Continual Burnt Offering: Daily Meditations, April 3 (96:1-3)
“O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people” ―Psa. 96:1-3.
THE book of Psalms is composed largely of poetical expressions of worship, but on reading these matchless hymns of praise we need to remember that redemption was not yet actually accomplished. The veil was unrent. God was hidden in the thick darkness (2 Chron. 6:1). His people worshiped in an earthly sanctuary and their understanding of His truth was very limited compared to that full revelation now given in the New Testament, particularly in the Epistles, which open up the truth of Christ’s finished work on the cross, the rent veil permitting God to come out to man and man to go in to God. Our place of worship is the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 10:19), where Christ sits exalted at the Father’s right hand. We are called to worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), as those whose citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20), and who are in the joyful consciousness that we have been accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6).
—Mary Howley.