Psalms 81:2 “Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. 3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. 4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. 5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.”
The Lord “ordained in Joseph” a testimonial feast to continuously remind “Israel” that it was God that had delivered their ancestors from Egyptian Bondage and brought them to the land of Canaan and had abundantly blessed them. These feast and the other elements of the Law Service were “a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things” that were “to come” (Hebrews 10:1). Israel of old was a Theocracy established and governed by God, and the leaders and people of Israel cyclically forgot that God had so magnificently and graciously blessed them. These feasts were intended to remind them that it was not some pagan idol or even themselves that had delivered their ancestors from bondage. When Jesus Christ built His New Testament Church-Kingdom (Matthew 16:18), He did not make it a Theocracy as He did Old Testament Israel. He established His Church-Kingdom separate and above all human powers and authorities. Furthermore, He excluded all forms of entertainment and the physical instruments used in the Old Testament Feasts. We still celebrate His Victory, but He ordered the New Testament Worship Celebrations in a very simple and highly focused manner. He Commanded three Celebratory Acts for His New Testament Church. First, is Baptism which symbolizes the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior (Romans 6:1-11). In Baptism, the Child of God, being baptized, is publicly declaring their believe in the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and their commitment to a life of loving service to Him in His Church-Kingdom. The Second Celebratory Act is the Communion Service, which is keenly focused upon our Lord’s Sacrifice, in which He “saved his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Our Lord specifically Commanded us: “this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). The third Celebratory Act is the weekly Worship Service, in which we are singularly focused upon “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (I Corinthians 2:2); for, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). Our Lord designed His New Testament Church-Kingdom to be focused upon Him and nothing else and no one else. When His Church-Kingdom meets to Worship, the New Testament Word of God specifies that we are to Sing, Pray, Preach, Fellowship, Baptize Believers, and Commune with the Church. In both Preaching and Practice, we must be careful to neither “add” nor “take away” from the Word of God (Revelation 22:18-19). Our Lord Commanded, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24); that is, in “truth” in Doctrine and Practice as He proclaimed it!