A VERSE BY VERSE COMMENTARY ON REVELATION CHAPTER 14.

1. REVELATIO 14 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
The Lamb and the 144,000
1 Then I looked, and there before me was the
Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him
144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name
written on their foreheads.
1.BARNES, “And I looked - My attention was drawn to a new vision. The eye was turned away
from the beast and his image to the heavenly world - the Mount Zion above.
And, lo, a Lamb - See the notes on Rev_5:6.
Stood on the mount Zion - That is, in heaven. See the notes on Heb_12:22. Zion, literally the
southern hill in the city of Jerusalem, was a name also given to the whole city; and, as that was
the seat of the divine worship on earth, it became an emblem of heaven - the dwelling-place of
God. The scene of the vision here is laid in heaven, for it is a vision of the ultimate triumph of the
redeemed, designed to sustain the church in view of the trials that had already come upon it, and
of those which were yet to come.
And with him an hundred forty and four thousand - These are evidently the same persons that
were seen in the vision recorded in Rev_7:3-8, and the representation is made for the same
purpose - to sustain the church in trial, with the certainty of its future glory. See the notes on Rev_
7:4.
Having his Father’s name written in their foreheads - Showing that they were his. See the notes
on Rev_7:3; Rev_13:16. In Rev_7:3, it is merely said that they were “sealed in their foreheads”;
the passage here shows how they were sealed. They had the name of God so stamped or
marked on their foreheads as to show that they belonged to him. Compare the notes on Rev_7:3-
8.
2. CLARKE, “A Lamb stood on the mount Sion - This represents Jesus Christ in his sacrificial
office; mount Sion was a type of the Christian Church.
And with him a hundred forty and four thousand - Representing those who were converted to
Christianity from among the Jews. See Rev_7:4.
His Father’s name written in their foreheads - They were professedly, openly, and practically, the
children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. Different sects of idolaters have the peculiar mark of their
god on their foreheads. This is practised in the east to the present day, and the mark is called the
sectarial mark. Between eighty and ninety different figures are found on the foreheads of different
Hindoo deities and their followers.
Almost every MS. of importance, as well as most of the versions and many of the fathers, read
this clause thus: Having His Name and his Father’s name written upon their foreheads. This is
undoubtedly the true reading, and is properly received by Griesbach into the text.
3. GILL, “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb,.... The Alexandrian copy, and some others, read "the
Lamb"; the same that had been seen before in, the midst of the throne, Rev_5:6; and all the
Oriental versions have the same article also; the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for mention is
made of his Father in a following clause; the King of Zion, where he is seen standing, and the
Redeemer of his people, who are at large described; it is the same Lamb who is so often spoken
of in this book before: in the two preceding chapters an account is given of the state of the church,
as oppressed under Rome Pagan, and Rome Papal, and here of its more glorious and victorious

2. condition, with Christ at the head of it; in the last chapter antichrist is described, with his followers
and worshippers, and as exercising tyranny and cruelty upon the saints, and here Christ and his
followers are represented in vision, and some hints given of the fall of Babylon, and of the wrath of
God upon the worshippers of the beast, and of the happiness of those who belong to the Lamb:
and of him it is here said, that he
stood on the Mount Zion; by which is meant not heaven, but the church on earth; why that is called
Mount Zion; see Gill on Heb_12:22; here Christ the Lamb stood, as presiding over it, being King of
Zion, or the church; where he stood and fed, or ruled, in the name of the Lord, and in the majesty
of his God; and where he appeared in the defence of his church and people, oppressed by
antichrist; for he is Michael that standeth for the children of his people, and who stands with
courage, and in the greatness of his strength, and is invincible; nor does he stand here alone:
and with him an hundred forty and four thousand; the same with those in Rev_7:3, though all the
world wondered after the beast, and all that dwelt upon the earth worshipped him, yet there was a
number preserved that did not bow the knee to him; a remnant according to the election of grace,
who were called out of the world, and brought to Zion, and were on the side of the Lamb, and
abode by him, and cleaved unto him:
having his Father's name written in their foreheads; not baptism, administered in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as some think; nor eternal election, as others,
though as their names were written in the Lamb's book of life, so this was manifest to themselves
and others, as if his name and his Father's had been written in their foreheads; but rather
adoption, the new name of a child of God, they having the spirit of adoption, whereby they cried,
"Abba", Father, and being openly and manifestly the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus;
unless it should be thought there is an allusion to the inscription in the mitre on the forehead of the
high priest, "holiness to the Lord", and so be expressive of that visible holiness which will be on
the saints in the spiritual reign of Christ, which this vision respects; see Zec_14:20; or to the
frontlets between the eyes of the people of Israel, to put them in mind of the law, and their
obedience to it, Deu_6:8; and so may here denote the engagements of those saints in the service
of God; though perhaps no more is intended than their open and hearty profession of their faith,
and that they were not ashamed of appearing in the cause of God and truth; nor of Christ and his
words, his Gospel and ordinances: the Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate
Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read, "having his name, (the Lamb's,) and his Father's name
written in their foreheads"; and the Ethiopic version adds, "and of his Holy Spirit". Mr. Daubuz
thinks this vision refers to the times of Constantine, and to the Christians then, and particularly the
council of Nice, and as contemporary with that in Rev_7:9.
4. HENRY, “Here we have one of the most pleasing sights that can be viewed in this world - the
Lord Jesus Christ at the head of his faithful adherents and attendants. Here observe, 1. How
Christ appears: as a Lamb standing upon mount Zion. Mount Zion is the gospel church. Christ is
with his church and in the midst of her in all her troubles, and therefore she is not consumed. It is
his presence that secures her perseverance; he appears as a Lamb, a true Lamb, the Lamb of
God. A counterfeit lamb is mentioned as rising out of the earth in the last chapter, which was
really a dragon; here Christ appears as the true paschal Lamb, to show that his mediatorial
government is the fruit of his sufferings, and the cause of his people's safety and fidelity. 2. How
his people appear: very honourably. (1.) As to the numbers, they are many, even all who are
sealed; not one of them lost in all the tribulations through which they have gone. (2.) Their
distinguishing badge: they had the name of God written in their foreheads; they made a bold and
open profession of their faith in God and Christ, and, this being followed by suitable actings, they
are known and approved.
5. JAMISON, “Rev_14:1-20. The lamb seen on Zion with the 144,000. Their song. The gospel
proclaimed before the end by one angel: The fall of Babylon, by another: The doom of the beast
worshippers, by a third. The blessedness of the dead in the Lord. The harvest. The vintage.
In contrast to the beast, false prophet, and apostate Church (Rev_13:1-18) and introductory to the
announcement of judgments about to descend on them and the world (Rev_14:8-11, anticipatory
of Rev_18:2-6), stand here the redeemed, “the divine kernel of humanity, the positive fruits of the

3. history of the world and the Church” [Auberlen]. The fourteenth through sixteenth chapters
describe the preparations for the Messianic judgment. As the fourteenth chapter begins with the
144,000 of Israel (compare Rev_7:4-8, no longer exposed to trial as then, but now triumphant), so
the fifteenth chapter begins with those who have overcome from among the Gentiles (compare
Rev_15:1-5 with Rev_7:9-17); the two classes of elect forming together the whole company of
transfigured saints who shall reign with Christ.
a — A, B, C, Coptic, and Origen read, “the.”
Lamb ... on ... Sion — having left His position “in the midst of the throne,” and now taking His
stand on Sion.
his Father’s name — A, B, and C read, “His name and His Father’s name.”
in — Greek, “upon.” God’s and Christ’s name here answers to the seal “upon their foreheads” in
Rev_7:3. As the 144,000 of Israel are “the first-fruits” (Rev_14:4), so “the harvest” (Rev_14:15) is
the general assembly of Gentile saints to be translated by Christ as His first act in assuming His
kingdom, prior to His judgment (Rev_16:17-21, the last seven vials) on the Antichristian world, in
executing which His saints shall share. As Noah and Lot were taken seasonably out of the
judgment, but exposed to the trial to the last moment [De Burgh], so those who shall reign with
Christ shall first suffer with Him, being delivered out of the judgments, but not out of the trials. The
Jews are meant by “the saints of the Most High”: against them Antichrist makes war, changing
their times and laws; for true Israelites cannot join in the idolatry of the beast, any more than true
Christians. The common affliction will draw closely together, in opposing the beast’s worship, the
Old Testament and New Testament people of God. Thus the way is paved for Israel’s conversion.
This last utter scattering of the holy people’s power leads them, under the Spirit, to seek Messiah,
and to cry at His approach, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
5B. COLLECTED NOTES, “Here we see, not a number, but names. God's people are more than
just numbers. Some say the 144,000 are the sum of God's people and so there are always that
many believers at all times. It is the complete people of God. Mauro says they are the complete
number of the saved.
The Scriptures teach the reward of the righteous will be heaven. Nowhere do the Scriptures make
a distinction between the pure and "purest," nor do they speak of two different rewards-- i.e. one in
heaven and one on the earth. Some denominations, such as the Jehovah's Witnesseses, teach
that in the end there will be some righteous who will go to heaven and some remaining on a
refurbished earth. This teaching is false and is based on a misconstruing of Revelation chapters 7
and 14, with a distinction being made between the "Great Multitude" and the "144,000" mentioned
in these passages. They state that the "Great Multitude" is the "earth class" who will remain on the
earth, and that the "144,000" is the "church class" who will be with God in heaven.
However, when one reads these passages he finds that the "great multitude" and the "144,000"
are terms which speak of the same group. In studying the book of Revelation it must be keep in
mind that John is describing visions and dealing with symbols. This number, 144,000, is not a
literal number of people, but is a symbolic figure, here indicating a full or complete number. In
Rev. 14:7, John does not see the sealing of the 144,000 but only hears it. He then looks (v. 9) and
beholds "a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples
and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm
branches were in their hands." The "great multitude" are those whom John heard being sealed.
Notice where they are-- "before the throne," i.e. in heaven not on the earth. Those who teach the
doctrine of a earth/heaven reward try to smooth over this problem by saying, God's throne is in
heaven, and His footstool, the earth, is before the throne. Therefore the great multitude is on the
earth. But what about the angels, elders, and four living creatures, who "fell on their faces before
the throne" and worshipped God in verse 11? Are they on the earth too? Also, the 144,000 is
"before the throne" in Rev. 14:3. The terms "144,000" and "great multitude" in these passages
refer to the same group of redeemed individuals who are victorious in heaven with God and the
Lamb.
There are other problems with making the "144,000" the church who will go to heaven, and
making the "great multitude" those who will dwell on the earth. For example, when one reads Rev.
7:4 and Rev. 14:4 he finds that the 144,000 were JEWS and were all MEN who are VIRGINS.
If one consistently holds to the teaching that the "144,000" is the church, and the "great multitude"
are those who will live on the earth, then there can be NO WOMEN in heaven and no MARRIED

