A New Song

April 4, 2020

Six times in the psalms and once in Isaiah, God’s people are encouraged to “sing a new song” to the Lord, but not until the Revelation of St. John do we discover what that new song is about. The twenty-four elders, symbolic of the Old and New Testament saints, strike up the chorus:

“And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”” —Revelation 5:9-13 NKJV

The subject of this new song is praise to Jesus Christ, who by his sacrifice upon the Cross, secured our redemption from the power and penalty of sin. Tonight, it’s not the subject of the song that grabs my attention. It’s the setting—God’s saints, angels, elders, the living creatures, every living thing on earth. Tomorrow is Sunday, and for the third week in a row, we will worship at a distance in our homes, apart from our brothers and sisters in Christ. In these days of social distancing, I miss gathering together, and the significance of these words of Scripture begin to come to the forefront. These early Christians to whom John wrote were experiencing persecution. When John spoke of the AntiChrist or the Beast, his readers weren’t thinking of someone who would appear at some future time. “We know—we’ve seen him!” would have been their response. Worshipping in small family groups away from spying eyes would have been the norm. “Ten thousand times ten thousand” gathering together to sing praises to the Lord would have been an unimaginable delight; these words were a joyful anticipation of a day to come when they could gather with all God’s saints in praise and adoration the likes of which they had never seen. I too, am looking forward to that day, and to that lesser but ever more wondrous day when I’ll stand with my brothers and sisters with hands raised as we offer our praise to the Lord Jesus Christ who redeemed and called us together as his family. That day is coming, and we will sing a new song when it arrives, patiently waiting in our small groups until then.