I have been to the Fall Bible conference at the Bryan Station Baptist Church, in Lexington, several times. Each year I was there, on one of the last evenings of the conference, all of the preachers were invited into the choir loft, and we sang the hymn “How Great Thou Art.” Some of those men had beautiful voices and could sing different parts, but others could hardly carry a tune in a bucket. Nevertheless it was stirring to hear 50 or 75 men blending their voices, singing praise to God. Also, I have heard much larger choirs sing hymns, and they have moved me as well. One of my favorite CDs is a recording of a large choir of Welsh men, singing the songs of Zion in three and four part harmony.
But even when two hundred professional and well-trained voices come together, sometimes the sharpness and clarity of the words is lost in the shear numbers and volume. For example, if I don’t know the words to the hymn on that CD, I can’t be sure of the message. But some day that problem of clarity is going to be corrected – I will have better ears to hear and every voice will be delivered from the effects of the curse. Some day there will be choirs of voices, not only sanctified but glorified by the grace of God. Furthermore, I think that some day, our current lack of musical ability is going to come to an end. When we get to Heaven, I’m reasonably sure that all God’s saints will be able to blend their voices in song, and every syllable will be heard and understood perfectly.
This evening, just for fun, let’s consider three great choirs which are mentioned in the Book of Revelation. They will be the kind of choirs to which I just referred. They are found in Revelation 5, 14 and 15. They are three separate choirs singing separate concerts, but probably in the same concert hall. I’m going to consider them in reverse order.
But first, I’d like you to notice some similarities between them. In Revelation 5:9 notice the words “sung,” “song,” and “saying.” “And they SUNG a new SONG, SAYING, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Those are three different Greek words – two verbs and a noun. In Revelation 15:3 those three words appear again. “And they SING the SONG of Moses the servant of God, and the SONG of the Lamb, SAYING, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” Then in Revelation 14:3 we have two of those words. “And they SUNG as it were a new SONG before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that SONG but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.”
If I might be permitted to paraphrase the verse in our text, I think I could acceptably say, “They sung a new song, and the LYRICS were: Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” The reason I bring this up is because it answers a question that I’ve had for years. If you will remember, at the birth of Jesus, there were shepherds keeping watch over their sleeping sheep. An angel appeared to them, calming them and telling them that Christ, the Lord, had been born. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and SAYING, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” I have heard preachers say, and I have wanted to say, that the heavenly host lifted up their voice in singing, but the Bible does directly say that they did. However, in the statement that they praised God, “SAYING Glory to God in the highest,” is the same word which is translated “saying” in Revelation 5:9 and Revelation 15:3. It is not PROOF that the angels sang in Luke 2, but it helps me to believe that they did.
Now let’s consider the statement in Revelation 15.
“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.”
This is one of the great choirs of Heaven. It is made up of a special group of people – not all the saints. I don’t believe that we will be a part of this choir. We are told that these will be people whom the Lord has saved during the Tribulation. They have been given victory over the beast, over his mark and the number of his name. And if I am not mistaken, they all died under the hand of the Antichrist. They will all be martyrs. And yet, despite being beheaded, or starved to death, or dying in some other horrible way, they will very soon thereafter be rejoicing in the grace of God.
We are told that they will sing the “Song of Moses,” the servant of God. Some commentators think that these people will literally be singing the words of Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32, which contain the poetry of Moses, but I don’t agree. Even though many of these martyred souls will be Jews, I don’t think they will be praising God for His victories over Pharaoh. Their praise will be far more personal. There is a parallel between salvation in the exodus from Egypt and salvation from the Antichrist. These people will be praising the Saviour for their deliverance from the Tribulation, even though it was through death. But more specifically, they will be rejoicing in their salvation through the death of God’s Lamb. “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the SONG of the LAMB, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.”
You and I will be there, perhaps standing on the sea of glass and fire. Our hearts will resonate with their joy, because we too will know the fulness of the Lamb’s salvation. But we will be a part of the audience in that great concert hall, with the Lord Jesus Himself seated in the most honored seat.
We probably could and should say much more about that concert, but let’s move on.
Consider the choir of Revelation 14.
