The New Song

Series on Revelation

II The Viewpoint

C Cycle Three, Seven Symbolic Histories

2 The Personages

e The Singers

Text: 14:1-5

Introduction

Years ago at our church in Pennsylvania we regularly had a small group from Geneva College in Beaver Falls come and present a sacred concert. The name of the group was “New Song,” and they made an annual trip to promote the school and spread the Word of God in song. In accord with their Reformed Presbyterian heritage they sang only Psalms. You might think to yourself, “But the Psalms are old songs, how come they are called New Song?” The command to sing a new song to the Lord occurs six times in the Psalms, and once in Isaiah in addition to the 2 times in Revelation in 5:9 and 14:3. Thus it is mentioned more in the Old Testament than in the New as for example in Psalm 98:1, Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The songs of deliverance and redemption take many different forms and are spread throughout redemptive history, but they are always “new” songs. Here John hears a new song and it belongs only to the saints of God for no one could learn the song except those who had been redeemed. We should not waste our time trying to assign a chronological position to this vision. It is a vision, and surely from John’s perspective, is occurring at the same time as other events that he has seen. The advantage to this approach is that we view the book as did the original recipients who were accustomed to this type of literature. These are concurrent scenes jumping between earth and heaven and they continually remind the viewer that there are heavenly consequences and heavenly responses to what is going on below. So let us gaze upon this heavenly scene and see the signature, the sound, the song, and the saved.

I The Signature

The scene opens on Mount Zion in verse 1, Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. We see the Lamb who is of course our victorious Savior accompanied by multitude of the saints who are signed, sealed, and delivered. As noted earlier in our studies the number 144,000 is symbolic and stands for the perfected people of God, the full body of believers from all ages, that is, from the 12 tribes of the Old Testament and the 12 Apostles of the New. That perfection of the church is underlined by the fact that each one bears the signature of God’s name written on his forehead. These are the sealed and there is not one missing. All are present and accounted for. There is a number my friends. It is a fixed number that cannot be added to or subtracted from. From our perspective whosoever will may come, but in God’s eternal wisdom and plan which is hidden from us there is an exact number. As Jesus said not one shall fail; “No one is able to pluck them out of His hand.” Although our “freewill” friends might recoil from the thought, Jesus died for His sheep and not one of them will be lost for whom he died. The number was fixed in eternity past and will be celebrated in the new heavens and the new earth. They are signed, sealed and delivered. I also want you to notice where they are standing because it is important. Do you remember that Psalm that keeps cropping up, Psalm 2? The Psalm where it says the rulers have set themselves against the Lord and against his anointed one, or Christ. God’s response in that Psalm in verses 6-9 is, I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. This is what you are looking at in our text, the inheritance of Jesus in song.

II The Sound

Next in our vision is the sound in verse 2, And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. I have played around with the guitar and I have relatives who play remarkably well, and I love guitar music, but I think it is a shame that the music in many churches consists almost exclusively of guitar music. Though it is a wonderfully versatile instrument, it cannot begin to compare with the majesty of a great pipe organ, especially if it is played in a large church or cathedral. I once attended an outdoor concert at the Robin Hood Dell in Philadelphia where the featured artist was the virtuoso organist, Virgil Fox. It was like an open air cathedral and we were enthralled by the majesty of the music, a fitting vehicle for the worship of God. I am sure it would have been put to shame by what John heard, “a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters; like a loud peal of thunder; like harpists playing their harps.” Now the main purpose of music in a worship service is to be a vehicle for the Word of God as Paul writes in Colossians 3:16, In all wisdom teach and admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and sing with grace in your hearts to God. However there is nothing wrong with beautifying a worship service with music without lyrics. Martin Luther was the great hymn writer and promoter of the Reformation and he reminds us, “Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.” He also said, “When man’s natural musical ability is whetted and polished to the extent that it becomes an art, then do we note with great surprise the great and perfect wisdom of God in music, which is, after all, His product and His gift,” and “Music is God’s greatest gift. It has often so stimulated and stirred me that I felt the desire to preach.” This is the sound John heard and none of us can imagine how glorious it will be when we hear the music of heaven.

III The Song

The sound that John hears is the accompaniment to a song as we read in verse 3, And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. The new song is a song of redemption. What I like about this reference is the statement that no one could learn the song except those redeemed. Perhaps the greatest Christian hymn is “Amazing Grace,” and it is certainly the best known. Even non-believers know that hymn. It was written by a man who described himself as, “Once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in West Africa.” He was redeemed. He was one of the ones who could learn the song. Yet I have often heard people sing that song, “Amazing Grace” that I am completely convinced had no real idea what the song was saying. Nobody knows what the lyrics of the new song that John heard were and are (since it is still being sung.) They might have been much like “Amazing Grace,” because all who are entitled to sing it have been infidels and libertines in one sense or the other, and all are marvelously redeemed. They can also sing as Newton wrote in what is probably the most famous hymn in history: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind but now I see.” The big difference is that the “new song” unlike ‘Amazing Grace” cannot be sung by anyone who doesn’t know what it means.

IV The Saved

Finally our text gives us a description of those entitled to sing the new song in verses 4 and 5, These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as first-fruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. This is a passage that could easily lead some to a false doctrine of perfectionism. The believers described here certainly seem to be perfect. No perversity, no lying, and blameless. If you were in a church that honored “saints” as some do, then you might assume that this was an exclusive club of “saints.” However, even celibates lie. The Bible seems to be clear in its teaching that being a Christian does not mean being sinless. That is a goal, but it is never reached. Thus we read in I John 1:8-10, from the pen of the same writer, If we claim to be already free from sin, we lead ourselves astray and the truth has no place in our hearts. If we confess our sins, He is so faithful and just that He forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If we deny that we have sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Message has no place in our hearts. Apparently nobody who claims to be free from sin is a genuine Christian because John says that then, “His Message has no place in our hearts.” Anybody who says they never lie has just proved that they do. So how about this: These people are pure because they genuinely and sincerely trust in Christ. They are not idolaters. As Paul put it in II Corinthians 11:2, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. Surely the Corinthian Christians were not literal virgins. They truly and sincerely follow Christ. They don’t lie in the sense that they are not pretending to be something they are not, they are not hypocrites. Paul talks about this in II Corinthians 11:3, But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. The Corinthians were far from perfect and sinless but they were sincere and pure in their devotion to Jesus, not lying. These in the vision are genuine believers who are blameless, not because they never sin, but because they are washed in the blood of the Lamb. In conclusion we read that these purchased believers in their entirety are offered to God in thankfulness to God and the Lamb. This expression “first fruits” can refer to the totality of God’s people as an offering set apart to God with no thought of more to come because this term was used in the Old Testament to show God’s ownership of the entire crop. The sum total belongs to God.