14. A Song In Heaven

This passage finds us still in Heaven in the presence of God and of the Lamb. The church has been raptured, perfected and safely delivered home to Heaven.

Revelation chapters 4 and 5 find us in Heaven’s throne room.

God is preparing to judge this world. But, before He does, there is a pause for praise in glory. It is that worship service that we have been looking at for the last few weeks.

In these verses, Heaven is unable to contain itself and all the residents of that fair land burst forth in rejoicing and praise to God and the Lamb.

There is praising, singing and there is music. This the first mention of music in this book, but it will not be the last.

Music is a vital part of our lives. From the time the alarm clock sounds in the morning, we are surrounded with music.

The radio and television are all about music.

We have music in our cars, in our homes and at our places of business.

Music can set the scene in a film and let you know whether you should be afraid, sad or happy. Music is an important part of our lives.

Ephesians 5:19–20 KJV (WS)

19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Colossians 3:16 KJV (WS)

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

It seems that music will be one of the things that will follow us from earth to Heaven.

Harps and trumpets are 2 instruments we see in heaven

The music in Heaven will but serve to make Heaven sweeter.

In these verses, John takes us into Heaven and gives us front row seats at the concert of the ages.

I. LETS LOOK AT THE SINGERS

A. Their Identity –

v8 “the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb”

The 4 beasts are representing creation

The 24 elders are representing the redeemed and they together make up this heavenly choir.

From the moment the Lamb takes the book they begin to praise His name.

In the OT, David appointed 24 Levites to represent the entire priesthood, 1 Chron. 23, 28. When a meeting was necessary, it would have been impossible to gather every one of the thousands of Levites together; but when the 24 came together, they represented the whole body.

The same is true of these Elders. They represent the entirety of the redeemed saints of God!

B. Their Involvement – Every time we see the redeemed in Revelation they are praising the Lord Rev. 4:10; 5:8; 5:14; 7:11; 19:4.

Let there be no mistake about it, when we arrive in Heaven, we will be busy praising the One Who Had it possible to be in heaven!

We will all praise Him when we get to Heaven we ought to be doing it now – Heb. 13:15; Psa. 107:21.

Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

C. Their Instruments – These worshippers have certain items they use in their worship.

1. The harp was used to accompany the people of the Lord as they praised God and sang His psalms, 2 Sam. 6:5; Psalm 92:1-4; Psalm 150:3.

It appears that instruments will accompany the singing and the worship in heaven.

I thank God for the ones who play the music in our services. What a blessing they are!

2. The “golden vials full of odours” are said to be full of “the prayers of the saints.” These worshippers come before the Lord with all the prayers of the redeemed through the ages.

These prayers have ascended into God’s presence with a sweet aroma.

These prayers that were offered in faith are about to be answered in power.

God has been hearing those prayers and He had not forgotten a single on of them.

That is why Heaven praises God! He is a God Who hears and answers the prayers of His children!

1 John 5:13-14; James 4:2-3.

But, every one will be answered in His time and in His way.

II. LETS LOOK AT THE THE SONG THEY SING

Down here, people sing about everything under the sun! If you listen to secular music, you know they make up songs about everything!

While many of the songs people sing in the church are not spiritual or biblical, there are others that are helpful to our hearts.

But, isn’t it true that most of the songs we sing are less about glorifying the Lord than they are about encouraging our own hearts?

In Heaven every song will have the same theme….every song will be about Jesus.

Every song will glorify Him: Who He is and what He has done.

A. They Sing … “Thou art worthy!” The song of Heaven declares the worth of the Lamb of God. He is the focus of the song. He is the object of their praise. They lift up His Name because He is worthy to be praised.

By the way, Jesus is just as worthy of praise today as He will be when we arrive home in Heaven! He is still Lord. He is still God. He is still our Redeemer. He is worthy of every Amen!”; “Hallelujah!”; and “Glory to God!” He receives. He is still worthy of every saint who stands to say, “I love Jesus and I thank Him for saving my soul!” He is worthy!

