Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #3 of Revelation, chapter 14, and we are going to be reading Revelation14:2:

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:

Here, once again, we are coming across information we have seen previously in our study of the Book of Revelation.  For instance, just to remind us who is speaking, it says in Revelation 1:11:

Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last…

Then it says in Revelation 1:14-15:

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

The voice of Jesus Christ is as the “sound of many waters,” and this is the voice the Apostle John is hearing, once again, in Revelation 14:2: 

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters…

The waters identify with the Word of God.  The Gospel is the Bible and whatever the Bible declares is the Gospel.  That is the voice John is hearing in this revelation God is giving him.  It goes on to say in Revelation 14:2:

… and as the voice of a great thunder…

So it is “the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder.”  It says in Job 37:2-5:

Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth. He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard. God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.

“The voice of a great thunder” refers to the voice of God.  There is not a human being that has not heard the mighty thunder during a storm and it is so loud that everyone, at least momentarily, stops and takes notice of that terrifying voice of God – it comes from God, as does all weather.  But it is a figure of the Word of God, the powerful Word of God.  God’s Word in the spiritual realm is as mighty and as powerful as the thunder sounds in the physical realm.

Also, it says in Psalm 29:3-4:

The voice of JEHOVAH is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: JEHOVAH is upon many waters. The voice of JEHOVAH is powerful; the voice of JEHOVAH is full of majesty.

All these things are involved.  The powerful, majestic voice of the Almighty God of Scripture is what the Apostle John is hearing, as God continues to give him this divine revelation.  He hears the voice of many waters, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He hears the voice of great thunder, God Almighty.  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 14:2:

…and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

This phrase is almost difficult to say, like one of those nursery rhymes where you say several words, consecutively, that all belong with the same letter and it is a “tongue twister.”  But, here, once again, this is pointing to the Word of God, the Bible.  The Gospel is what John is hearing.  He heard it through the picture of “many waters” and he heard it through the picture of “great thunder” and He heard the Word of God through the picture of “harpers harping with their harps.” 

It says in 1Chronicles 25:3:

Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise JEHOVAH.

Remember, this is the Bible and God does not just give statements without meaning – He is connecting “prophesying” with a “harp.”  In the Bible, prophesying is when we speak forth the Word of God.  Whenever any believer shares the Word of God, they are prophesying.  That is why the Lords said, in Acts 2, that your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.  He is speaking of sharing the Word of God with others; this is what prophesying means.  Prophets of old were given divine revelation which they put forth and shared.  Of course, that was a different category, as there was an official role of “prophet” at the time when God was still breaking the barrier of the supernatural and revealing divine inspiration to His servants the prophets.  Today God’s people are spiritual prophets.  We are not prophets in the sense of an office, like Isaiah and Jeremiah and the Apostle John and others that received revelation directly from God.  We are not prophets in that way and no one is a prophet in that manner, but we are prophets in the sense that we share what the Bible says.  As we do so, we are prophesying. 

It says that they “prophesied with a harp” and a harp is a beautiful musical instrument that gives a lovely sound.  When the Word of God is declared and spoken, it gives a lovely and beautiful sound.  It says in Psalm 49:4:

I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

A “parable” and a “dark saying” are one and the same – they are synonyms.  The Bible is a parable because it is full of hidden truth.  “Christ spoke in parables and without a parable he did not speak,” in order to teach us and to instruct His people on the nature of the Word of God.  He was the Word made flesh and, therefore, since He did not speak without a parable, He certainly was showing us how we must understand the Word of God, the Bible, and Psalm 49:4 said, “I will incline mine ear to a parable.”  Remember how Jesus would often say, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” and we need to be given spiritual ears in order to hear what the parable is declaring.  Then it said, “I will open my dark saying upon the harp.”  Again, you prophesy upon a harp.  You incline your ear to a parable; that is, you learn truth from a Scripture and then you “open” it upon the harp – you declare it or play the “music” in order for others to hear.  Again, this is just another way of saying that you declare the Scripture and share the Word of God.

Let us turn to Isaiah.  In Isaiah 24, God has given us a chapter wherein He describes Judgment Day on the world in the entire chapter.  We will not go through it, but you are encouraged to read it and you will find the word “earth” and the word “world” found many times.  It is not focused on the churches in any way.  It is a chapter in which God wants us to know that it is the judgment upon the unsaved people of the world.  It says in Isaiah 24:8:

The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

Joy ceases.  Luke 15 tells us there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents.  That has to do with salvation.  When God gave the gift of repentance to a sinner, He was saving them.  He gave them a new heart and, therefore, they repented from the heart of all those sins that had naturally flowed forth from their heart of stone.  Now they have a new heart, so there is repentance and “the joy of the harp” that prophesied the Word of God and joy in heaven when a sinner repented after hearing that prophesy.  It was God’s intention to send forth His Word into the world to seek and to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel and to draw them to Himself and save them. 

But now the “joy of the harp ceaseth” because it is Judgment Day.  The harp still plays in the sense that God’s people still speak the Word of God, but there is no more joy because there is no more repentance and, therefore, there is no joy in heaven, in that sense, because no one else is being saved.  But of course, there is much joy and praise of God going on in heaven and we are not to understand heaven as a gloomy place, but insofar as God’s salvation program was concerned, there was a particular joy in heaven when a person was given ears to hear and became saved: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  The joy of the harp ceaseth because there is no more salvation.

Again, let us read the end of Revelation 14:2:

…and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

The harpers would be believers or even God Himself who is a Prophet, so He prophesies, of course.  They are harping with their harps – it is the glorious sound of the Word of God and the voice of God who is the Word.

Then it says in Revelation 14:3:

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.

The “new song” has to do with God’s salvation.  Yes, we have seen this earlier, too, in Revelation 5:7-9:

And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung 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;

The new song involves being redeemed.  We find the new song referenced in the Psalms a few times.  It says in Psalm 40:1-3:

I waited patiently for JEHOVAH; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in JEHOVAH.

Here, David is writing under inspiration of God and he is saying that he was brought up out of a horrible pit and his feet were set upon a rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, and “a new song” was put in his mouth and “many shall see it, and fear.”  This is the song of the Gospel. 

We also read in Psalm 98:1:

O sing unto JEHOVAH a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

Of course, this is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the right hand of God.  His holy arm points to salvation and the victory is over sin and all the enemies of the kingdom of God.

Let us look at one more place, in Psalm 144:9-10:

I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.

God gives salvation to kings and, yes, David was a king of Israel, but, spiritually, all those that God saves are likened to kings.  The “new song” that is being played “upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings” has to do with salvation for the people of God.  This is what is in view in our verse in Revelation 14:3:

And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders…

Remember the four “beasts” or “living creatures” are also a figure of God Himself.  The 24 elders represent 12 from the Old Testament saints and 12 from the New Testament saints and, figuratively, they represent all God has saved or the whole company of the elect.  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 14:3:

… and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

Again, keep in mind that the 144,000 are the firstfruits that identify with all those saved during the church age and, therefore, this statement is limited to the church age and all that lived during that period of time from 33 AD to 1988 AD, the complete 1,955 years of the church age.  “No man could learn that song,” according to Psalm 140, except they first be lifted up out of a horrible pit.  In other words, you were once under the wrath of God and subject to destruction, but when you are saved, you are delivered out of the pit and your feet are set upon the rock, the Lord Jesus.  You are now a living stone built upon that foundation and part of the spiritual house and God places a new song in your mouth.  Many shall hear and fear the Lord, as a result of that song; when you become saved, you begin to proclaim the Gospel and others hear and they fear and become saved.  This is how God operated during the day of salvation for many centuries.