4. MEN. This would exclude Peter from heaven because we know that Peter was married (Matt.
8:14).
Notice the following contradictions in the doctrine of the earth/heaven reward with the teaching of
the Bible: Peter is an apostle and is listed as one in Matt. 10:2. We know from 1Cor. 12:28 that
the apostles were in the church. Therefore, Peter was in the church. According to the doctrine of
the earth/heaven reward, the church is the 144,000. So, Peter is one of the 144,000. But
according to Rev. 14:4, the 144,000 are composed of "virgins"--unmarried men. Therefore, Peter
could not be one of the 144,000, the church, since he was married. Yet, the Bible teaches that he
was a member of the church. See the problem! The manner in which the doctrine of a
earth/heaven reward contradicts the Scriptures proves that it is a false, man made doctrine.
The problem is some want to take some things literal and some things figurative in these
passages to fit their doctrine. To make sense of these passages one must again remember John
is describing visions and dealing with symbols. The term "144,000" represents the fullness or
completeness of those redeemed, they are a "great multitude," the spiritual Israel, who have kept
themselves spiritually chaste, sanctified to their Lord. These will have their reward in heaven and
will worship and serve God before His throne.
This vision of the 144,000 and the vision of the great multitude (7:9 ff.) form an interlude between
the sixth and seventh seals. Just as in the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets we
see a description of the witnessing church so here we get a description of the church. There is no
such interlude between the sixth and seventh bowl. Before the seven trumpets are to be sounded
which serve as warnings to mankind, the church is first sealed to protect them from these
disasters that come upon mankind. The number 144,000 is a symbolic number (cf. 21:12 ff.) and
the description of the 144,000 sealed, symbolically describes the NT + OT church not just the OT
tribes of Israel. Neither are they a select group of Jewish missionaries who arise in the last days. It
should be noted that the list of the twelve tribes is not just a list it is a census. The reasons why
the 144,000 represent the church are summarised below:
i. They are described as the servants of our God in verse 3, a term that refers to the church, and
is used more than 11 times in Revelation, see 1:1, 1:6, 5:10, 6:11, 7:15, 19:2, 19:5, 19:10, 22:3,
22:6, 22:9. The book of Revelation was written to God's servants (1:1, 22:6).
ii. The NT Church is called the Israel of God (Gal 6:16). Both Jews and Gentiles are members of
Christ's body and share the same promises, the church is Abraham's offspring (Eph 3:6, Gal 3:6-
9, 28-29). See also James 1:1.
iii. Judah is the firstborn instead of Reuben. Jesus is the firstborn of the dead (Col 1:15 ) and he is
descended from Judah (Heb 7:14). Note while Jesus was on earth he went through the initiation
rights of both Jews (circumcision) and Christians (baptism). Judah offered himself as a substitute
for his brother Benjamin (Gen 44:33) and is therefore a type of Christ.
iv. Levi the tribe of priests is included in the census, they are normally excluded from a census
(Num 1:47), the saints are described as priests in 1:6, 5:10 and 20:6.
v. Joseph, who is a type of Christ is included (instead of Ephraim), there is nothing wrong spoken
about him, see verse eight for more detail.
vi. Dan and Ephraim who went off into idolatry are excluded, they are replaced by Levi and
Joseph, there are no idolaters in the church, 21:8, 22:15. Irenaeus thinks that the antichrist will
come from Dan and quotes, Jer 8:16.
vii. Those in an OT census are ransomed people (cf. Exo 30:12).
viii. The number 144 (12*12 i.e. OT * NT) and 12,000 occur again in the description of the New
Jerusalem, Rev 21:12-17, which is clearly both OT (twelve tribes and 12 gates) and NT church
(twelve apostles and 12 foundations). This could also be a description of the Jewish and Gentile
church, but the emphasis is that it is the complete church.
ix. The 144,000 are found again in 14:1 where they have the name of the Lamb and the Father
written on their foreheads. In the description of the new Jerusalem, 22:3-4, we also find God's
servants with his name on their foreheads. The 144,000 in 14:1-5 are described as followers of
the Lamb, they sing a new song, they are pure and blameless, they are redeemed from the earth.
x. Milligan points out that if the seal is the antithesis of the mark of the beast which is on all his
followers then the seal of God will be on all His followers and not just a part.
xi. God is sealing all of his people against the coming trumpets not just a part just as all God's
people escaped the plagues on the Egyptians. All those who put the blood of the lamb on the door
posts and lintels escaped from the destroying angel.

5. John's theology clearly sees the church as being composed of OT and NT saints, the OT
continues into the NT, both Jews and Gentiles are saved on the same basis of faith (Gal 3:6-14).
This is made amply clear in his description of the New Jerusalem whose gates have the names of
the twelve tribes of Israel on them and whose foundations have the names of the twelve apostles
on them. Even where he does describe the OT church as 'the woman clothed with the sun, with
the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head', Rev 12:1, after she gives birth
to the Christ she becomes the NT church, 12:13. It should be clear from NT scripture that as far
as the church is concerned there is neither Jew nor Gentile we are all one body (Eph 3:6), the
Gentile believers by following the faith of Abraham are spiritually children of Abraham and
inheritors of the same promises (Gal 3:6-9, 28-29). The church is a continuum from OT to NT but
as they are here sealed prior to the trumpets being sounded this would reduce this group to the
NT church rather than both OT and NT. Our Lord only has one body on the earth, John no doubt
has our Lords words in mind "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will
believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me
and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
(John 17:20-21 see also John 17:11).
There is a modification to this view in which rather than considering the 144,000 to be OT and NT
saints they could be the Jewish and Gentile church. The Jewish line extends into the NT period in
so far as the Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah, fortunately many are doing so. Just as in the OT
period there were Gentile converts, e.g. Ruth, so in the NT period there will be Jewish converts.
Either way the 144,000 should be considered to be the complete church and not just a portion of
it. There are a number of commentators that consider the 144,000 to be Jewish converts to
Christianity in which case most of the analysis aforementioned would also fit these Jewish
Christians since by definition they would be part of the church and would therefore share its
characteristics. However the use of the term 144 would seem to link this group with the new
Jerusalem which clearly depicts the whole church of all saints either OT or NT, Jew or Gentile and
therefore it is more likely that this is referring to the complete church.
Caird points out that Revelation is an exposition of Psalm 2 and has a reference to Zion in verse
6, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." He sees the 144,000 as the army of the Lord of
the Lord, they follow Christ wherever he goes (v4) they are found again following Christ in 19:14,
19, and again in 17:14 in both scenes the context is that of battle. He regards their numbering in
the census of (7:4) as a military role call which also answers the question as to why they did not
defile themselves with woman. The source of his symbolism is the regulations for holy war which
required men to be ceremonially pure (Deu 23:10-11, cf. 2 Sam 11:11). He sees the 144,000 as
martyrs and therefore as first fruits of the great ingathering of the saints. Like Jesus, the sacrificial
Lamb, no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless (1 Pet 1:19, 2:22-24).
The same 144,000 who were sealed Rev 7:3 are now in heaven, they are together with the Lamb,
those who were sealed then are those who are now saved, none is lost, there were 144,000
sealed and there are 144,000 in heaven (John 6:39, 10:28-30, 17:12, 18:9). They were marked in
Christ with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of their inheritance in heaven
(Eph 1:13-14). This passage tells us more about the seal, they had his name (the Lambs) and his
Father's name written on their foreheads (Rev 22:3). i.e. sealed by the Father and the Son, the
seal of protection and ownership. This is in contrast to the followers of the beast who have name
of the beast on their right hand or forehead, Rev 13:16. The saints are baptised into the name of
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Mat 28:19, Acts 2:38), the name means that not only are they
owned by God as bond slaves but also that they are part of God's family, they take their name
from the Father and Son as adopted sons into God's family both in heaven and on earth (Eph 1:5,
3:14-15).
"I looked, and, lo, a Lamb!" Why, that Lamb is heaven itself; for as good Rutherford says, "Heaven
and Christ are the same thing;" to be with Christ is to be in heaven, and to be in heaven is to be
with Christ. That prisoner of the Lord very sweetly writes in one of his glowing letters - "O my Lord
Jesus Christ, if I could be in heaven without thee, it would be a hell; and if I could be in hell, and
have thee still, it would be a heaven to me, for thou art all the heaven I want." It is true, is it not,

