GETTING THE MESSAGE/The Lord’s redeemed will sing
In Revelation 14, John sees the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion. Zion is repeatedly used in the Old Testament for the true city of God, the everlasting city where the redeemed will dwell with God. John sees 144,000 who have the Lamb’s name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
The 144,000 are those who were sealed by God as his own possession in chapter 7. It is a symbolic number for all the true believers in Christ, a number that is known by God alone. God knows all of Christ’s sheep that have heard his voice and believed in him. The name of the Lamb and his Father on their foreheads is in contrast to those who have the mark of the beast upon their foreheads (Chapter 13:16).
Christ is the only great Shepherd of the sheep. There is none Christians should honor as Christ, and whose voice they ought to hear before his, or by whom they should be ruled but by him. They have been redeemed from the earth and redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and for the Lamb (14:3-4).
Paul defines what being redeemed means: “You were bought with a price, you are not your own (1 Corinthians 6). Firstfruits in the Old Testament were the first of the harvest that God required to be dedicated to him. Here it points to those who belong to Christ being God’s portion from all mankind, his treasured possession.
The application is not difficult. Has Christ redeemed you from all your sin? Then your life is to honor him. You have been purified, not to practice sin but to be zealous for good works in his name. Are you one of the firstfruits of God out of the earth? Then your home is not here. You are a citizen of Zion, so in trials and troubles practice patient endurance.
In verses 2-3, John hears the redeemed of God singing a new song before the throne. The sound was like the roar of many waters, the sound of loud thunder, and the sound of harps. There was power and beauty in the singing of this blessed choir. This is the song of salvation, of praise to God for such a great salvation in Christ Jesus.
Christians in heaven and those still on earth sing it. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were singing hymns in prison, and all the prisoners were listening. The prisoners had to be thinking of how strange it was for men just beaten half to death to be singing, not the blues, but songs of praise to God.
No one could learn the song but those redeemed from the earth (verse 3). Why would that be? It is easy to learn the truth, the doctrinal facts of Christ dying to save sinners. The reason men do not learn the new song is the same reason that they are deceived by the anti-Christ; they refuse to love the truth (2nd Thessalonians 2). Jesus told those who resisted his teaching that his word had no place in them.
Jesus foretold that at judgment many would call him “Lord, Lord”, yet he would say to them, “I never knew you.” Whatever they had done in his name was not acceptable to God. They had not ever learned the new song. So, we should consider what it means to learn this song.
It is the Song of Songs. It is a song about Christ’s love to his people and their love to him. We must recognize his grace; we love him because he first loved us. We must see how great his love is. It is a dying love - he laid down his life for you. It is an immense love - as the Father loved me, Jesus says, so I have loved you. It is an eternal love – “ I have loved you with an everlasting love.” We cannot learn the song if we don’t love Christ. So, learn to love Christ and do good in his name.
In verses 4-5, we see love in action. Christians are described as virgins. This means spiritual purity. They are betrothed to Christ, and they owe fidelity to him, which means if the things of the world are preferred before Christ, it is infidelity in the eyes of the Lord.
They also “follow the Lamb wherever he goes.” This means in plenty and want, into captivity or death; a binding relationship. There is not a circumstance in which the Christian cannot honor Christ. We must say he can use me to glorify him according to his good pleasure.