Music and the Holy Spirit

Music and the Holy Spirit.

“The beginning of prayer is praise. The power of worship is song. First we sing, then we understand. First we praise, then we believe. To praise is to call forth the promise and presence of the Divine. There is no knowledge without love, no truth without praise. The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the essence of prayer is a song, and man cannot live without a song.” (Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel).

Songs in the Key of Faith.  Music refuses definition. Music can be described, it can be lived, it cannot be defined. Music goes too deep for that. The ancient Greeks thought that music was an essential aspect of Logos, the Expression of God that created the world in wisdom and harmony. So for Jesus, the living Logos, to be seen as a God-song in the flesh makes perfect sense. The idea and reality of music goes deeper than we can imagine and deeper than we can possibly know until we are literally in heaven’s precincts, where music seems to be the common language. This leads us logically to wonder if, at creation, God didn’t merely speak the words that brought everything into existence. No, perhaps God sung those words. God filled the new universe with the new song of creation. God didn’t merely shout “Let there be light!” No, God sung those words that brought light to life. God’s first creative act, a song. Is it any wonder that at creation “the morning stars sung together and all the angels shouted for joy.” (Job 38:7). Because music is in the repertoire of God’s self-expression, music is imbedded within the very soul of God Himself. The Trinitarian Persons undoubtedly have spent eternity singing divine love songs to each other. If somehow music is a part of God’s essence, then we humans, being made in the image of God, also have music built into our human nature. Music has been part of the creative process, in both God’s and ours, since literally Day One.

It’s not surprising then, that the Bible, as the inspired Word of God in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, are full of songs that have been inspired by the Holy Spirit… from Moses and Miriam at the Red Sea, to the heavenly angels in the skies over Bethlehem; from the Psalms to the Song of Songs; from Deborah to Hannah to Mother Mary; from the brilliant poetic songs of Isaiah, to the other-worldly angelic songs in John’s Revelation; from Jonah’s song while in the belly of the whale, to Paul’s excerpts of early Christian songs in many of his epistles. For wherever there is self-expression, there is bound to be a song, there is an impulse to sing and make music. Rabbis say that the oldest texts in the Hebrew Bible are poetic songs. Because they were sung, they were remembered more precisely through the oral tradition, and they were probably less tampered with or paraphrased down through history. So it appears that the most historically authentic pieces of Scripture are the songs that were sung. They were memorized more easily, preserved more accurately, and handed down with more authority.

Music and Prophecy. “Worship in song is a higher form of proclamation.” (St. Benedict). Music is in the very soul of God. Music is in the eternal repertoire of God’s self-expression. The Trinity undoubtedly have spent eternity singing divine love songs to each other. If music is somehow a part of God’s essence, then we humans, being made in the image of God, also have music built into our nature. It makes sense then, that if God wants to communicate a revelation to humans, He will often prefer to communicate musically, through a prophet. That’s why music and prophecy are spiritually joined at the hip throughout Scripture. God talks through music with people, and prophets speak musically to the people. The two are intrinsically and dynamically fused. The Holy Spirit seems to inspire us, and open our hearts that much more effectively, through the prophetic use of music. Some examples in the Hebrew Bible include:

(1.) “Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them: ‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!’”  (Exodus 15:20-21). (Miriam is the first woman in the Hebrew Bible to be called a prophetess (Ex. 15:20).

(2.) “As soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre before them, and they will be prophesying. And then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily, and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man.” (1 Samuel 10:5-6).

(3.) “And Elisha said, ‘Now bring me a musician.’ And it came about when the musician played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said, ‘Thus says the Lord….”  (2 Kings 3:15-16).

(4.) “Moreover, David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service some of the sons of Asaph and Hemar and Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps, and cymbals.”  (1 Chronicles 25:1).