6. Christian? Does not thy soul say so?
"Not all the harps above
Can make a heavenly place,
If God His residence remove,
Or but conceal His face."
All thou needest to make thee blessed, supremely blessed,
is "to be with Christ." Amen.
Criswell writes, "Revelation 13 describes the terrific and sickening horror of the beast. It depicts
those two terrible monsters, who are God's symbols of the ministers of Satan, the ultimate anti-
Christ and the false prophet, who delude and deceive the people of the earth and lead them into
prediction and damnation. This beautiful chapter 14 immediately follows the horror of those
darkening days. It reminds us that, after the storm and rage of the tempest is over, then, in the
quiet beauty of the calm, God over-arches the heavens with a rainbow of promise. The clouds
have emptied themselves, the raging tempest has spent itself; and the thunders no longer roar,
the lightening no longer flashes. Beyond and back of the clouds, break the beautiful rays of a
golden light."
"Chapter 14 is simply the other side of chapter 13. They are contemporaneous in history.
These things all happen at once, and chapter 14 is but the counter part of chapter 13. One side is
the dark description of the beast and of Satan and of the judgment of God upon those who
worship the vile image. At the same time, in contrast, is this beautiful scene of these glorious
ones who serve God and Him alone. In chapter 13 is the beast; in chapter 14 is the Lamb, gentle
and precious, on Mt. Zion. In chapter 13 are the spurious, the counterfeit and the false. In
chapter 14 are the true, the genuine and the lovely. In chapter 13 is the mark of the beast, in
chapter 14, the mark of God. In chapter 13 is the work of idolatry and the corruption of the earth.
In chapter 14 is the worship of the true Lamb of God and the saint's dissociation from the
corruption of the world. In chapter 13 are those who go with the beast and the idolaters down into
damnation and perdition. In chapter 14 are those who are redeemed from the earth and who are
taken up into heaven. In chapter 13 are those that follow the beast in all his ways. In chapter 14
are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. In chapter 13 is the number of the beast, 666,
six hundred, three score and six. In chapter 14 are the one hundred and forty-four thousand, the
fullness and the plenitued of the glory, the grace and beauty of God. The two chapters are side by
side."
Criswell writes again, "Then, the text also says that the one hundred and forty four thousand are
virgins and that they " follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." Many commentators think that
means that they were never married. Marriage has nothing to do with it whatsoever. Consider,
for example, II Cor. 11:2, where Paul says to the church at Corinth: "...for I have a spoused you to
Christ, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to our Lord." Now, does that mean that all those
folks in the church at Corinth were unmarried, that all the men were bachelors and all the women
were spinsters? Would not that be a tragic thing? What on earth would you do for the generation
that were following, as Psa. 48 says? The idea is impossible. But we know what Paul means. He
says to the Corinthians that the church is going to be presented to Christ as a chaste virgin.
Likewise, when the text describes these men in Revelation as virgins, it refers to the fact that they
separated themselves from the pollution and corruption of the earth. They were virgins unto God.
They had given themselves in pure devotion to the Lord.
Crowns and thrones may perish, Kingdoms rise and wane,
But the Church of Jesus constant will remain.
RAY SUMMERS, The Lamb standing on Mount Zion (14:1-13) is the first of the forces of
righteousness which God uses. There is no question as to the meaning of this symbol. It refers
to the triumphant Christ. Following the dark and threatening scene of the last two chapters, the
curtain is drawn aside to reveal the Lamb, safe on Mount Zion, with a perfect number (144,000) of

7. his redeemed with him. These bear a mark of identity just as the adherents of the devil-emperor
worship bore. The mark on their forehead is not an evil one but "his name (the Lamb's) and the
name of his Father." This triumphant picture was one calculated to cause the hearts of the
Christians to leap for joy. Their Redeemer-Lamb as their champion is marshaling a complete
army of righteousness about the crest of Mount Zion. Those with the Lamb sing a song, a new
victory song, the meaning of which can be known only by the redeemed with the Lamb. They are
with him and victorious because they had kept themselves undefiled "with women," symbolical of
freedom from the spiritual fornication of idol worship. "They follow the Lamb wherever he goes" --
they have been and are absolutely loyal to him. "In their mouth was found no lie"--no denial of the
supremacy of Christ. There can be no doubt about the outcome of the battle when the Lamb is
thus pictured safe on Zion with a perfect number of the redeemed with him--they shall not fail; with
him they are victorious.
Rev. 14:1-5 - Seventh Figure - The Lamb On Mount Zion (Christ)
John turns from the scene of the beasts to the Lamb (Christ, John 1:29; Rev. 5:6) standing on
mount Zion. We receive comfort and assurance when we realize who will be victorious (compare
Rev. 17:14). Mount Zion is used in the Scriptures of physical Jerusalem (2 Sam. 5:6-7--where it is
first mentioned), the church (Heb. 12:22-23), and here for heaven or divine headquarters. The
hundred and forty-four thousand are the perfect number of the redeemed with Him. They have a
name written on their foreheads--the name of His Father (some ancient manuscripts have,
"having his name, and the name of his Father," see ASV). The redeemed are singing a new song
which only they could learn (a special song that the redeemed will sing; no others can take part in
it). It sounded like many waters, great thunder, and harpers harping on their harps (indicates
volume and rhyme). These are they which were not defiled with woman (morally pure and free
from spiritual fornication--idolatry). They follow the Lamb wherever he goes (absolutely faithful to
Him). These were purchased to be the firstfruits (they were the first--indicates others will follow--all
can be of that number, James 1:18). In their mouth was found no guile (see 1 Pet. 3:10) for they
were without fault before the throne of God (see Jude 24).
These no doubt are the rest of those who were to come out of the great tribulation (6:9-11). They
are "before the throne" as was the great multitude who had come out of the great tribulation (7:9,
13-17). The term "before the throne" is probably used figuratively of the place of comfort or
paradise in hades. These are those that live and reign with Christ (20:4). They were sealed with
the Father's name in their foreheads (7:3; 14:1). They were the holy city that had been tread under
foot (11:2). The beast had made war with them and overcame them (13:7). They are now safe
with God and thus sing a new victory song. The scene of the seven figures ends with verse five
rather than at the end of the chapter. The rest of the chapter (vss. 6-20) prepares for the coming
bowls of wrath. DAVID RIGGS
6. PULPIT, “And I looked; and I saw, indicating a fresh phase of the vision (cf. Rev_4:1, etc.).
Having described (Rev_12:1-17. and 13.) the trinity of enemies with which Christ and his people
contend, the vision now passes on to depict the blessedness in store for the faithful Christian,
and, on the other hand, the final fate of the dragon and his adherents. We are thus once more led
to the final judgment. And just as in the former vision, after the assurance of the salvation of the
faithful (Rev_7:1-17.), came the denunciation of woe for the ungodly (Rev 8-11:14), leading once
more to a picture of the saved (Rev_11:15-19), so here we have the assured blessedness of the
faithful portrayed (Rev_14:1-13), followed by the judgments upon the ungodly (Rev_14:14 - Rev_
18:24), and leading on once more to a picture of the saints in glory (Rev_19:1-21.). And, lo, a
Lamb stood on the Mount Zion; and behold, the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, as in the
Revised Version. "The Lamb," with the article, referring to "the Lamb" described in Rev_5:1-14.,
whom the second beast had attempted to personate. He stands on Mount Zion (cf. Heb_12:22,
"Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem"). The appropriateness of the
position is seen
(1) in its strength (cf. the position of the beast, rising from the sea, perhaps standing on the sand,
Rev_13:1; and cf. Psa_87:1, Psa_87:2, "His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth
the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob").

8. (2) Because there is the temple of God, in the midst of which is the Lamb, and there is the new
Jerusalem (Rev_21:2).
(3) Zion is the new Jerusalem, the opposite extreme to Babylon (Rev_5:8). And with him an
hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's Name written in their foreheads. The
reading, t?` ??´?? a a??t??? ?a?` t?` ??´?? a t??? ?at??`? a??t??? , his Name and his Father's
Name, adopted in the Revised Version, is supported by à , A, B, C, with most cursives, versions,
and Fathers. Note the similarity to the description in Rev_7:1-17. Here, as there, the hundred and
forty-four thousand are those "redeemed from the earth" (Rev_7:3). The number denotes a large
and perfect number; a multitude of which the total is complete (see on Rev_7:4). In Rev_7:1-17.
the sealing in the forehead is described. This sign marks out the redeemed in contradistinction to
those who have received the mark of the beast (Rev_13:16).
7. CHARLES SIMEON 1-5, “THE FELICITY OF HEAVEN
Rev_14:1-5. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred
forty and four thousand, having his Fathers name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice
from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the
voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne,
and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and
forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not
defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he
goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
A CONSIDERABLE part of the Book of Revelation is yet involved in impenetrable obscurity;
though we doubt not but that, when the predictions contained in it shall have been fulfilled, the
whole will appear as lucid and intelligible as any other prophecies which have been already
accomplished. There are parts however which may be understood by every reader; and which are
particularly interesting, on account of the sublime views which they unfold to us of the heavenly
state. Indeed in the whole of the inspired volume there will not be found such bright displays of
heaven as in this closing part of the sacred canon. The vail seems on many occasions to be
drawn aside, as it were, and we are admitted to see and hear all that is taking place in the regions
of bliss. The passage before us is of this kind. The Apostle himself was, as it were, caught up into
the third heavens, where he saw his adorable Lord and Saviour in the midst of all his redeemed
people, and heard the songs with which they proclaimed his praise. His record concerning it will
lead me to set before you,
I. The blessedness of heaven—
There the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in the midst of his redeemed people—
[Heaven doubtless was the place now opened in vision to the Apostle’s view: it was “Mount Sion,
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem [Note: Heb_12:22.].”
There the Lord Jesus Christ dwells, still retaining in his person all those marks which his
murderous enemies inflicted on his sacred body, when he offered himself a sacrifice for the sins
of a ruined world. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and in that sublime
character does he yet appear, though seated on his heavenly throne: for in that character he is
most glorified in himself, and most endeared to his redeemed people.
Around him stand the myriads of his redeemed. They are called “an hundred and forty and four
thousand, “every tribe of Israel having twelve thousand of its members “sealed in their foreheads”
as God’s peculiar property [Note:Rev_7:4.], and “having the Father’s name engraven there” as an
evidence of their relation to him. But we are not to suppose that there are no more in heaven than
the number specified: for they are in reality a multitude that no man can number, out of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues [Note: Rev_7:9.].”]