Our problem here is that our praise is diluted by the twin problems of pride and evil. We don’t praise Him because we are afraid of what someone else might think. And, we don’t praise Him because we are usually not in a position to feel the touch of His Spirit.

If we could just lose our pride and deal with our sins, the Lord would come close to us and remind us of the worth of the Lamb and we would offer up His praises. Whether we ever grasp it or not down here, Jesus is worthy to be praised.

B. They Sing because He was “slain”. That word means “to butcher”. It brings to mind the brutality of the death Jesus endured for you and me, Isa. 52:14; Isa. 53:4-6.

Heaven praises Jesus because He went to the cross and bore the sins of the guilty so they we might be saved. Heaven praises Him because He died for them!

That is a worthy refrain for us to pick us here on earth! I can’t think of a better thing to sing about than the death of Jesus!

If you remove the blood, you remove the only hope for salvation that we have, Heb. 9:22! Thank God for the blood! It is the theme of Heaven’s music, it should be ours as well!

C. They Sing because of His Redemption – Heaven sings about the Lamb and about His redemption. Those in Heaven remember where they were when the Lamb redeemed them. They know what they have become because of the blood of the Lamb.

They remember when they were lost sinners headed to a devil’s Hell.

They remember the day Jesus died for their sins and rose again from the dead.

They remember how He came to them in their sins and how He saved them by His grace. They remember how He redeemed them and took them into His family. They know what they were, and they know what they are now, because of Him!

Stop for a minute and think about what you were, where you were headed and what you deserved. Now, think about what Jesus has done in your life!

III. LETS LOOK AT THE CELEBRATION

When Heaven joins together to praise the Lamb, all of creation offering up praise to the Creator

A. The Angels Praise The Lamb – John tries to tell us how many angels praise the Lord, but the number was too great for him to fathom.

Ten thousand was the largest number known to the Greeks.

John says it is as many as you can imagine times that many again and many thousands more.

What are these angels doing? They are praising their Creator.

Did you notice that it says the redeemed ones “sung” v9; but the angels “say” v12?

I cannot think of a single verse in the Bible that says that angels can sing. Every time they praise the Lord, they say.

Even at the birth of Jesus, the angelic host said what was on their minds, Luke 2:8-14. The only verse that even comes close to saying they sing in Job 38:7; and the word “sang” in that verse means “to shout out, or to give a ringing cry.”

What’s the point? Well, music is made up of two kinds of chords. There are minor chords and there are major chords. Minor chords make up the music of sorrow, pain, suffering and bereavement. Minor chords express suffering, heartache and misery. Many of the sounds of nature are in the minor chords keys.

Then, there are the major chords. Chords of victory, exaltation, triumph and praise.

We humans know about the struggles of life. We know about the touch of the Master’s hand. We know what it is to be redeemed by His grace lifted out of sin and its prison.

We know what it is to have no hope and then to be given a “new song”, Psa. 40:1-3.

The angels, on the other hand, have never had our experience with sin and redemption.

All they know is glory, triumph and victory.

B. The `Created Beings Praise The Lamb – When this worship service breaks out in Heaven, every creature in the universe joins in to praise the Lamb.

Think about it! Every lost sinner, every devil of Hell, even Satan himself will lift their voices together and give their praise to the risen Lamb of God! They will not be able to help themselves, but will bend their knees and lift their voices in praise!

Romans 14:11 As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

You will notice that they do not praise Him for redemption.

C. The four beasts and the four and twenty elders Praise The Lamb – When all of this takes place, the four beasts says “Amen!” They say, “So it is and let it be so!”

When they join in, the twenty-four elders cannot contain themselves and they fall down before the Lamb in spontaneous, open worship.

Why should I feel discouraged, Why should the shadows come, Why should my heart feel lonely, And long for heaven and home

When Jesus is my portion, A constant friend is he, His eye is on the sparrow, And I know he watches over me

I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free, His eye is on the sparrow, And I know he watches

His eye is on the sparrow, And I know he watches, I know he watches me