Worship, Praise and Song. Notice in Rabbi Heschel’s quote above how he considers worship, praise and song more or less synonymous. To worship is to lose oneself in adoration of almighty God in response to His worthiness, to celebrate the Lord for being supremely worthy of all reverence and praise. Worship is the weaving together of praise, thanksgiving and adoration. The English word “worship” comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word, “worth-ship.” Worthy is the Lord. “Worship is the delightful sense of admiring awe, empowering love, and astonished wonder in the presence of that most ancient mystery, that majesty we call our Father who art in heaven.” (A. W. Tozer). Worship strengthens our faith in God and empowers us to live the life of a saint who loves and serves the Lord. This why the Christian Church is first and foremost a community of singing worshippers. Corporate worship is Job #1 in the local Body of Christ as well as the global Church. Worshipping in song is a vital way to “seek first the Kingdom of God,” because it empowers believers to go out and be a light to the world. That’s why every church has some form in which it worships, some set way to order their worship service. The very term “liturgy” literally means “work for the people,” or “work of the people,” or better yet, “public work.” The ingredients of worship are glorifying God and praising Him. And the God-sent, Spirit-inspired vehicle is through music.

Filled with the Spirit, Overflowing into Song. The elements of worship in the Body of Christ have varied wildly through the ages. In the Hebrew tradition, there were such aspects of corporate worship as Scripture readings accompanied by teachings, prayers, singing the Psalms, forgiveness through ritual sacrifices, celebrations through holy feasts and festivals, and praise music everywhere one looked. The early Christian church honored their Jewish roots to worship by developing a liturgy of Scripture, preaching/teaching, prayers, moments of silence, celebration of holy days, and a heavy dose of worship music.

1. St. Paul gave us a glimpse of what that looked like in Ephesians 5:19… “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your hearts, giving thanks (“eucharist”) always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  To do this passage justice, we can’t skim over the context of the music… Being filled with the Spirit! One translation puts it this way: “Be inebriated in the Spirit’s fullness!” To be totally accurate with Paul, he literally used the continuous present here, imploring us to “Keep being filled with the Spirit,” “Continue being filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit.” He underscored how important it was to corporately sing Scripture (Psalms), sing songs that combine festive praises with teaching tools for the Faith that are theologically rich (hymns), and intentionally participate in songs inspired by the Holy Spirit during worship, spontaneous and improvised in the midst of the worship service (spiritual songs). Spiritual songs might also include a style of music that was less doctrinal (aimed for the head), and more meditational (aimed for the heart), such as the lyrics often found in worshipful choruses. But we shouldn’t forget that from the start of the church in the apostolic era, celebrating Communion together as a body of believers was also a vital part of worship. Notice Paul’s use of “eucharist” that he connected with worship in song. The Greek word eucharist literally means “thanksgiving,” and so celebrating the Lord’s Supper as a key element of worship was central to their devoted expression of gratitude to Christ for His sacrifice and their salvation. It’s no wonder, is it, that Paul’s encouragement to highlight music in worship was in the context of his earlier excerpt in Ephesians from a beloved Christian hymn in the early church… “Arise, O sleeper! Rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine into you and upon you!” (Ephesians 5:14). Paul couldn’t help himself: Here he is, singing a worship song while encouraging us to sing worship songs!
2. “Let the Word of Christ, the teaching of the Anointed One, live and grow within you as a rich treasure. In all wisdom, go out of your way to counsel and reason with one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Paul once again laid out his blueprint for musical worship in the Body of Jesus… Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Paul again highlights the importance of music in worship, in community-building with “one another,” as a vehicle of thanksgiving and gratitude to God, and with making sure that music in church is Godward, God-focused, not celebrity-driven or performance-related. It is a fine line sometimes between performing worship music with excellence and performing it to display musical gifts. Worship music in church, though, is intended to reveal the sacred importance of combining truth with beauty through inspired melody and sound doctrine. And once again, Paul here is addressing a letter about music to a church while at the same time revealing a song to an early Christian community that was riddled with false teachers and in a state of confusion about who Christ really was. So the song Paul is singing in Colossians 1:15-20 is not just any old early church hymn… This is THE Christ-Song, the inspired centerpiece of Christ-centered music that is so rich, so deep, so glorious in its exaltation of Christ, that if all one knew of Jesus was the lyrics in this song, it would be enough:“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation. For through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see –such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him. He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is His body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So He is first in everything. For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through Him God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” (NLT).