9. There are they adoring him with unceasing songs of praise—
[The song in which they join, though not specified here, is made known to us in a former chapter.
It is “a new song;” because it was unknown to the bright morning stars which were first created,
nor could possibly be sung by those who never fell. Hence it is said to be “a song which no man
could learn, except those who had been redeemed from the earth.” Hear the song itself, as
reported to us by him who heard it: “They sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God
kings and priests: and we shall reign on earth.” He then adds, “And I beheld, and I heard the voice
of many angels, round about the throne and the beasts 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 that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
honour, and glory, and blessing [Note: Rev_5:9-12.].” Here are two things to be noticed; one is,
that the song was new; for it could not be sung till the Lamb was slain; and the other is, that the
angels are unable to join in the song of the redeemed: for whilst the redeemed celebrate his
praises as having been “slain for them, and having redeemed them to God by his blood,” the
angels can only join so far as to acknowledge, that He is “worthy to receive” the praises that are
so offered to him.
This chorus of the redeemed, swelled as it is by the acclamations and amens of all the angelic
hosts [Note: Rev_5:13-14.], is “as the sound of many waters, and loud as thunder itself:” yet is the
song so melodious, that every one of the redeemed accompanies it with his harp; for it is “the
voice of harpers harping with their harps.” The music of the temple-service in the days of Solomon
must have been grand beyond all that men of this age can conceive: but not Solomon in all his
glory could form a conception of that melody which John heard, and which, I pray God, we may be
admitted to hear, and join in, to all eternity.
It is said of all this band, that “they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” Whilst they were in
this world, they endeavoured to walk in his steps, and to follow him in all his ways; and now they
attend upon him through the boundless expanse of heaven, all vying, as it were, with each other in
testifying their love and gratitude to their adorable Redeemer. As in the days of old, at the time of
Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, “the whole multitude followed him, crying, Hosanna to
the Son of David; blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest
[Note: Mat_21:9.];” so now in heaven they follow him with similar acclamations, and rest not day
nor night from this glorious employment [Note: Rev_4:8.].
Such are the circumstances related by the Apostle: but, to form any idea of the bliss enjoyed by
the heavenly hosts, we must ourselves be partakers of it: the language of mortality cannot paint it;
nor, if an angel were to come from heaven to describe it, could our feeble apprehensions grasp
the mighty theme.]
In relation to this blessedness, the point which more particularly demands our attention is,
II. The character of those that are admitted to it—
This is minutely marked,
1. In its source—
[“They have been redeemed from among men.” Once they were in bondage even as other men:
but God in his mercy delivered them “by a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm.” Israel when
in Egypt were an exact picture of them in their unregenerate state. Their subjection to sin and
Satan was entire: nor could they by any means cast off the yoke with which they were bound. But
God, in his tender mercy, pitied them; and sent his only dear Son to redeem them; to redeem
them, by offering his own soul a ransom for them, and by enabling every one of them for himself
to burst his bonds. Thus to God’s sovereign love and mercy must their emancipation be traced in
the first instance, and then to the efficacy of the Redeemer’s blood, and the almighty power of his

10. grace. As Israel were “a nation taken out from the midst of another nation for the praise of the
glory of his grace,” so are all that either are, or shall be, transferred to the heavenly Canaan, “a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that they may shew forth
the praises of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light [Note: 1Pe_
2:9.].”]
2. In its progress—
[“They are a willing people, though made so in the day of God’s power [Note: Psa_110:3.]:” and
the very instant that they begin to taste redeeming love, and to experience the mighty working of
God’s power on their souls, they offer themselves up to God “as first-fruits to God and to the
Lamb.” The first-fruits of every thing were God’s peculiar portion: nor could any man appropriate
them to his own use without being guilty of sacrilege. And such are all who are truly converted
unto God [Note: Jam_1:18.]. Under this character then they present themselves to him: they know
that “they are not their own, but his: and therefore they desire to glorify him with their bodies and
their spirits, which are his [Note: 1Co_6:20.].” They account this “a reasonable service [Note:
Rom_12:1.];” and they engage in it with their whole hearts.
Having consecrated themselves to God, they endeavour to be faithful to their engagements. This
is what is meant, when it is said in my text, “They were not defiled with women; for they are
virgins.” It is of spiritual fornication that the Apostle speaks. This is a common figure in the Holy
Scriptures. Men are often said to “go a whoring after their idols.” But the saints in glory have kept
themselves from spiritual, as well as from open and outward, idolatry. They have given up
themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, as a virgin betroths herself to her husband [Note: 2Co_
11:2.]: and they have “kept themselves pure;” not transferring to any rival the regards which are
due to God alone.
Nor is it from overt acts only that they have abstained, but from unfaithfulness even of thought or
desire. They know that God requires the heart: and that the smallest alienation of the affections
from him would excite his just resentment. They have therefore laboured to be sincere and
without offence before him: and through the grace and mercy of their God “they have been
preserved blameless [Note: Jude, ver. 24.]:” so that “in their mouth there was no guile; and they
are found without fault before the throne of God.”
Here you see the whole Christian life depicted; and the process by which every saint in glory is
fitted for his place. The whole work of grace originates with God, and is carried on by God to its
final issue. But man is neither an unwilling nor inactive servant in the house of his God. He is
aware that he must be meet for the inheritance of heaven before he can possibly enjoy it. This
meetness therefore he aspires after, and labours for with all his might: and, through the operation
of God’s grace upon his soul, he is fully prepared for glory, being perfected after the Divine image,
an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.]
Permit me now to address you all,
1. As candidates for heaven—
[Men who are candidates for earthly honours find that much labour is necessary for the attainment
of their object. Be assured then, brethren, that notwithstanding heaven is a free gift of God for
Christ’s sake, yet must it be laboured for as much as if it were altogether the fruit of our own
exertions: as it is said, “Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto
everlasting life, which the Son of man will give unto you.” And permit me to ask, Is it not worth a
whole life of most strenuous exertion? Consider only the representation that has been given of it:
is it not desirable to be of that happy number, who are following the Lamb through all the courts of
heaven, and with voice and harp ascribing to him all possible glory and praise?
But think of the alternative: think, if you are not admitted there, where will you be, and be to all
eternity! There is no middle place between heaven and hell. The idea of purgatory is a mere
Popish delusion. As, if you have not the mark of Jehovah’s name upon your forehead, you must

11. bear the stamp of Satan’s children; so if you are not made partakers of the glories of heaven, you
must for ever participate in the miseries of hell. See what is spoken but a few verses after my text.
“If any man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the
cup of his indignation: and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the
holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for
ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.” Now though this is spoken primarily of those
who enter into the abominations of popery, and bear on their forehead or on their hand the mark
of that idolatrous Church, it is true also of all who die in their sins: the persons that are not
admitted to the marriage-supper of the Lamb, are “cast out into outer darkness, where is weeping,
and wailing, and gnashing of teeth for ever.” Compare now these states: both those in heaven and
those in hell are “in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb;” but the one, as the
monuments of mercy, and joint-heirs of glory; the other, as monuments of vengeance, and heirs
of wrath and fiery indignation. Need I then say to you, be diligent to make your calling and election
sure? I pray you, consider how many there are who fall short of this inheritance. Of all that came
out of Egypt, two only entered the promised land: and the perishing of all the rest in the
Wilderness is set forth as an admonition to you, lest you also come short of the promised rest
[Note: 1Co_10:1-6. with Heb_3:17 to Heb_4:1.]. I cannot then be too urgent with you on this
important subject. I would have you all to succeed in this great enterprise, and so to approve
yourselves to your Saviour now, that you may be counted worthy to dwell with him in a better
world.]
2. As expectants of it—
Strange it is that every one conceives heaven to be his portion, though he never in the whole
course of his life made one effort to obtain it. But, beloved brethren, you have already heard the
character of those who are in heaven; and that to those only will heaven be assigned. Inquire then
whether you have attained this character? What have you experienced of that great work, the
work of redemption? Have you been delivered from the yoke of sin and Satan? Have you been
brought out from an ungodly world, as the Israelites were from Egypt; and are you living like them
under the guidance and government of Jehovah? Does your conscience bear witness for you, that
you have presented yourselves to him as the first-fruits, desiring to be wholly and altogether his?
When have you so surrendered up yourselves to him? Do not imagine that your dedication to him
in baptism, or in any other public ordinance, is any evidence of your having personally fulfilled this
duty, unless you are yet in the habit of renewing that dedication of yourselves to him in secret from
day to day. And, supposing that you have given yourselves to him, have you been faithful to your
engagements, so that in the last day, when the time for your everlasting union with the heavenly
Bridegroom shall come, we may “present you as a chaste virgin to Christ?” Have the world and
the flesh so far lost their ascendant over you, that you no longer comply with their solicitations, or
yield to their temptations? Finally, Can the heart-searching God attest, that, as far as respects any
wilful sin, you are blameless and harmless, and shining as lights in the midst of a dark world?
These things are indispensably necessary to any well-grounded expectation of the heavenly glory:
and if, whilst destitute of these essential marks, you buoy up yourselves with the hopes of heaven,
you do but deceive your own souls to your eternal ruin. I even appeal to yourselves: would you
who have never touched a harp be able at a moment to accompany with it a band of music, and to
join harmoniously in the sublimest strains? How then shall you, if undisciplined and unprepared,
accompany the heavenly hosts in all their songs of praise? Their song, as you have before heard,
is one which none but the sealed can learn: and were you admitted there in an unconverted state,
your harp would yield nothing but discordant sounds, nor would a single note of your voice be in
unison with the heavenly choir.
But I would hope and trust, that there are many here who on good grounds are expecting a portion
among the saints in light. To such then I would say, “Press forward, forgetting the things which are
behind, and reaching forward to that which is before.” And, if at any time the thought occur to your
mind, Can such a sinner as I be saved? then look into heaven, and see who there are already
around the throne: do you not see there a Manasseh, a Mary Magdalen, a dying thief, and a whole
host from the Church at Corinth [Note: 1Co_6:10-11.]? Then there can be no reason for you, or
any other person, to despond. Only seek to be interested in the redemption that Christ has

