Harps and the New Song

Harps of God

Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. They sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood, out of every tribe, language, people, and nation, and made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on earth." (Revelation 5:8-10)

I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a number, one hundred forty-four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads. I heard a sound from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of a great thunder. The sound which I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps. They sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth. (Revelation 14:1-3)

I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them God's wrath is finished. I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations. Who wouldn't fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed." (Revelation 15:1-4)

In Revelation, harps are associated with either the new song or the two consecutive songs, one of Moses and the other of the Lamb. Harps are first mentioned as being in the possession of representatives of humanity arrayed around the throne of God in heaven. But soon the harps are heard being used by so many that the music becomes like many waters and great thunder it is so pervasive.

The last mention of harps is highly significant. They are in the possession of those who, from all the evidence involved, are people who have learned how to sing and play their harps just like Jesus. This involves prayers and praises that become so well tuned and effective that it becomes the means of toppling the entire empire of evil. These people are accomplices who have have been mentored by the Lamb and tutored by Him until they can effectively accompany Him, His personal orchestra that overcomes and defeats the cacophony of dissonance put out by the dragon and his agents.

Harps apparently represent sweet music that accompanies and reinforces the prayers and praises of the saints represented by the incense in the sanctuary. Thus we find a link to anywhere a censer is mentioned or the Altar of Incense is referenced.

Harps are a significant instrument in Revelation and run as a thread throughout Scripture. See Harps document for a complete list of passages relating to harps.

A New Song

What is important about the nature of the song referred to in Revelation that is connected with harps?

Those singing this new song are the same ones whose prayers are viewed as incense. The focus of the song when it is first mentioned is on the Lamb and how His death in some way won their trust in Him. It refers to Jesus coming to where we live and risking His life to get our attention through making God vulnerable to hateful, resentful human beings. As a result of this huge risk that cost Him His life at our hands, we are made kings and priests to our God. What kind of amazing song is this? And what kind of God is this song talking about?

There are potent insights that need to be mined from the passages relating to this new song. There is a boldness lurking behind the stunning humility of the Lamb that if ever caught sight of is so inspiring that it would compel us to follow such an amazing leader. Yet because He chooses to be portrayed as a lamb instead of a violent conquerer, it is all too easy to miss seeing the raw courage and boldness that it took to maintain such humility and vulnerability in the face of betrayal and overwhelming violence.

The next mention of the new song is in reference to the 144,000 where we learn that no one else can sing it. Again it is directly linked with the idea of redemption. But the original word actually means their trust was won by the Lamb when He came to the town square and risked everything to live among them and show them true love. This is a repeat of the same message as the previous reference so far as the content of the song is concerned. But more clues are now added to the song in this instance.

These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed by Jesus from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. In their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless. (Revelation 14:4-5)

Here we start to see compelling reasons why no one else can learn this song. Yet as always we must be careful to not jump to premature conclusions when reading this. Our prejudices too often blind us to the real meaning hidden beneath the surface, for when we run with our own ideas and interpretations we miss the real point of what Scripture is trying to get across to us.

Because Revelation is all symbolic, we can be confident this is not talking about physical defilement from literal women nor physical virginity. So what does this mean? It must be very important if it is part of the content of this song. Whatever these things imply, they are quite likely truths we are unfamiliar with or else the song would not be new to us.

Currently there is debate over the story of the fall and who did what or said what concerning Eve being deceived and Adam choosing to disobey God thus bringing death into the world. I am not seeking to assert a hard position on whether or not Eve used words to convince Adam to join her in eating the forbidden fruit. What is clear is that God told Adam that the curse that would come on the ground was because he listened to the voice of his wife.

To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life." (Genesis 3:17)

Many presume that this implies that Adam obeyed words of his wife over obeying God. That is possible, however there is no record of her saying anything to Adam. So what else might explain this?

The words that are recorded are those of Eve's conversation with the serpent as he deceived her into eating the fruit. Did Adam overhear that conversation? We don't know for sure and must be cautious not to take a hard position. But if Adam did hear even a part of that conversation and yet failed to intervene, knowing what he knew about how God had warned them, he would be far more guilty than Eve. This is why Paul later declares that it was Adam's sin that brought death into the world.

