THE STORY OF JUBAL

In Genesis 4:21, we have the first reference to music in the Bible, and that verse introduces us for the first time to Jubal.

Just another name in a long list of insignificant Old Testament names, you might say. Well, in God's agenda and plan, he was and still is a most important piece in the puzzle. What puzzle? You ask. The puzzle that will lead us to see how we must be as worshippers and musicians in the church in today's world. God ordained and planned it long ago, and many people have been fighting ever since. However, we need to fall in line with the Word of God and the Spirit of revelation.

When things are mentioned for the first time in the Bible there is a law that comes into operation called, "The Law of First Mention." God has placed some extra significance on it and therefore we must heed what God is saying.

Well, what is God actually saying about music that can possibly be relevant to us the church in this century? The root meaning of Jubal's name is "to flow like a river". The verse talks of Jubal as the father of all who play the harp and the flute. In the light of that, God reveals how we, as his sons in music should be. Revelation comes as the flashlight of the Holy Spirit beams into God's Word.

We as musicians must be those who flow. Flow in worship and flow in the music that we play. Music is not supposed to be disjointed, and neither is "worship." God is after our music and worship to flow like a river, and not be stop, start. Hello! Does that sound like something you may have heard before? Worship that starts and then stops and then starts again is not God's best. It must flow, and we as his servants must devote ourselves to pursuing that. Let us honor our father, Jubal, by being the kind of musicians that God is after.