12. wrought out for you, and every thing else will follow. Through him you shall be justified; through
him you shall be sanctified; “through him you shall be presented unto God without spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, yea, as holy and without blemish:” for to all who seek acceptance through him,
“he is made of God, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”]
7B. SPURGEON, “Rev_14:1. Stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four
thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. The Revised Version has it, “having
his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads.” Now they are known to be the
Lord’s; on earth that fact was questioned, but his name is written on their foreheads now.
Sometimes they themselves had to question it, but now it is apparent to all, the distinguishing
mark is stamped upon their brow:
“having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”
8. KRETZMANN, “The Lamb and His followers:
v. 1. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion and with him an hundred and forty
and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads.
v. 2. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great
thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps;
v. 3. and they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the
elders; and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which
were redeemed from the earth.
v. 4. They are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which
follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-
fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
v. 5. And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.
After the picture of abomination in the preceding chapter we have here visions full of comfort and
strength and consolation for all believers. The Lamb now again becomes the center of interest:
And I saw, and, behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred forty-four
thousand having His name, the name of the Father, written upon their foreheads. In the midst of
the last great woe the Lord has ways and means of keeping and saving His Church. Mount Zion is
often used figuratively for the Church of Christ and for the place where it is established. The Lamb
is our Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. The number
given here, one hundred and forty-four thousand, is the symbolical figure representing the total
number of the elect. See chap. 7:4-8. These elect of God did not bear the mark of the beast upon
their forehead, but the name of their Savior, Jesus Christ, and of the Father in heaven, by whose
power and through whose will salvation was given them.
John now tells what he heard in that vision: And I heard a voice out of heaven as the voice of
many waters and as the rumbling of great thunder; and the voice which I heard resembled that of
harpists playing on their harps; and they sang a new song before the throne and before the four
living beings and the elders; and no one can learn the song except the hundred and forty-four
thousand that have been redeemed from the earth. See chap. 5:8. It was a wonderfully strange
and beautiful music which John heard, now as the rushing of mighty waters, then again as the
rumbling of loud thunder, then resembling the delicate playing of many harpists attuned in perfect
harmony. The glory and power and beauty of the Lord were praised in this incomparable hymn, in
this hymn which is sung only in the heavenly presence, before the throne of God, before the four
cherubim, before the elders that represent the Church of God on earth; Only those that are among
the elect of God are able to learn this wonderful hymn; for hypocrites and Christians in name only
it is too difficult It is like the confession of Peter; flesh and blood cannot comprehend it, but only
they to whom the Spirit of God has revealed it.

13. The faithful believers, the elect of God, are now described more fully: These are they that have
not been defiled with women, for virgins they are; these have been redeemed from men as the
first-fruits to God and to the Lamb, and in their mouth there is found no lie; for they are blameless.
That is a characteristic of the elect of God in the midst of the abominations of this last period of
the world: they take no part in the idolatry of the Pope wherewith so many people are now defiling
themselves; they are pure in this respect. They have been redeemed from among men by the
blood of Christ, which was indeed shed for them all, but which the great majority reject and
therefore do not become partakers of its wonderful benefits. They are therefore the first-fruits of
the spiritual harvest of the world, offered to God as a living sacrifice on the great Passover festival
of heaven. They now belong to God, their heavenly Father, and to the Lamb, their Savior, whose
cross they cheerfully bear after Him. They do not join in the hypocrisy which sings the praises of
the Lamb and does the works of the dragon, but they are free from the lying and the falsehood of
Anti-Christ. Altogether, they are pure, blameless, without stain, not on their own account, hut by
virtue of the blood of Christ, which cleanses them from all sins.
9. BI, “The 144,000
I. Who are these 144,000? They are the identical 144,000 sealed ones spoken of in chapter 7.,
with only this difference, that there we see them in their earthly relations and peculiar
consecration; and here we see them with their earthly career finished, and in the enjoyment of the
heavenly award for their faithfulness.
II. What are the chief marks or characteristics of these 144,000?
1. The first and foremost is that of a true and conspicuous confession. They have the name of the
Lamb and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. This is their public mark as against
the mark of the worshippers of the Beast. There is nothing more honourable in God’s sight than
truth and faithfulness of confession.
2. Another particular is their unworldliness. Whilst most people in their day “dwell upon the earth,”
sit down upon it as their rest and choice, derive their chief comfort from it, these are “redeemed
from the earth”—withdrawn from it, bought away by the heavenly promises and the Divine grace
to live above it, independent of it. They are quite severed from the world in heart and life.
3. A third point is their pureness. “They are virgins,” in that they have lived chaste lives, both as to
their faithfulness to God in their religion, and as to their pureness from all bodily lewdness.
4. A further quality is their truthfulness. “In their mouth was not found what is false.” These people
were truthful in speech, had also a higher truthfulness. They have the true faith; they hold to it with
a true heart; they exemplify it by a true manner of life. They are the children of truth in the midst of
a world of untruth.
III. What, then, is their reward?
1. Taking the last particular first, they stand approved, justified, and accepted before God. “They
are blameless.” To stand before God approved and blameless from the midst of a condemned
world—a world given over to the powers of perdition by reason of its unbelief and sins, is an
achievement of grace and faithfulness in which there may well be mighty exultation.
2. In the next place, they have a song which is peculiarly and exclusively their own. Though not
connected with the throne, as the Living Ones, nor crowned and seated as the Elders, they have a
ground and subject of joy and praise which neither the Living Ones nor the Elders have; nor is any
one able to enter into that song except the 144,000. None others ever fulfil just such a mission, as
none others are ever sealed with the seal of the living God in the same way in which they were
sealed. They have a distinction and glory, a joy and blessedness, after all, in which none but
themselves can ever share.
3. They stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. To be “with the Lamb,” as over against being with the
Beast, is a perfection of blessing which no language can describe. It is redemption. It is victory. It
is eternal security and glory. To be with the Lamb “on Mount Zion” is a more special position and
relation. Glorious things are spoken of Jerusalem which have never yet been fulfilled. On His holy
hill of Zion God hath said that He will set up His King, even His Son, who shall rule all the nations
(Psa_2:1-12.). The Lamb is yet to take possession of the city where He was crucified, there to
fulfil what was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin over His head when He died. And when that
once comes to pass, these 144,000 are with Him, His near and particular associates in that
particular relation and administration.
4. They are “a firstfruit to God and to the Lamb,” not the firstfruit of all the saved, for the Living

14. Ones and the Elders are in heavenly place and glory above and before them; but a firstfruit of
another and particular harvest; the firstfruit from the Jewish field, in that new beginning with the
Israelitish people for their fathers’ sakes, which is to follow the ending of the present “times of the
Gentiles.” They are brought to the confession of Christ, and sealed in their foreheads with the
name of both the Father and the Son, during the time that the rest of their blood-kin are
covenanting with and honouring the Antichrist as Messiah.
IV. What, now, of the angel-messages?
1. The first message. That an angel is the preacher here is proof positive that the present
dispensation is then past and changed. It is no longer the meek and entreating voice, beseeching
men to be reconciled to God, but a great thunder from the sky, demanding of the nations to fear
the God, as over against the false god whom they were adoring—to give glory to Him, instead of
the infamous Beast whom they were glorifying—to worship the Maker of all things, as against the
worship of him who can do no more than play his hellish tricks with the things that are made; and
all this on the instant, for the reason that “the hour of judgment is come.”
2. The second message. With the hour of judgment comes the work of judgment. A colossal
system of harlotry and corruption holds dominion over the nations. God has allowed it for the
punishment of those who would not have Christ for their Lord, but now He will not allow it longer.
Therefore another angel comes with the proclamation: “Fallen, fallen, the great Babylon,” etc. The
announcement is by anticipation as on the very eve of accomplishment, and as surely now to be
fulfilled. The particulars are given in chapter 17. and 18. There also the explanation of the object
of this announcement is given. It is mercy still struggling in the toils of judgment, if that by any
means some may yet be snatched from the opening jaws of hell; for there the further word is,
“Come out of her, My people,” etc.
3. The third message. And for the still more potent enforcement of this call a third angel appears,
preaching and crying with a great voice, that whosoever is found worshipping the Beast and his
image, or has the Beast’s mark on his forehead or on his hand, even he shall drink of the wine of
the wrath of God which is mingled without dilution in the cup of His anger, and shall be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the angels and in the presence of the Lamb, and the
smoke of their torment ascends to the ages of ages, and they have no rest day and night! It is an
awful commination; but these are times of awful guilt, infatuation, and wickedness. And when men
are in such dangers, marching direct into the mouth of such a terrible perdition, it is a great mercy
in God to make proclamation of it with all the force of an angel’s eloquence. The same is also for
the wronged and suffering ones who feel the power of these terrible oppressors. It tells them how
their awful griefs shall be avenged on their hellish persecutors.
4. The fourth message. There is no suffering for any class of God’s people in any age like the
sufferings of those who remain faithful to God during the reign of the Antichrist. Here, at this
particular time and juncture, is the patience or endurance of them that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus. To come out of Babylon, and to stand aloof from its horrible
harlotries, is a costly thing. Therefore there is another proclamation from heaven for their special
strengthening and consolation. Whether this word is also from an angel we are not told; but it is a
message from glory and from God. And it is a sweet and blessed message. It is a message which
John is specially commanded to write, that it may be in the minds and hearts of God’s people of
every age, and take away all fear from those who in this evil time are called to lay down their lives
because they will not worship Antichrist. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from
henceforth.” And when violence, cruelty, and slaughter are the consequence of a life of truth and
purity, the sooner it is over the greater the beatitude. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The communion of saints
I. The communion of saints is the restoration of fellowship between God and man. There are in
the will and work of God three perfect and eternal unities: the unity of three Persons in one nature;
the unity of two natures in one Person; and the unity of the Incarnate Son with His elect-the Head
with the members of His Body mystical. This is the foundation of the communion of God and man.
“A Lamb stood,” etc.
II. The communion of saints is the restoration of the fellowship of men with each other. Our
regeneration unites us to the Divine Person in whom God and man are one; and by union with
Him we are reunited to all whom He has likewise united to Himself. As the vine has one nature in
root and stem, branch and spray, fibre and fruit, so the mystical and true Vine in earth and heaven