Whether Adam was complicit in allowing Eve to be deceived by not asserting himself into her conversation with the enemy, or whether he allowed her to persuade him to value her above love for his Creator we cannot be sure. Either way, Adam became defiled because of how he improperly related to the voice of his wife and as a result the sin and death gained access to our world.

This sheds far more light on why this might be a key issue at the end of this world's history, for the original problem must be rectified. Yet this will never come about by blaming women for all our problems which has too often been the case. This is what Adam after ingesting the spiritual poison of rebellion against his Creator and becoming infected with the deadly virus of selfishness. When offered an opportunity by God to confess what he had done and to change his attitude only a short time later, instead of answering honestly the questions put to him by God about how all this started, instead of acknowledging the uncomfortable truth he began to blame his wife as well as God for his choice to disobey. This is the core problem and is what must be dealt with effectively in order to break the powerful curse that hangs over this world. Continuing to Blame women only exacerbates our fallen condition and is itself a symptom of the defilement involving women referred to in this verse.

Notice that not only are these people not defiled with women – in other words, they choose to remain trustful in the Lamb more than anyone else, including their wife or any other attraction – but they also are not caught up in blaming like Adam did. Too often we assume that blameless means someone has no faults or weaknesses. But being blameless is really about breaking free and being delivered from the roots that cause us to blame others instead of accepting full responsibility for our own choices and actions. These who sing a new song are no longer blaming anyone for anything but are focused entirely on the Lamb and no one else. This is why it is impossible for anyone else to learn this song, for it requires total honesty and transparency which is something very few are willing to embrace.

Further we are told there is no lie or deception in their mouth – their communications. When Adam shifted the attention away from himself to Eve by blaming her for his own choice to sin, he was really engaging in lies in order to escape punishment. Yet his very presumption that God had come to punish them for disobedience was itself a lie that had already defiled their psyche as soon as they embraced the the serpent's devious insinuations about God. All humanity has been trapped in a miasma of lies ever since, which is why it has taken such a long time to restore the human race from the tragedy of sin. The underlying problem is how we perceive God that produces every other difficulty in our lives, for every person on earth had been infected with satanic lies about God which is why Jesus came to this world – to challenge and defeat the lies of the devil who became the prince of this world when Adam defaulted.

There is another example of someone listening to their wife instead of trusting God. Abram found himself under pressure from his wife because she had difficulty resting in God's promise to give them a son after so many years of waiting. So she decided that maybe what God expected of them was to help Him out instead of simply waiting around doing nothing. That sounds familiar doesn't it?

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. Sarai said to Abram, "See now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my handmaid. It may be that I will obtain children by her." Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. (Genesis 16:1-4)

How did this defile Abram when we correlate this to what we read in Revelation? How did Adam become defiled by listening to the voice of his wife? It does not solve the dilemma by blaming women as Adam did. Rather the core issue is whether each individual is willing to trust God more than anyone else. This is not about gender but about heart trust when it comes to someone offering us something that appears more attractive than adhering to what God has already communicated to us.

The defilement itself does not come from women, either literally or figuratively. The defilement that ruins spiritual virginity that needs to be restored is really the defilement of double-mindedness that James warns about in the first chapter of his letter. This double-minded condition means that we are holding onto contradictory beliefs about God at the same time which renders our faith useless and disables us from being able to receive anything God gives to us. This is the defilement caused by sin, for sin is choosing to distrust God trust anything or anyone else above Him. Distrust is what Jesus came to destroy, not people but lies that defile and destroy our capacity to rest in the love of God's passionate fire. The Lamb alone is the one who can lead us back to trust in God. And only those willing to follow the Lamb ANYWHERE He goes can learn this new song, for the Lamb's song is so radical that religion does not even come close to seeing the real truth the Lamb exposes about God.

Let me introduce another passage to our investigation of this new song. It brings insight into the nature of why it is so radically new in contrast to the old familiar song we have heard all our lives.