Glorifying God is to acknowledge and applaud the awesome reality of God’s presence in the world; to make His presence heavier and more obvious; to magnify Him by enlarging His name and reputation in the world; to live in a way that strengthens God’s credibility; to honor God in a way that reveals His truth and makes Him less hidden; to live in a way that preserves God’s glorious Name and Personhood; to follow God in a way that helps others to recognize God as the ultimate Person of Substance; to publicize and promote His glorious name by demonstrating His character; to be a guardian of God’s goodness and spiritual power in the world; to recognize the true and eternal status of God in a life-changing way. The biblical meaning of God’s glory tends to emphasize the weighty splendor of God’s personal Presence; God’s supreme worthiness to be honored and praised; the overwhelming greatness of God’s beauty and power; the eternal weight of God’s substance; the heaviness of God’s inherent majesty.  The weight of God’s presence outweighs the world; His presence is more substantive and heavier than the universe. His eternal glory remains constant, whether or not He decides to reveal Himself to us. God’s essential glory is forever Real in the heavens, whether or not we experience Him here with our senses on earth. When God’s glory makes an appearance, we can get everything from angels and trumpets and fire and earthquakes, to lightning and clouds and wind and thunder, to smoke and voices and blinding lights and foreign languages, to open graves and resurrected bodies and torn curtains and noontime darkness, to miracles galore.

Praising God. “The area of ancient Israel’s greatest creativity, and so what they did best, was the                   praise of God.” (Ellen Davis, Getting Involved with God). Scripture doesn’t define the word “praise,” but it offers plenty of descriptions and numerous praise-words. Praise can be described as an outward expression of gratitude for all that God has done for oneself, for the community, for the world. Praise is a recounting of the many blessings that God has provided in His grace and mercy. Praise is a grateful appreciation of God’s mighty works. Praise is an expression of thanksgiving to the Lord, an acknowledgement of God’s righteous deeds. To praise God is to thank God and celebrate His presence in the world.

The Diamond of Praise. Praise is what we were created to do, it is the chief of our ultimate satisfactions, and we won’t find personal fulfillment unless we develop the habit of forgetting ourselves and praising God. Most of us Christian believers are not following in the footsteps of our Jewish brethren and praising God with an inspired creativity. The fact is, the Hebrew Bible reveals a vocabulary of praise that will help us in our bid to be more expressive of our praise, more imaginative, more creative. The Hebrew Bible reveals praise to be a diamond with an almost uncountable number of facets. There are many words in Scripture that may translate as praise, but the reality is praise has an abundance of angles and facets and dimensions that we need to learn if we want to mature in our praise of God. The Hebrew language is loaded with words that contain the element of praise but with added qualities that expands our view of what praise could mean to us in our walk of faith. Knowing these words will help us to participate more fully and deeply in praising our God, in expressing our thanksgiving to Him in every way humanly possible. Notice how often music is the usual instrument of praise in these various facets of Hebrew praise:

Machol: To dance in praise and worship; used especially in a liturgical circle dance with other worshipers. The shortened form is “hul,” which means to dance with much physical movement and exuberance, such as twirling, whirling, jumping; a holy movement with the worshiper’s body as a physical expression of joy and celebration, even reverence. (Psalms 30:11, 150:4, 149:1-3; Jermiah 31:4, 13).

Hallel (halal): Exuberant praise; praise that raves about God; exclaiming wonderful words about God with raised arms; to celebrate wildly; to sing out with loud jubilation; to express praise almost to the point of looking foolish; an invitation to a more uninhibited style of worship, such as dancing, jumping and twirling. The root word for “hallelujah” is hallel, and it means “Praise the Lord!” Hallelujah tends to be a more spontaneous outburst of praise and exultation. (is used 165 times in Hebrew Bible, including Ps. 150).

Tehillah: From the root word hallel, meaning exuberant singing of a new song, a spontaneous melody of praise and thanksgiving. It is often used for the formal name of a psalm. (Psalm 51:15).

Hosannah: Both a petition and a praise… “Save us now! And we praise you for saving us!” “Please help us, and thank you for helping us!” “Save us from a narrow and confined existence, and we praise you for delivering us into a wide-open space!” The early Hebrew root is Hoshiana, which means salvation. It evolved into a praise and petition before the time of Jesus.(Psalm 118:25-27; Matthew 21:9).