15. has one substance and one life, which is the basis of all fellowship in love and will, in sympathy
and action, in mutual intercessions of prayer, and in mutual ministries of power. Lessons:
1. Let us learn, first, that we can never be lonely or forsaken in this life. No trial can isolate us, no
sorrow can cut us off from the communion of saints. There is but one thing in which the sympathy
of Christ has no share, and that is, the guilt of wilful sin.
2. And let us learn further, by the reality of this heavenly fellowship, to live less in this divided
world.
3. Lastly, let us learn from this communion of saints to live in hope. They who are now at rest were
once like ourselves—fallen, weak, faulty, sinful, etc. But now they have overcome. Only one thing
there is in which we are unlike them: they were common in all things except the uncommon
measure of their inward sanctity. In all besides we are as they; only it is now our turn to strive for
the crown of life. (Archdeacon Manning.)
Having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.
The sublimest human distinction
I. It is the most beautiful. The face is the beauty of man; there the soul reveals itself, sometimes in
sunshine, and sometimes in clouds. The beauty of the face is not in features, but in expression,
and the more it expresses of purity, intelligence, generosity, tenderness, the more beautiful. How
beautiful, then, to have God’s name radiating in it! God’s name is the beauty of the universe.
II. It is most conspicuous. “In their foreheads.” It is seen wherever you go, fronting every object
you look at. Godliness cannot conceal itself. Divine goodness is evermore self-revealing.
III. It is most honourable. A man sometimes feels proud when he is told he is like some great
statesman, ruler, thinker, reformer. How transcendently honourable is it to wear in our face the
very image of God! Let us all seek this distinction. With the Father’s name on our foreheads we
shall throw the pageantry of the Shahs, the Czars, and all the kings of the earth into contempt.
(Homilist.)
The name on the forehead
I. A claim of appropriation.
II. A sign of office.
III. A mark of dignity.
IV. A pledge of security.
V. a memento of obligation.
1. To remember that ye are not your own.
2. To profess openly.
3. Faithfully to discharge functions.
4. To the exercise of unvarying trust.
5. To be holy. (Preacher’s Portfolio.)
Harpers harping with their harps.—
Musical art in its relation to Divine worship
We claim for music the first place among the fine arts.
1. Because it is the most ideal, for the ideal is the highest.
2. Because it most thoroughly expresses the various emotions of the human mind, and therefore
has the widest reach over human life.
3. Because, like love, it is eternal.
I. What kind of music is best? Universal agreement on the subject is not to be expected, because
the subject is so mixed up with questions of expediency, of taste, of knowledge. People have a
right to expect that the canticles and hymns shall be sung to music in which they can join, but
devout people who can sing must be taught that, while spiritually alert, they must be vocally silent
in many parts of Divine worship.
II. How can we best secure the best music for Divine worship? As to the voices, assuming that
those of the men are sweet in quality, the success of a male choir may be said to depend on three
things mainly: First, that the voices of the boys shall be properly trained, so that they produce a
clear and flute-like tone. Secondly, that no music should be attempted which is beyond the ability

16. of the choir to execute. Thirdly, that nothing be put on the programme until it is thoroughly
rehearsed and well known. Then let everything be done “decently and in order.” Then will our
Church music be a real help to devotion. Hearts will be uplifted, voices upraised. Then will our
sacred songs be as the echo of the angelic songs above, and God will be glorified. (J. W.
Shackelford, D. D.)
Music in heaven
There is music in heaven, because in music there is no self-will. Music goes on certain laws and
rules. Man did not make these laws of music; he has only found them out; and if he be self-willed
and break them, there is an end of his music instantly; all he brings out is discord and ugly
sounds. The greatest musician in the world is as much bound by those laws as the learner in the
school, and the greatest musician is the one who, instead of fancying that, because he is clever,
he may throw aside the laws of music, knows the laws of music best, and observes them most
reverently. And therefore it was that the old Greeks, the wisest of all the heathens, made a point
of teaching their children music; because they said it taught them not to be self-willed and fanciful,
but to see the beauty of order, the usefulness of rule, the divineness of laws. And therefore music
is fit for heaven; therefore music is a pattern and type of heaven, and of the everlasting life of
God, which perfect spirits live in heaven; a life of melody and order in themselves; a life of
harmony with each other and with God. (G. Kingsley.)
They sung as it were a new song.—
The new song in the soul
(with Eph_5:19):—The text from St. Paul is the necessary introduction to the one from St. John.
They both suggest for us the necessary connection of inner and outer harmony of being. What
makes martial music noisy, blatant, offensive? It is when a spirit of mere savage quarrelsomeness
is in connection with it. And what makes it majestic and able to marshal and lead hosts? It is the
force of national duties and earnestness, giving it commanding power. Our texts give the highest
Christian form of this truth, the connection of inner and outer harmony. It declares that no man
can learn the new song who has not been redeemed in nature; none can sing it who has not
made, first, melody in the heart unto the Lord. First, consider this in connection with the statement
that holiness, goodness, is a concord. Every virtue is a harmony. It is the result of combining
different and separate tendencies. It is complex. It is, as it were, a chord of the inner music,
formed by striking different notes of character together, and combining them in one. And that is
what makes virtue so hard of acquisition and a virtuous Christian life such a struggle. The true
graces are harmonies of different notes; are chords of character; not merely a single note of
character, struck with a single finger, easily, and at once; but each, a combination of various notes
of character, revealed only by using all the hand, and both hands of life; including different parts
and requiring earnest, anxious toil, before it is harmoniously and truly struck—struck with pleasure
to the great Hearer, to whose ear your character makes melody in your heart, the Lord. Look at
some of the several virtues, and see if it be not so; that each one is a chord, a combination, a
harmony. Take love, or charity, the most winning and prominent of virtues. It is not simple. In its
true height it is a combination. It is composed of the union of self-sacrifice and benevolence to
others. Passion is never true love, for it is selfish. Or take another human virtue, true human
courage, and see its component parts. Who is a brave man, but he who, keenly alive to pain,
tingling through and through with sensitiveness of danger and love of life, is yet also full of the
sense of duty and the glow of patriotism, and out of those two very different parts constructs the
delicate, perfect harmony of his courage? Or again, select a third one out of the catalogue of
noble human characteristics; and see how, in its true form, it is harmony, a combination of
differing elements. Take freedom, liberality, or liberty of spirit. There is a true and a false freedom.
The false freedom is simply license. It has only one thought—to do its own will, to get its own
desire, to be unbound by others’ will. It has no harmony. It has but a single note, a single tone,
and it is easily gained. There is no struggle, no argument to reconcile and combine any
differences in a melody. But there is a truer human liberty than this; that which Paul describes
when he says, “as free, but as servants”; one which strives, while doing its own will, to be sure
that it is also doing the will of God and truth; one which labours to combine obedience with
freedom, to be obediently free and to be freely obedient; to make it the freest action of the human

