Psalm 33 rings out a new hope for the first time: the singing of the new song. “Sing to [the LORD] a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.” This is the first occurrence of six in the Hebrew Bible.
“Sing to the LORD a new song” is not a reference to contemporary music. It’s about the newness of the Gospel, a forever new song that can only be sung by those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. All of our praise now anticipates the endless liturgy of heaven, where we will forever sing the new song.
I like to listen to the podcast of a radio program called “The Composers Datebook.” It’s a few minutes each day about a composer of serious art music. The show’s tagline is, “All music was once new.” Obviously they are trying to counteract the idea so popular today that old music is bad and boring; only the newest music is any good. The variant on this is that only the music that was popular when I was a teenager is any good.
The truth is, theologically speaking, there is no new music in this world. The world has run out of music. It sings the same old tune, lyrics repeating like a scratched record: Love that does not last; lust endlessly indulged but never satisfied; wars waged without ceasing. The song of this world always ends up as a funeral dirge, for that is ultimately all this world has to offer.
The old song of this world falsely takes confidence in passing things, which vv16f addresses: a king who thinks he is saved by his great army, a warrior imagining his great strength will deliver him, a war horse giving hope where there truly is no hope.
So what is the content of the new song of faith? The lyrics of this song are revealed in Revelation. It is a song to the Lamb, Christ: “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, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth…. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
Ps. 33 condenses all of this down into two thoughts, in v.4: “For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.” God’s Word and work – that is the theme of the new song of faith, the new song of the Gospel.
So that is our song as Christians – the new song of faith, the new song of the Gospel, that new song that praises God’s Word and work, the hymn to the Lamb who was slain for us. But as we gather together regularly as Christians to keep learning and singing this song, at the same time we find that the world is trying to drown out our song. There is a cacophony as these two songs clash; it’s hard to keep singing the new song when the world keeps luring us with her siren tune that leads away from Christ.
So we wait and hope, as tonight’s Psalm ends: “Our soul waits for the LORD … Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.” We wait and hope, knowing that the glorious Day is coming when the old song will be silenced forever, and we will sing with endless joy our ever-new canticle to the Lamb. +INJ+
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Pr. Esget, I love the way you tied in Psalm 33 with the song of Revelation 5 – or rather, the way the Holy Spirit led you to see how Ps. 33 ties in with Rev. 5.
Thanks very much. It was Kantor Richard Resch who taught it to me, so the credit really goes to him.
Thanks very much. It was Kantor Richard Resch who taught it to me, so the credit really goes to him. Or perhaps it would be better to say, he was the one who guided me to this teaching which, as you said so correctly, is really the Spirit's teaching.
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