Ruwa: To shout joyfully; to make a joyful noise in praise; to split the ears with shouts of praise; to praise God at the top of our lungs; to shout a battle cry, as in Joshua’s army while marching around Jericho (Josh. 6:2); to raise one’s voice in loud celebration of God’s goodness. The ruwa shout was often used in the prophet’s announcements of the redemption experienced in the coming of the messianic age. (Psalm 100:1-2; Isaiah 44:23; Zeph. 3:14-15).

Yadah: Praising God with one’s hands up in the air; literally to give to God your hands in praise. A related term is “towdah,” which means to reach out in praise to God much like a child reaching out to his parents. Yadah is usually with full choir in worship. The name Judah is another form of Yadah, and means Praise. Jesus comes from the line of Judah, and so was a Lion of Praise.(Genesis 29:35; 1 Chron. 16:34; Psalm 50:14; Isaiah 51:3).

Nasah: To lift up one’s whole being before the Lord in praise, such as lifting up one’s heart, hands, voice, eyes and soul. (Psalm 25:1).

Giyl: To spin around in joyful praise; to greatly rejoice; to be exceedingly glad; to jump for joy. (Is used 45 times in the Hebrew Bible, including Psalm 9:13-14; 2:11; 13:5-6; 1 Chron. 16:30-33).

Shabach: To very loudly exult in praise; to laud and honor the Lord in full voice; as one writer put it, to “raise a holy roar.” This term was also used to give a victory shout in triumph over an enemy. (Psalm 117:1-2; 63:3; 147:11-13).

Barakh: To bless on bended knee; to kneel down while blessing and adoring God; kneeling down low to raise God high; literally, to “knee God.” The related term “kara” means to sink down on our knees in reverence and awe. (is used 330 times in Hebrew Bible, including Psalm 103; 100:4-5; 95;6; Isaiah 45:22-33).

Dumiyah: To offer a speechless reverence; to thoughtfully praise God in and with silence; a quiet submission to God, silently praising Him without words.(Psalm 65:1).

Gadol and Kabod: Hebrew synonyms that mean to magnify, to praise, to glorify; to enlarge God’s presence in the world through praise and thanksgiving; to promote God and make Him greater in His worthiness; to reveal His weighty substance, His spiritual girth, and His glorious essence. (Psalm 40:16; 69:30; Psalm 22:23; 86:12-13).

Macha: To invite nature, all of God’s creation, to clap their hands, to strike their hands together in praise of their Maker. (only in Ps. 98:8 and Isaiah 55:12).

Zamar: A call to praise God with stringed instruments; to celebrate God’s presence and goodness with music; to express adoration of God through music, particularly with voice accompanied by stringed instruments. (is used 45 times in Hebrew Bible, including Psalm 7:17; 9:2 and 11; 18:49)

Niggun: A distinctive of Hebrew worship in which a non-lingual song with a melody is sung to express the heart of the singer; a form of wordless vocal praise and worship that repeats “nonsense” syllables to a melody. A niggun has been described as “a musical path to God that transcends the limitations of language.” Early Christian worshipers continued the niggun, calling it “jubilus.” For the Christians it was spontaneous praise without lyrics, using repetitive nonwords, primarily focusing on the last syllable of a praise word like “hallelujah.” (in modern era, is a central part of Hasidic worship).

With the Hebrews, Praise was a Musical Art Form:  exuberant with raised arms; exultation accompanied by holy dance; spontaneous songs sung during worship; combining a petition with a praise in the same breath; making a joyful noise with a loud shout of celebration; praise with hands lifted up high in the air and arms extended; bowing low in adoration; lifting up one’s whole being to God in praise, including heart, hands, voice, eyes, soul; spin around in joy and praise; jump for joy; to declare praise very loudly like a roaring lion; bless God on bended knee, praising Him humbly while kneeling; to allow silence itself to praise God, blessing Him in reverence without exclamations but with soft murmuring; magnify and glorify God in praise by raving about His greatness and spiritual weight; to invite all of nature to join you in praise and worship; praise with music, celebrating in song with voice and/or stringed instruments; to enjoy a circle dance with other worshipers, as well as the more spontaneous whirling and twirling in the spirit.

Which brings us back to Rabbi Heschel’s thoughts above… “The power of worship is song. First we sing, then we understand. First we praise, then we believe. To praise is to call forth the promise and presence of the Divine. There is no knowledge without love, no truth without praise. The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the essence of prayer is a song, and man cannot live without a song.”