For I didn't speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk you in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you. But they didn't listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. (Jeremiah 7:22-24)

This resonates strongly with the central theme throughout Hebrews 10 where it is clear that God has never been interested in the idea of sacrifices and offerings and all the appeasement notions those things conjure up in us. This truth is found in both the Old and New Testaments and is not something new really. Yet because we have refused to listen to God throughout history, learning this song has been impossible, not because we didn't necessarily know the truth but because we resisted the truth in favor of lies we preferred to embrace coming from the enemy of love.

A careful study of Micah 6 is also highly beneficial along with a careful look at the story of Balaam referenced in that chapter. God has been trying to get through to us for centuries what He really wants, yet we have been so fixated on insisting He wants sacrifice that we never learn the new song.

For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh."

How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:4-8)

Can we start to see the sharp contrast between the old song and the new one yet?

But in those sacrifices there is yearly reminder of sins. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, "Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire, but you prepared a body for me; You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.'" (Hebrews 10:3-7)

Here we find refrains of the old song and the new song in sharp contrast to each other. This transitions us nicely into the next passage where the song is described somewhat differently. This time there are two songs mentioned, or is it one song with two verses? This time it is being sung on a sea of glass and is named the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. This provides key insights as to the nature of this song and how its contents were developed, especially in light of the passages we have previously noted.

I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them God's wrath is finished. I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations. Who wouldn't fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed." (Revelation 15:1-4)

Is the song of Moses different than the song of the Lamb? I strongly believe it is, and it is very significantly different. Yet those who sing the song of the Lamb likely start out singing the song of Moses the servant before learning the new song the Lamb introduces. Thus those who follow the Lamb anywhere and everywhere He goes are moved beyond the stanzas about Moses and sacrifices and excitement about defeating their enemies to embracing a new truth as revealed by Jesus who taught we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us that we may be like our Father in heaven. This is definitely a new song from what most people have been taught to sing throughout history.

Note that this song of Moses has to do with a servant mindset. Jesus said that a servant doesn't know what the master is doing. In other words, they don't care about motives but simply focus on obedience.

This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn't know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. You didn't choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. I command these things to you, that you may love one another. (John 15:12-17)

These words are directly from the Lamb. This is the new song, very different and far more mature than the old song of Moses where most of the focus was on obedience to rules and winning over enemies. Even in Hebrews 11 containing a list of heroes of faith, there is a noticeable line of demarcation where it transitions from those using faith to win over their enemies to those who choosing to relate differently. This is where we see a distinct shift from the old song to a new one.

There is a potent example in Revelation of the contrast between the song of Moses, or the old song, and the song of the Lamb too difficult for most people to learn. It is in chapter 19 where we find both songs being sung by the same group of beings. A voice from the throne of God challenges the content of the first round of music, likely because it was going off to sound too much like the song of Moses celebrating victory over the drowned Egyptian army after the Red Sea crossing. After being reminded that this is no longer the song heaven prefers, it is started all over again, and this time it is sung right and celebrates the love of the Lamb and His lovely bride.

After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation, power, and glory belong to our God: for true and righteous are his judgments. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand." A second said, "Hallelujah! Her smoke goes up forever and ever." The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying, "Amen! Hallelujah!"

A voice came forth from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, the small and the great!"

I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of mighty thunders, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns! Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready." It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Revelation 19:1-8)

How has the wife of the Lamb made herself ready?

She has finally learned to focus all her attention and affections on the Lamb alone that results in a life of righteous acts. These are not acts produced by working hard to keep the rules meticulously but rather spontaneous acts reflective of the character of the One she adores. She no longer has eyes for anyone else, and she has become so transfixed by the beauty and glory of her husband that she can no longer be distracted by any others, including prostitutes, dragons or beasts of any kind or color. She has come to know in her heart that the Lamb is not at all like anyone else and does not gloat over the downfall of anyone. She has learned the new song and she sings it sweetly and passionately. She is madly in love.

In short, the new song that is so potent it has the power to defeat the entire empire of evil is summed up in the very first words of the song when it is first introduced. They sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy..." (Revelation 5:9) Worthy is about trust, and that is what the Lamb came to restore – trust in our heavenly Father's heart. When trust is restored everything else comes together easily. And trust is restored when we see how the Lamb proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is love.

This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies, (Song of Solomon 6:3)

Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh. Many waters can't quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned. (Song of Solomon 8:6-7)