17. will to do God’s will, and to obey the commandments of His love and truth. That is a hardly gained,
but a very rich harmony. Take still one more example of the fact that every virtue, in its true,
essential form, is a concord, a combination of tones. You will find it in the trait of justice. To be just
is not a very simple operation. It requires, first, wisdom, judgment, intelligent power of discerning
and discriminating. It requires, secondly, courage, freedom to announce the decision of wisdom,
without fear or prejudice. It requires, thirdly, temperateness, power of self-restraint, that there be
no excess, or passion, or over-statement of one’s decisions in the vehemence of his convictions.
Every act of justice must include these three. But let us think on a little further. The Bible calls
human virtues and graces “fruits of the Spirit.” Their harmony is produced by the Spirit of God.
Have you ever stood and wondered at the wild, sweet music of an AEolian harp—held by no
human hands, resonant under no human fingers, but swayed by the breathing winds of nature,
bringing forth its strange combined melodies? Such an instrument is the human soul. Strung and
held by no human hands, with the spiritual breath of God the Spirit passing over its strings,
seeking to awaken them to speak in those perfect harmonies which we call “virtues,” but which
the Bible calls “fruits,” or results “of the Spirit.” Oh, let us not quench the Spirit. It is about us,
fraught and laden with all the airs and strains of God; able and waiting to call them out of our
hearts, and the materials of our character and nature. By it we may be able to make melody in our
hearts to the Lord. By it we may strive to do here what the redeemed shall de by it at last before
the throne, in that land of the Spirit. We may learn from the Spirit that perfect new song which can
only be sung by a melodious heart and nature. (Fred. Brooks.)
The music of heaven
1. The heavenly song is described as “a new song.” And it is so in that the theme of it will be new.
“They sing,” says St. John, “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.”
The song of Moses celebrated redemption out of Egypt. Here, on earth, the Church cannot fully
comprehend the whole development of the plan of Divine mercy. The process is still going on, and
not until all the saved are brought to glory will it be completed; and hence those songs which most
appropriately express our holiest thoughts and aspirations here will not be suited to our condition
hereafter. “The new song” is adapted to our enlarged powers and to our altered circumstances.
2. Continued freshness will characterise the song of heaven. The sweetest strains lose more or
less of their freshness by constant repetition.
3. Further, the music of heaven shall give rise to new emotions. In the life of the celebrated
composer Handel it is stated that upon being asked how he felt when composing “the Hallelujah
Chorus,” he replied, “I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God Himself.” And it
is said that a friend called upon him when he was in the act of setting to music the pathetic words,
“He was despised and rejected of men,” and found him absolutely sobbing. What will be the
emotions of joy and gratitude which will be experienced when all the redeemed, gathered out of
every nation, and kindred and tongue shall unite as with one heart and one voice, and sing “the
song of Moses and of the Lamb”?
4. And then unlike the songs of earth, “the new song” shall never be interrupted. Sin, sorrow,
death, are all unknown there! The song of heaven shall be an eternal song, and the strains of the
music of the heavenly harpers shall flow on for evermore! Have you the prospect of joining the
heavenly throng? (S. D. Hillman.)
A song of freedom
A “new song,” it is doubtless the song of a new and higher victory. A song is, above all, an
expression of the heart, something spontaneous, the irrepressible upspringing of an inward
emotion. A bird sings because it cannot help singing, and because its little heart is thrilling with an
overflowing joy; and so they who sing the “new song “ have had, doubtless, some true experience
of a great good and joy which causes them to sing. I think that it is the experience of every
thoughtful man that all the real misery springs, in some way, from spiritual wrong. If he have lost
friends, which is one of our great natural griefs, yet if sin had not thrust itself into this sorrow, if the
soul of the friend as well as one’s own had been perfectly true to God, and to right, one would find
in the bereavement a cause to rejoice, for to the holy dead God reveals the fulness of His love. It
is the conscious want of the love of God, manifesting itself in acts of selfishness, ingratitude, and
treason to truth and duty—it is always this that has made the human spirit wail. Selfishness is a

18. constant pain, and love a constant joy. I do not deny the many natural sorrows of life, and that
they are sometimes painful beyond human power to endure, but we would be strong from a Divine
strength to bear troubles and sufferings which fall to our lot in this life, and they would be only for
our discipline and perfection, were we without transgression. These would be outside sufferings.
But it is the feeling that we have acted unrighteously, that we have stained our soul’s honour, that
we have been unthankful to the heavenly Father. It is this that consumes the spirit within us. If we
arc raised for one instant by the quick motion of faith, by the absorbing exercise of prayer, by the
unselfish act of pure obedience, into the light and liberty of God’s presence, we gain inward
freedom and peace, we experience an absolute deliverance from the tyranny of evil. We may
perceive, then, why the power of sin in our human nature is called in the Scriptures a “bondage.” It
is pure absolutism. Let the bondsman strive once to free himself, to shake himself loose from his
bonds, to change his own nature, and he will see what a grasp evil has. To be freed from the
power of evil would soothe all pangs, would wipe away all tears, sorrow, care, and would restore
to the life-giving presence and joy of God. Can we not then begin, in some feeble manner I grant,
to perceive or imagine what may be the significance of the “new song”? It is in truth a song of
freedom, and we need not wonder that it is represented to be like the sound of many waters, the
outpouring of innumerable hearts on the free shore of eternity, for God has made the soul to be
free and to have no law over it but the law of love. There are, indeed, but few such chords that
vibrate in human hearts. Sorrow is one of these. Coleridge said that at the news of Nelson’s death
no man felt himself a stranger to another; and of these universal chords, that of freedom is also
one. Such a spontaneous cry rises from an enslaved nation, whose chains are broken by some
God-inspired man. Never shall I forget the mighty shout I heard that went up from the whole
people of Florence, gathered together in the great market-square of the beautiful city on the Arno,
at the news of a decisive victory gained over the powerful enemy of Italian independence—
Austria. A new, unlooked-for joy poured into the hearts of the suffering and long-oppressed Italian
people that they were at length free! It made them one. It overflowed their hearts with sudden
strength, and men fell upon each other’s necks and kissed each other, and their joy found
expression in shouts and songs. So it will be a new joy in heaven to be free—to be free from the
shameful oppression of evil. The believer may, in some feeble and imperfect measure, in his best
times, when Christ his Light is near, be able to conceive of this state of entire victory over, or
deliverance from, sin, because he has in the present life yearnings after it, and prophecies of it;
but to the unrenewed mind this truth is not quite clear. It is, on the contrary, a thought which gives
that mind, when it thinks at all, much uneasiness and confusion. For it has had fleeting tastes of
sweetness in this earthly life, and in those pleasures into which God does not come, poor though
they be, and it fears to lose those alloyed and swift-passing experiences of happiness in being
holy. It would not release entirely its hold upon these, for fear of losing its happiness altogether.
But we must let go one to win the other. We must push off from the shore of this world to gain the
free shore of eternity; and so complete is the victory of heaven, that not even such an electric
thought of evil as has been described, shall pass over the soul. Holiness is happiness. Goodness
is joy. Love is freedom. There are no remains of the conflict of temptation. The spell of sin is
broken; and as freedom is one of those things that never grows old, so the song of heaven shall
be a “new song.”
II. But another and higher sense remains, in which it would seem that the song of heaven is called
a “new song,” arising from the fact that this heavenly freedom which is sung, does not end in
ourselves, in our freedom or holiness or joy, but ends in Christ, and in the Divine will in which
dwells this pure and mighty power of the soul’s deliverance from evil. (J. M. Hoppin.)
The song of the redeemed
I. Their character. They are “redeemed from the earth.” Redemption, in their ease, was not merely
virtual, but actual; not in price only, but also in power. It was a redemption carried into their
personal experience. Such must ours be, or the price of our redemption has been paid for us in
vain. There is pardon, finely represented as implying submission to God, and acceptance and
acknowledgment by him. The Father’s name is written in their foreheads. There is confession of
God before men. They practised no unholy concealment; their religion was public, and declared at
all hazards. They were undefiled. They were unspotted from the world, even its more prevalent
errors-errors recommended by example, justified by sophistry, alluring by interest, and enforced
by persecution. There is their obedience. This is impressively described by their following the

19. Lamb whithersoever He goeth. There is their completeness. Sanctified throughout, they were
preserved blameless in spirit, soul, and body. And there is their redemption from earth. They were
redeemed from its corporate society, as the world. That remained; they were chosen out of it.
They were redeemed from its cowardly and selfish principles, by which truth is sacrificed to ease
and gain; whereas these sacrificed ease and gain for truth. From its example; for, while the
multitude were wandering after the beast, these were following the Lamb. From Rs pollutions; for
they had been washed from their sins by the blood of Him who loved them. From earth itself; for
they are now before the throne.
II. Their place. “Before the throne.”
1. It is the place of glorious vision.
2. It is the place of eternal security. Day is there, never succeeded by night. There is quiet,
unbroken by alarm: the gates of the city are not shut by day or night. There is life, never to be
quenched in death. For ever does the river flow from under the throne, and the tree of life feels no
winter.
III. The represented action.
1. “They sang.” Powerful emotions of joy seek for outward expression. This is one of the laws of
our very nature. The expression will be suitable to the emotion. Grief pours forth its wailings; joy is
heard in the modulations of verse, and the sweet swells and cadences of music.
2. They sang “a new song.” Every deliverance experienced by the saints of God calls for a new
song: How much more, therefore, this, the final deliverance from earth! Their song is new, as
demanded by new blessings. John saw before the throne “a Lamb, as it had been newly slain.”
The phrase intimates that blessings for ever new will flow from the virtue of His atonement, and
the manifestation of the Divine perfections by Him. Nor shall the song be new as to individuals
only, but as to the whole glorified Church.
3. They sang it “before the throne.” The glorious fruit of “the travail of His soul.”
IV. The peculiarity of their employment. “No man could learn that song.” Not so much to the
sound, the music, of the song, as to its subject, does this language refer; and such subjects only
can be turned into song, as dwell in the very spirits of the redeemed.
1. There are remembered subjects. The redeemed from earth recollect the hour when light broke
In on their darkness.
2. There are present subjects. (R. Watson.)
The unlearned song of the redeemed
What can be the meaning of this singular announcement of a song not to be taught even to the
other inhabitants of heaven? We need but refer to a familiar principle of the mind’s operations,
whose religious significance is often not perceived; by which toil, pain, and trial, however grievous
in the experience, turn to comfort and delight in the retrospect. As, by the influence of chemical
attraction, the most glossy white is brought out on textures originally of the blackest dye, or as the
mere constant falling of the bleaching sunlight makes a dull surface glisten like snow, so do the
soul’s melancholy passages change as they are acted on by reflection, and the darkest threads of
its experience brighten in the steady light of memory. There are few enjoyments more exquisite
than the father feels in telling his son of the hardships of his early life. How he dilates on the
efforts and sacrifices with which he began his career! But would he spare one hard day’s labour,
though it wore and bent his frame? one hour’s thirst, with which his lips were parched? Not one:
not one act of self-denial, not one patient stretch of endurance; for all these, by this transforming
principle, have become most pleasant to his mind. On the same principle, we can understand,
without referring to unworthy motives, the soldier’s interest in his oft-repeated narratives. Oh, the
dark and deadly scene! the ground wet with blood, and the smoke of carnage mounting heavy and
slow over the dead and the dying I It is not necessarily that his soul breathes the spirit of war; but
it is that these, like other trials, turn to joys, as viewed from the height of his present thought,
stretching picturesquely through the long valley of the past. The same principle operates in the
hardships of peaceful life. The sailor has a like gladness from the dangers with which he has been
environed on the stormy deep. He interprets the almost intolerable accidents that overtook him
into good and gracious providence, and sings of his calamity, privation, and fear. So all the
sweetest songs, and all the grandest and most touching poetry, that have ever been on earth
breathed into sound or written in characters, have sprung out of such work and strife, sorrow and
peril. And why should not a new song, unknown even to the elder seraphs, be so composed and

