And I heard a voice out of the heaven as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder. And the voice which I heard [was] as of harp-singers harping with their harps;
The chapter opens with the Lamb on Mount Zion with the 144,000, and John turns from what he sees to what he hears. He hears one voice from heaven and describes it three ways at once, which raises the question: whose voice is it?
The chapters before this were full of the beast's roar and his ally's deception. This sound turns that around.
Heaven is stirred and breaks out into song. We have had the Babel sounds of earth, the mingled cry of the victor, and the wail of the vanquished. We have seen the Beast trampling the earth and breaking it in pieces — a display of senseless brute force. We have also seen his partner in crime, the Antichrist, morally darkening and deceiving the world. But now other sights delight the eye, and other sounds and songs greet the ear.
One writer explains what this picture says about the voice of Christ.
The grandeur, the majesty of His voice is beyond the ceaseless roar of many waterfalls... His voice is like the roar of many waters. That is the sign of His supreme sovereignty and majesty. He is above all the waves of human passion, above the circumstances of a wrecked world and a ruined Church. It was His voice — "God said," ten times over — that brought order out of chaos, light out of darkness, and life out of death.
The three descriptions in the verse belong together.
The song and harp blend so closely that John speaks of them as one voice — majestic as many waters and powerful as great thunder.
Only one instrument appears in these heavenly scenes.
The harp is notable for its soft, soothing sound. David used it to drive the evil spirit away from Saul. It is also the only musical instrument that Scripture pictures symbolically in heaven. Revelation 5:8; Revelation 14:2 — called "the harps of God" in Revelation 15:2.
Commentators differ here. One writer counts the companies in the scene and then names the singers.
Notice here that we have, first, the company on Mount Zion; second, the elders in heaven; and third, harpers harping before the elders. Here are three distinct companies — one on earth and two in heaven... Besides the elders in chapter 5, only one company in Revelation has harps. They are the part of the faithful remnant who are martyred for refusing to worship the beast.
Another writer will not name them, and points instead to what the song is about.
Who these heavenly singers are we are not told... But whoever these celebrants of praise may be, the subject seems, from the connection, to be the victorious outcome of the sufferings of this chosen remnant. No doubt that outcome traces back to God's grace and the blood of the Lamb.
Heaven had already sung about redemption in chapter 5. This song is not a repeat of it.
Heaven celebrates it with a voice of many waters, and as of thunder, but with joy. This voice was the voice of harps... There had been song in and of heaven in chapter 5, in connection with redemption. But God made the redeemed there kings and priests. Here redemption is tied to earthly blessings, not to the kingdom and priesthood on high.
The singers in heaven and the company on earth know each other.
Their brothers on earth, once their companions in confession and sorrow, alone can learn the song of Heaven. How near is Heaven to earth in those days! How real and how interested is the fellowship of the saints in Heaven with those on earth!
One writer turns the harp into a test for daily Christian life.
We read of saints with harps in their hands, an emblem of praise. We meet many Christians with tears in their eyes and complaints in their mouths. But few hold a harp in their hands and praise God in affliction. Every bird can sing in spring, but some birds will sing in the dead of winter.
- Contrast — After the roar of the beast and the wail of the conquered, heaven breaks in with song. It answers the noise of earth instead of matching it.
- Majesty — One voice, majestic as many waters and powerful as thunder, above all the waves of human passion.
- Harp — The one instrument shown in heaven is the soft, soothing one, and chapter 15 calls them the harps of God.
- Singers — Commentators differ. Some name the harpers as those martyred under the beast. Others say Scripture does not tell us. Both agree the song celebrates the remnant's victory.
- Learning — Only those who shared the sorrow can learn the song. And the harp is for the dead of winter as much as for spring.
and they sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song save the hundred [and] forty-four thousand who were bought from the earth.
John has just watched the beast trample the earth. Now he hears harps in heaven and a song before God's throne. Two questions follow: what makes this song new, and why can only one company on earth learn it?
Earth's noise comes first; heaven answers it.
Heaven is stirred and breaks out into song. We have heard the confused noise of earth, the mixed cry of the victor and the wail of the defeated. We have watched the Beast trampling the earth and breaking it in pieces — a display of senseless brute force. We have watched his partner in crime, the Antichrist, morally darkening and deceiving the world. But now other sights delight the eye, and other sounds and songs greet the ear. We meet a new company in Heaven. They are distinct from both the living creatures and the elders, for they harp and sing "before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders."
Commentators differ here. Scott sees a new company in heaven, tied to those on Zion below. Another writer leaves them unnamed and points instead to the subject of the song.
Who these heavenly singers are we are not told. The voice comes "from heaven," and they sing the song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and before the elders. But whoever these singers of praise may be, the subject seems, from the context, to be the victorious outcome of this chosen remnant's sufferings. No doubt it traces back to God's grace and the blood of the Lamb.
Chapter 5 also had a song about redemption. The difference lies in what that redemption leads to.
They sing a new song before the throne and the living creatures and elders. Here the fact itself is what matters. In chapter 5 there was a song in heaven, and of heaven, about redemption. But those redeemed there became kings and priests. Here redemption is tied to earthly blessings, not to the kingdom and priesthood on high. And they sing it before the heavenly company and the throne. Heaven, however, has a direct link with the song. It goes with triumph over the power of evil through patient endurance of suffering.
The word "new" also sets this song against an older one.
This company of harp-singers sing a "new song" in contrast with the old song. The new song has redemption as its theme; the old song has creation as its subject.
The limit is not arbitrary. Experience is what shuts everyone else out.
No one could learn that song but the 144,000. Only they had passed through the sorrows, and only they had known the grace connected with their deliverance. Heaven raised the song that suited their circumstances. In communion with the mind of God, they caught up the strains and repeated them.
Suffering, then, is not a barrier to this joy but the doorway into it.
There is a special joy belonging to those who have passed through the furnace of affliction… Others will share the blessings of the millennial reign. But none will taste all its sweetness like those who have drained the bitter cup of the sorrows that came before. No one will come as near to the throne as those who have tested God's strength and faithfulness in the hour of deepest need.
"Redeemed from the earth" marks out where this company belongs. It also keeps them apart from the church.
They are redeemed from the earth, from among men, the firstfruits to God and the Lamb (verses 3, 4)… This first point matters. It shows us that this company stands on the mount of earthly favour and blessing, redeemed from the earth. They are a chosen group from among the people of Israel, for the earth. There is no thought here of the Church, the body of Christ. This is a remnant of Israel that God will bring through the great tribulation into the millennial blessing. Their being the "firstfruits" means firstfruits from the earth for earthly blessing: the harvest of the earth is to follow.
The tie between the two groups is older than the song.
The singers in Heaven and those with the Lamb on Zion are clearly in closest sympathy. The two together formed one company on earth. How fitting, then, that the saved and delivered Jews on Zion should be the only ones on earth who enter into and learn the song of their brothers "before the throne" in Heaven. On earth they learn; in Heaven they know.
- Suffering — the song belongs to those who came through "the furnace of affliction." The trial qualifies the singer.
- Song — it is new because its theme is redemption, not creation. And that redemption brings earthly blessing, not the kingdom and priesthood of chapter 5.
- Sung — heaven raises the song first; those on Zion catch it up, in communion with the mind of God.
- Sealed — no one else can learn it. No one else drank that cup or tasted that grace of deliverance.
- Seen — redeemed from the earth, they are the firstfruits of an earthly harvest still to come. They learn below what they will know above.