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What Must I Do To Be Saved?

  

FROM: 5/18/03 Radio Program

Question:

Acts 15:16-18 speaks of God rebuilding David's fallen tent. What was in David's tent? Instrumental music. Therefore, why are you opposed to instrumental music when God will rebuild David's tent and have instrumental music there? .... No where in the Bible does it say (instrumental music) has been down away with....

Answer:

(Note: This question was sent to us from the website. The original question was edited for space.)

I would like to answer this question by asking a question or two of my own. First, when was the tabernacle rebuilt? Our querist speaks as if we're still waiting on God to rebuild this tabernacle. In truth, the tabernacle was rebuilt after Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Hebrews 8:1-6 teaches us this truth, for Christ is currently the high priest, and is "A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." What our friend seems to think is yet to come, the Bible says has already happened What is this "true tabernacle"? It is the church. And, just as God made known His will for the worship to be done in the literal tabernacle of the Old Testament, so also God has revealed His will for worship in the church today, which includes singing praises to God, and doing so without a mechanical instrument (John 4:24; Acts 2:42; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; I Corinthians 16:1-2; etc.).

Furthermore, in the course of the writing, our friend said that the Bible never said that instrumental music was done away. This is true. What God said through Paul was that the entire Old Testament law was done away (II Corinthians 3:7-14). This was God's promise back in Jeremiah's time (Jeremiah 31:31-34), and Paul wrote to the Corinthians, telling them twice that the Old Testament law was "done away," and once said that it was "abolished"! In Colossians 2:14, Paul said it was "nailed to the cross." The entire book of Hebrews emphasizes this point again and again. It is true that there is not a Bible passage stating that instrumental music as a form of worship was done away. (Nor is there a specific mention of incense, the worship in the "most holy place," the plan for the ark of God, etc. being done away.) What is taught is that the entire Old Testament law was done away, making way for the New Testament (Hebrews 8:13).

For all of the arguing men have made over the years in their attempts to justify the use of mechanical instruments in worship, Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26; Acts 16:25; Romans 15:9; I Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:12, 13:15; and James 5:13 remain unchanged!! Let us just be satisfied to follow the Lord's prescription, and let us abandon our preconceived ideas!!

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