Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness

There is a song that I sing regularly that includes the phrase "Come and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." I finally realized that this was a quote from a psalm and began to do a little research on the subject. I discovered that the phrase is translated in this way only in the KJV. In the NASB, the phrase is translated "holy attire" or "holy array." I also discovered that the phrase only occurs related to worship in four verses: 1 Chronicles 16:29; 2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 29:2; and Psalm 96:9.
The context of 1 Chronicles 16 is relating the day that David managed to return the ark to Jerusalem and the tabernacle. He appointed certain men to praise the Lord before the ark continually. Verses 8-36 records the song of praise that these men sang. Embedded within that larger song is this psalm in verses 28 and 29, "Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the Lord in holy array." This is quoted directly in Psalm 96:7-9. It is a command for the "families of the peoples" to "worship the Lord in holy array."
A similar usage is found in Psalm 29, "Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in holy array." Here, the sons of the mighty are enjoined to "worship the Lord in holy array." My question from these three passages is this: To whom does the "holy array" refer? Does it refer to the attire of the worshipers, the families of the peoples and the sons of the mighty? Or does it refer to the Lord Himself?
The context of 2 Chronicles 20 gives another interesting twist to the discussion. Here King Jehoshaphat begs the Lord to help them because several enemies have joined forces against Judah. The Lord commands the armies of Judah to go out to battle, although God will destroy the enemy before them. Jehoshaphat establishes a group of singers to praise the Lord. The singers are in "holy array." The rest of the story relates how, when the singers began praising the Lord, He ambushed the enemies, who began killing each other. When the army of Judah arrived on the battle field, every man of their enemies was already dead. This is a great story, but I want to focus on the fact that the singers had "holy array," meaning they had clothes that were set apart for the sole purpose of wearing while singing praises to the Lord.
Back to my earlier question, to whom does the "holy array" refer? I think that we can honestly apply the holy array to both the Lord and the worshipers. Consider that the Lord is "arrayed in holiness." Holiness is the primary attribute of the Lord and that which is most extolled by men and angels (Isaiah 6:3; Rev. 4:8). It would be proper then to say that the Lord is "in holy array" or "the beauty of holiness."
However, I think it is equally correct to attribute the "holy array" to the worshipers. If the temple singers had garments dedicated for use only when they sang praises to the Lord, it is very likely that the "holy array" spoken of in the psalms refers to the garments of the worshipers. Consider that we are commanded to be holy as the Lord our God is holy (1 Peter 1:16). If it can be truly said that the Lord is "arrayed in holiness," should we not also be "arrayed in holiness"? Does this mean that we must have a set of clothes that we only wear when worshiping the Lord? Probably not, but it does mean that our characters should be defined by holiness.
This is my conclusion: just as the Lord is holy in all the He is and does, so also should we be holy in our characters. Worship that is acceptable in the sight of God necessitates holiness in the lives of the worshipers.

A Parable of Two Brothers

I have two sons, they could not have more different personalities. The oldest, as an infant, was very independent and loved to be held by any and all. If his mother or I held him he would push away from us in order to look around at all the activity. Also, he was terrified of the vacuum cleaner or the blender. If we were to vacuum or blend anything he would begin screaming and we would have to take him into a different room.
On the other hand, the younger son, as an infant wanted nothing to do with anyone other than mom and dad. It took him many months to even warm up to being held by his grandmothers and after more than a year, he is still uncomfortable with people at our church holding him. However, he had no problem with the vacuum cleaner or the blender, in fact, he was very curious about them and often crawled into the path of the vacuum to get a better look.
Here is where the parable application comes in. It seems to me that the child that was the most independent developed the greatest fear of the vacuum and blender whereas the child who had the closest connection to his parents had no fear of the vacuum and blender. Perhaps the younger brother recognized that any instrument, no matter how noisy, in the hands of the parent could not harm him and therefore was not something to be feared and avoided.
I think that is often how Christians view God. Those who are more independent tend to become more fearful and shaken up by the "vacuums" of our lives, those things God allows to test and strengthen our faith. We run to God in fear and pray, "Why is this happening to me?" On the other hand, those Christians who draw near to God daily and develop a deep intimacy and dependence upon Him do not wring their hands and tremble when everything seems to fall apart. They realize that those things which we fear are nothing more than a tool in the hands of our Heavenly Parent, Who loves us and will not allow us to experience anything more than what we can handle.
This parable became especially meaningful to me this week because my new-born nephew was sent to Neonatal Intensive Care with dangerous lung issues. God is in control, even of this.