John sees 144,000 assembles with the Lamb on Zion. He hears music, a fourfold voice from heaven – like the voice of waters, the voice of thunder, the voice of harpists harping harps (Revelation 14:2).
As James Jordan has pointed out, the three descriptions match the three things before which the singers sing (v. 3):
| Voice of waters | before throne |
| Great thunder | before living creatures |
| Harps | before 24 elders |
The voice of the waters comes from the throne, the thunder is being associated with the living creatures, and the harps are linked with the 24 elders. What is being described is the music of heaven. Jesus speaks with a voice that is like many waters (1:15); the living creatures speak with a voice of thunder (6:1); and the 24 elders are given harps (5:8). This heavenly song is heard on earth. The choir of heaven is singing the new Song that began with the exaltation of the Lamb (5:9).
(Deeper in the background, the triad may be a Trinitarian triad. The voice of many waters is the voice of the Father, the Great Thunder is the voice of the Son, and the harps are the voice of the Spirit. The Father speaks from the heavenly sea, the Son from the storm cloud, the Spirit in music.)
Then we learn that this song of heaven is being picked up by the 144,000. The 144,000 are on Mount Zion, not in heaven, but they are already beginning to learn the song of heaven, which is the Song of Moses and of the Lamb (15:3). From heaven to earth: This is the flow of liturgy and liturgical music. In the liturgy we learn (or should learn) the songs of praise that we’ll sing when we join the heavenly choir.
Only the 144,000 are permitted to learn it. Others from the tribes of Israel are not sealed with the seal of the Lamb and the Father, and they cannot learn the new song that comes from heaven. It is a Song of the Lamb, and so to learn the song and to join this choir, you have to be a disciple, ready to follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
