The singers as the players on instruments shall be there - Psalm 87: 3-7

The immortal saints will be drawn from every nation under heaven. Yet, despite their origins, what will unite them as the congregation of the saints is that they have all been recorded as citizens of Zion, being born from above. Here is a multitude, written in the book and enrolled in the heavens, who will all count Zion as their mother. 16

From their ranks there will be singers who will sing of Zion: "all my fountains are in thee." There will be a literal application of the psalm when a fountain is opened in Jerusalem for cleansing. 17 But that fountain, and the springs of living water which will flow forth from the temple, 18 are but symbols of the fact that

"out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem". 19

Zion will be the source from whence will flow all the laws and principles of the new age. And when even the singers celebrate this, we may be sure that their songs likewise will have been drawn from the fountain itself. The songs which originate from Christ and the saints will constitute the fountainhead, the everlasting spring from which the new music of the kingdom will flow.

Here, then, amidst these glorified ones, will be singers of songs and players on instruments who as members of the immortal choir will fill the temple with paeans of praise. The experience of hearing such singers will be electrifying. Not only will their voices be a glorious harmony, reaching higher and deeper than mortal sounds could ever stretch, but their words will resonate with such power and majesty that visitors will be filled with awe at the songs they sing.

The immortal choir will stir every heart that hears them to wonder, humility, reverence and joy, as the cascade of their song reaches the crescendo of its message.

Music will again be a crucial part of divine worship, as it was in ancient times. The temple will be the preeminent place, not for sacrifice alone, but for the offering of hymns which will ascend as the incense of singers whose sole desire is to exalt their God. Indeed, the temple will make provision for this, since there will be chambers in the inner courts expressly set aside for the singers, 20 who may step forth as required to offer the sacrificeof praise.

The presence of such singers, constantly in attendance that they may wait upon the service day and night, will not be a new arrangement. For in the days of old the chambers of the singers permitted the choir both place and opportunity to practise the songs of the house, being exempt within their chambers from other temple tasks. 21

Of Course, those singers who are members of the immortal choir need not to practise, as did their mortal counterparts in ancient times. Their songs will be so engraved Upon their hearts that the recollection of word and tune will be an effortless harmony.

The knowledge of previous limitations in the mortal expressions of their praise will be a continual reminder of their new and enlarged capacity. And yet that better mastery which immortality permits will not diminish the power of their singing, since their skill will instead allow for such engagement of heart and mind that the melodies of worship will be a constant experience of pure joy.

16 Psalm 87:5,6. It is to the Septuagint of this psalm that Paul alludes, when writing:

"But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26).

17 Zechariah 13:1.

18 EzekieI 47:1,8; JoeI 3:18.

19 Isaiah 2:2:3.

20 Ezekiel 40:44.

21 "And these are the singers ... who remaining in the chambers were free: for they were employed in that work day and night" (1 Chronicles 9:33). Gesenius translates the word "free" as 'exempt from duty', a translation which the context supports, since it stresses the burden of the singers to be available day and night for the discharge of their singing duties.