God's name then be maintained and be great for all time? When the unbelievers do not notice with how much exuberance and cheerfulness Christians serve their God, how will they know that there is a place on earth where God dwells? When God's name is not called upon "by prayer and petition with thanksgiving" (Philippians 4:6), how will the world learn to understand that there is salvation with Him? Approximately a hundred years after Christ's death the heathens noticed that the Church was known by her song. In the year 110 Pliny, the governor of Bithynia, reported to the Emperor Trajan that the Christians were accustomed to singing hymns to Christ as their God. The heathens noticed that the Christians were not reserved! Liturgy does not need to be sombre in order to be clear.

In those first centuries the heathens also noticed how these Christians, who brought this sacrifice of praise to God, were charitable to believers and unbe­lievers alike. That happened during a plague epi­demic. Those who bring a sacrifice of praise to God must also bring the sacrifice of charity and liberality. Such sacrifices are God-pleasing (Hebrews 13:15). In addition to evangelism and mission, the liturgy has everything to do with the diaconate of Christ's congregation.

In Psalm 65 we saw that those who wish to praise God must first praise His mercy. This mercy took abundant and definitive form in Christ. It would be worthwhile to take stock of the number of hymns in our Book of Praise that directly praise Christ for that reason. Even more than God's people in the old dispensation, the church now has reason to praise Christ with new songs (cf. Psalm 96:1 and 98:1). He continues to visit numerous generations with His grace. From how many of these does He receive new songs and how many songs have we made for Him? Do we pass God's muster with the number of hymns in our church book? So many songs have been made. We only have "to pick them up" in order to make them subservient to our service of God.

4.2 The Service of Love←↰⤒🔗

The gift par excellence that Christ has given us is the Lord's Supper. All liturgy ends there. There God and man find each other and there God's children are safe with all their troubles and shortcomings. That is how near God comes with His word of reconciliation and precisely there the congregation must show what they have understood of God's gift of love. If there is one occasion for festivity, it is there during the celebration of the Lord's Supper. As kings, we can still learn a thing or two from our predecessor David. A pair of trumpets was not enough for him to celebrate the service of reconciliation.

God no longer prescribes in detail how we must serve Him. We have grown up in the meantime and have seen a great deal of God. We are mature. It is up to us to show how great God's deeds are in our life. Are two trumpets enough for us? Are we really celebrating? Or do we try to get by with an "inferior sacrifice" (cf. Malachi 1:14). We celebrate nothing less than the liberation of all of creation.  A God, who heals life, cannot be served half-heartedly. In the liturgy, love constitutes the service.  And love always searches for good and suitable forms to express that love and will not be easily satisfied.

That is the case in human relationships. How much more should this not be the case when it concerns the relationship between God and man? We cannot say that form was the concern in the Old Testament but that now the concern is the heart. We would do injustice to the saints of the Old Covenant and forget that God still wants to see and hear how we treasure the relationship with Him. When a man gives his wife her favourite flowers on their wedding anniversary, she doesn't say: "Honey, it is a matter of the heart, I know that you love me very much." On the contrary she will gratefully accept the bouquet as sure and renewed evidence of the love that lives between them.

Liturgy thrives on love. In our search for more¹⁵ or better forms we, therefore, must not let ourselves be guided by fear. That can never be the case with liturgy. The word "fear" does not belong in a diction­ary of love (1 John 4:18). It also means that in our deliberation about the liturgy we want to hold on to and take each other along on God's way. We cannot let it happen that one of God's children no longer raises his voice in song. The praise of God's name is not served by it.

For that reason we cannot leave the Old Testa­ment a closed book, when it concerns our liturgy. Those who no longer read the Old Testament may loose Christ (Luke 11:52; 24:44). It may be compared to a wife who has forgotten how much she loved her husband and how he at one time won her heart. We need the story of the Old Testament to see how God won His people for Himself and to know how many battles He fought to bring us where we are now (Hebrews 11:40). Anyone reading or re-reading that 'love story", learns to sing. First of all, Kyrie eleison, as soon as the power of guilt and death makes life impossible. But then also, Gloria in excelsis Deo, as often as God's grace becomes apparent. The story of the Old Testament tells us how God again and again interceded on behalf of His people and saved them, sometimes as a result of their genuine complaints, but more often in spite of their rebellious character. Those who read this account of God's love, learn to understand Christ's gift of love and that must be noticeable in their lives.

God is known by His voice. We are known by our voice. In a song these two voices find each other. And when all is well, they become inseparable.