20. framed in heaven, out of all life’s trouble and disaster; while the mercy of God, the atoning
influence of Christ, all heavenly help and guidance that they have received in their struggles, shall
add depth and melody to those voices of the redeemed? Such is the mystery and bounty of the
Divine. Paradoxical as it may seem, God means not only to make us good, but to make us also
happy, by sickness, disaster, and disappointment. For the truly happy man is not made such by a
pleasant and sunny course only of indulged inclinations and gratified hopes. Hard tasks, deferred
hopes, though they “make the heart sick,” the beating of adverse or the delay of baffling winds,
must enter into his composition here below, as they will finally enter into his song on high. There is
more than pleasant fancy or cheering prediction in that language about beauty being given for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; for out of
dust and ashes alone beauty can grow; supreme gladness glistens nowhere but upon the face
where grief hath been sitting; and the highest praise to God is sung when He hath delivered us
from the pit of woe and despair. The opening of one of the most strangely beautiful flowers, from
the roughest of prickly and unsightly stems, is an emblem of the richest blooming of moral beauty
and pleasure from thorns and shapes of ugliness in the growth of the immortal mind. But there is
a strict condition. They who would blend their voices in that happy choir, to which the hosts of
heaven pause to listen, must be faithful in performing this toil, in overcoming this temptation, in
enduring this trial. An ancient poet says, it is a delight to stand or walk upon the shore, and to see
a ship tossed with tempest upon the sea; or to be in a fortified tower, and see hosts mingled upon
a plain. But what is such pleasure compared with that felt by those who look down from the firm
ground of heaven upon their own tossings in the voyage they have with a sacred and religious
faithfulness accomplished, and fix their retrospective eye on the fight they, with a holy obstinacy,
waged with their own passions and besetting sins? (C. A. Bartol.)
The new song
We shall begin our meditation on this vision by considering the occupation of those referred to.
They sing. Praise is often spoken of as the chief occupation of the saints in heaven. Nor need we
wonder that such is the case. They have passed to the land of pure delight. They mingle in
congenial society. Above all, they behold Him, whom they have long adored afar off, and with Him
they maintain unbroken communion. His presence and voice fill their hearts with joy, deep and
intense. Nor does the inspiration of their song come only from the present; it comes also from the
past. Then they fully learn what has been done to them and for them during their earthly journey.
This praise, too, is unceasing. Other engagements and interests concern men in this life. They
have wants that must be supplied; they have burdens that must be borne; they have battles that
must be fought. And these urge them to prayer as often as to praise. Even up to the Jordan’s
bank they must stretch forth their hands and raise their voice in supplication. But, in that better
land, they enjoy satisfaction and rest. Full provision has been made, and they have only to
celebrate the goodness that has done it all. That which they sing is called “a new song.” It is
heavenly in origin and character. It is no feeble strain of earth, weak in thought and poor in
expression. It far transcends in matter and in form the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs of
the Church below. These were suited to the partial knowledge of this lower sphere, but they are
inadequate to the fuller view and the deeper experience to which the redeemed have risen. Of
that anthem we catch some echoes in the revelation which John has given us. It is a song of
salvation, it is a shout of triumph. It is called “the song of Moses and of the Lamb,” and this title is
suggestive of its tenor. From a danger greater than that to which the Israelites were exposed have
those who are with the Lamb been delivered. Not from physical evil or an earthly enemy, but from
spiritual loss and death, and from the power of the wicked one, have they been rescued. Not only,
therefore, do they sing the song of Moses; they sing also the song of the Lamb. Being a new
song, it must be learned by those who would sing it. But the text warns us that this is possible only
for those who have undergone a certain training. Without discipline we cannot take our place in
the choir above, engage in the occupations, or enjoy the beauties and delights of the Paradise
above. This, indeed, we might understand apart from revelation. All experience combines to
suggest it. In the material world everything has its place and work, and is specially fitted for filling
the one and performing the other. We recognise in that sphere the reign of law. Every branch of
industry has its own rules and its own methods. To learn these an apprenticeship must be
undergone. And this is as applicable to the moral region as it is to the social and the intellectual.
Place a man of dissolute habits, of vicious temper, of impure thought, of blasphemous speech, in

21. the company of men and women who are spiritual in tone, pure in thought, reverent in speech,
and what will his experience be? Not certainly one of satisfaction and enjoyment. He will be
wretched. He will long to escape that he may go to his own company and to his own place. Now,
this truth, which is received and acted on in all spheres of human activity, has force beyond the
limits of earth. It touches the constitution of things: it rests on our nature, and must, therefore,
determine our experience not only here but hereafter. To occupy our minds with the foolish, if not
the wicked, things of earth, is to render ourselves incapable of dealing with the concerns of
heaven; that before we can even learn the song of the redeemed we must have been prepared,
for not every one can learn the new song that is being sung before the throne, before the four
beasts, and before the elders. But we are not only warned that preparation is required; we are
also taught in what it is to consist. Its general character may, indeed, be gathered from what has
just been said. We have been reminded that to engage heartily in any occupation we must make
ourselves acquainted with its rules and methods, that to enjoy any society we must have in some
measure risen to the attainment of its members. In order, then, to discover what is needful, by way
of training, before we can join this company, enjoy their fellowship, and sing their song, we have
only to inquire by what features they are marked. They are spiritual in character, they are with the
Lamb on Mount Zion, they are pure and holy. From this it follows that the education which those
who would join them must undergo is spiritual. It is not intellectual only. Mere acquaintance with
what concerns persons is not of necessity sympathy with them. Only when knowledge touches
heart and life can there be fellowship, for only then are companions animated by the same spirit
and interested in the same subjects and pursuits. Nor, on the other hand, can the training be
merely mechanical. By no outward washing or cleansing can we free the soul from its foul blot;
can we make ourselves pure, worthy to stand before the great white throne and Him who sits
thereon. The one hundred and forty and four thousand who do learn the song are said to have
been “redeemed from the earth.” They have been “redeemed.” This indicates that by nature they
are not fit for the occupation referred to. The faculty qualifying them for it has been lost, and has to
be restored. The dormant faculties must be roused and developed, the powers that have been
misapplied must be converted. The term “redemption” is employed in Scripture in two different
senses, or rather to suggest two aspects of the change which it indicates. At one time it signifies
release from the bondage of the Evil One without; at another, release from the bondage of the evil
nature within. Here it is the inner rather than the outer reference that is in view. It is less escape
from slavery and danger than purity and elevation of character that is thought of. Not at once are
we made fit for heaven in the fullest sense: not at once is the hold which sin has gained on us
relaxed. That comes by struggle, by warring against the powers and principalities arrayed against
us, and to which we have submitted. Emancipation in this view is education, growth, advance. The
possibility of it rests on living faith, and the realisation of it is gradual, to be carried forward day by
day. We have not yet attained, neither are we already perfect, but we follow after, pressing
“toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” In His footsteps we
should be seeking to walk, and only as we are doing so are we preparing ourselves for the
engagements and the delights of the Better Land. That such is the nature of the redemption
spoken of in the text becomes still clearer when we observe that those spoken of are to be
redeemed “from the earth.” By the earth is meant the lower nature, and what stands related to it.
To be redeemed from the earth is to be lifted above it, to use it without abusing it, to act under the
control of the Spirit, and this is a movement that should be upward as well as onward—not
monotonous progress on a dead level, but achievement, victory, exaltation. It must be apparent to
every one that redemption from earth means meetness for heaven, Heaven and earth, in their
spiritual use, stand opposed to each other. To be subject to the one is to be beyond the range and
influence of the other. We should then be striving after this redemption; we should be seeking to
value aright the things around, and we should be endeavouring to free ourselves from their
dominion; we should be struggling, that the evil powers within may be subdued—knowing that only
thus can we be prepared for joining the glorious company above, for learning the new song, and
for celebrating the praise of Him who hath wrought salvation for us. (James Kidd, B.A.)
The new song
Whilst passing in early manhood through a stage of deep dejection, John Stuart Mill found
occasional comfort in music. One day he was thrown into a state of profound gloom by the
thought that musical combinations were exhaustible. The octave was only composed of five tones