Here is another heavenly chorus of which you and I will never be a part. But that is okay, because as an audience we will enjoy another great worshipful concert. “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.” As I understand the Book of Revelation, the reference to “elders” in verse speaks of us. We will be a part of the audience, listening to fantastic new music sung by a wonderful and special musical group.
And who will make up this great chorus? We are told that it will contain the 144,000 evangelistic martyrs of the Tribulation. We don’t know how many voices will make up the choir of Revelation 15, but we do know the size of this one. There will be 12,000 singers from each of the twelve tribes of Israel – 144,000 in total.
I have never been to a college football game, and I probably won’t be going to one anytime soon. But I remember being caught in the traffic after an Oklahoma Texas game. There had been 80,000 people in that stadium, but if it had been in Texas it would have been 100,000. I understand that when 80,000 rabid fans begin to yell, the roar is literally deafening. But what if all those people had been recently redeemed, and they were singing with all their hearts to the Saviour – what a glorious, and extremely loud harmonic sound could they produce? There will be that day thousands, upon thousands, and thousand, and thousands of beautiful voices – male and female, perfectly united in glorious praise to the Saviour.
Something to keep in mind for both those heavenly choirs was that everyone of those singers had recently died in their service of Lord. They had recently experienced some of the most horrendous pain that sinful man can inflict on others. And then – almost immediately – those sufferers are found rejoicing in the presence of the Saviour. “Night and day” is not a good way to describe the contrast that choir was experiencing.
I recently read the account of the worship service of a church in Southern Africa. A few days earlier, a house just around the corner from their meeting had been burned by an arsonist. And recently a tornado had cut through the community, ripping apart fifty homes, killing five people. And the night before, a gang had hounded down a fourteen-year-old member of their Sunday School and stabbed him to death. The pastor began the service with prayer, saying, “Lord, you are the Creator and the Sovereign, but why did the wind come like a snake and tear our roofs off? Why did a mob cut short the life of one of our own children, when he had everything to live for? Over and over again, Lord, we are in the mist of death.” During the prayer the people were weeping, loudly sighing and moaning – truly grieved. But then, when the pastor had finished praying, without anyone directing them, the congregation began to slowly and quietly sing. As they went on they grew louder and more joyful, singing hymn after hymn of praise to the Lord who promised them victory over the problems of this world. They went from weeping to praise. And so shall all God’s saints.
Interestingly in the case of this heavenly song, and something for which I have no explanation… “They sung as it were a new song before the throne… and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand.” I think it is safe to say that when we get to Heaven, we won’t be carrying these tired old hymnals. We’ll have poets, lyricists and musicians, perhaps ourselves even joining them, producing new songs of praise throughout eternity. And perhaps we will have our own unique hymns, which no one can sing but ourselves.
Now we come back to Revelation 5.
Verse 8 – “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
I believe these 24 elders represent the saints of God who have recently been translated into Christ’s presence. I say that because they sing of being redeemed by the blood of the lamb. I say that they represent us, because they refer to earlier scriptures about being kings and priests under Christ. They have some sort of musical instruments, which are here described as “harps.” Will they be harps as we know them today? Perhaps, perhaps not. But I’m not concerned about that. They will also be carrying censers full of the incense of the prayers of the saints. I’m going to assume that these prayers are those of newly saved people still on the earth. Is this an indication we will have some knowledge of what is taking place here during the Tribulation? Is this perhaps an indication that our predeceased loved ones know about us and our prayers today? Are they a part of the great cloud of witnesses watching us? I don’t know, so I wont be dogmatic.
In Revelation 5, the saints around the throne aren’t just talking among themselves about their salvation. They are whole-heartedly singing their praise directly to the Lord. The poetry may be new, and the music may be heavenly, but the theme will be the old, old story. “Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious; sweetest that ever was heard.” Taken from those words written on our hearts, we will be singing new songs to Christ throughout eternity. Our voices will join with – not a hundred thousand others – but rather with millions of others. Maybe once in a while we will be invited to sing with the small but glorified Calvary Baptist Church choir. Perhaps we’ll have the privilege of sing a solo before the Lord. I don’t know. But I do know that we will have opportunity to praise our Saviour constantly throughout eternity.
But there is no reason to wait. We are commanded to sing unto the Lord today. We shouldn’t wait for better voices. Now is the time, now is the day to rejoice in Christ.