We will start discussing our manner of worship by looking at the God-ordained musical instruments in the Old Testament— trumpets, cymbals, harps, and lyres. We take the trumpets first. “In the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God” (Num. 10:10).

God instructed Moses to construct two silver trumpets (Num. 10:2). These trumpets had a variety of uses, including worship. Leviticus 23 stipulates the appointed times or appointed feasts, and the first of these was the weekly Sabbath.

The burnt offerings (Num. 10:10) were the basic offerings of Israel. God required these offerings morning and evening every day (28:3-6). They were doubled on the Sabbath Day (vv. 9-10).

The fire on the altar of burnt offering was fire from heaven; it was the fire of God (Lev. 9:24). The uniqueness of the burnt offerings was that they were completely consumed on the altar of burnt offering. The burnt offerings were also an atonement offered on behalf of sinners (1:4). The word atonement comes into the New Testament as propitiation, the sacrifice that consumes God’s fiery wrath. Jesus Christ “Himself is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2).

The peace offerings were placed on top of the burnt offerings (Lev. 3:5). If the burnt offerings symbolized the propitiation of Christ, the peace offerings indicated “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

Numbers 10:10 indicates the trumpets were blown “over the sacrifices.” The priests carried out this task (1 Chron. 16:6). Thus the trumpets accompanied the sacrifices. They were never designed to accompany the singing of praise. In fact, it was not until the time of David that God introduced praise into the worship of Israel.

If the sacrifices were symbolic of Christ, what did the trumpets represent? Numbers 10:10 tells us they were a reminder or a memorial. Blown over the sacrifices, the trumpets reminded the people of their sins covered by the sacrifices and the peace they had with God. Isaiah 58:1 points us in the same direction. “Cry loudly, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.” Isaiah raised His voice like a trumpet to remind the people of their sins. This trumpet call was not only negative. God also called the prophet to remind the people of the remedy for their sins (Isa. 40:1-2).

The burnt offerings and peace offerings pointed to Christ. The sounding of the trumpet is likened to the preaching of the Word with reference to Christ. Pastors must raise their voices like a trumpet with reference to the sacrifice of Christ. They must remind us of our sin, the remedy for sin in the sacrifice of Christ, and the resulting peace we have with God.

The trumpets used in Old Testament worship do not provide a rationale for the use of instrumental accompaniment in praise. Rather, the Bible likens those Old Testament trumpets to gospel preaching.