150 Days of Psalm comes to an end - Psalm 150

First words and last words are important.

Genesis 1 "In the beginning God..."

Malachi 4:5 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6 "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."

Matthew 1 1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

Rev. 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Psalm 1 "1 How blessed is the man who..."

Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD ! Praise God in His sanctuary ; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. 2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds ; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. 3 Praise Him with trumpet sound ; Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing ; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals ; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD !

The final words of the Psalms begin with "Hallelujah!" Praise the Lord!" It is obvious from this psalm that using instruments in worship is a good thing. I've mentioned in a few posts here how our friends who attend Church of Christ churches have an entire doctrine against using instruments in worship. They say that there is no mention of instruments in worship in the New Testament and that they only do what the New Testament says. I always say, "They don't mention air conditioning in the N.T. either." but that is a rather smart-aleck remark, so let me address this seriously.

I won't even bother with the ridiculousness of throwing out the Old Testament. It's too easy of an argument. When the Apostle Paul said, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16 NAS) The scripture he had was the Law and the Prophets (The Old Testament)

When Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets ; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17 NAS) He wasn't talking about the book of Acts. He was talking about The Old Testament.

Oh, I guess I addressed it after all.

But for sake of argument, let's base my assertion that musical instruments can and should be used in worship on New Testament words.
There are two verses that again, are too easy of an argument, but I guess sometimes you have to point out the obvious.

Ephesians 5:19 NAS


speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord ; (my emphasis)

Colossians 3:16 NAS

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (again, my emphasis)

What "psalms" could Paul have been referring too? The Psalter of course - all 150 psalms. If there was a "problem" or "sin" of using instruments in worship wouldn't Paul have mentioned that? "Oh, by the way, when you speak to yourselves in psalms, don't use the last one or any of the ones that mention instruments since God hates instruments now." Uh, I don't think so.

If we go with the assertion that we still can't use The Old Testament (again, a rediculous argument) then let's just look at the word "psalm." According to Meriam-Webster here is the origin of the word.

"Origin of PSALM



Middle English, from Old English psealm, from Late Latin psalmus, from Greek psalmos, literally, twanging of a harp, from psallein to pluck, play a stringed instrument" 
 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psalm

Shooting fish in a barrel.

Well... it's hard to believe we've come to the end of our study of the Psalms. I have thoroughly enjoyed this study. I hope you have too. And even more, I hope it has inspired you to continue studying the Bible each day. Maybe after VBS

Hallelujah! Sing praise to the Lord. And accompany your singing with all kinds of musical instruments.