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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Pastoral Pings ~ One New Song that Leads to Another

          I have arrived at that place in Revelation 5 where we see the four living creatures and twenty-four elders singing a new song in the heavenly throne-room.[1] I love it when a new song comes to mind to express something I am learning from God’s word, so I am intrigued by the consideration of what this new song will help us understand of the glories of God, and help us express in worship of his glory.

          The first lesson of this new song is that it is not the first new song in the Scriptures. In fact, as is the case with everything else we have been learning in this last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation consistently reminds us of things the Scriptures have already taught. So, while a Ping cannot contain all the Scriptures the Revelation is reminiscing, I would like to focus on the wonder of how the message of Revelation echoes in grand crescendo the wonders already made clear throughout Scripture.

          When I typed “new song” into my online concordance,[2] I discovered a number of passages from the Psalms and Prophets that called God’s people to “sing to him a new song”.[3] As I read the context of these verses, I was impressed by the similarity of themes between these Psalms and the book of Revelation. It settled into my heart that the Revelations is the grand concluding Psalm of Scripture, speaking of the deliverance of God’s children, and the defeat of God’s enemies, just as the Psalms and prophets had announced hundreds of years earlier.

          Part of the reason Revelation 5 introduces us to a new song is because of its focus on a new event. In this case, the new focus is, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals…”[4] After the heavenly realm felt the sorrowful weight of no one found worthy to open the scroll and break the seven seals, the revelation that, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals,”[5] returned the heavenly mood to joy.

          Now watch the focus move from the announcement of the one who could open the scroll, to the revelation of the Lamb standing before the throne, to the action of this Lamb taking the scroll from the right hand of God Almighty. Reverence, awe, and wonder, overtake the scene, and all the representatives of creation and the church fall down before Jesus Christ in worship. And, what is a new experience of knowing Jesus Christ without a new song to honor the occasion?

          With that introduction, I look forward to continuing my meditation on God’s word in the morning. What the Spirit has given through the Scriptures today, promises that the Spirit and the word will continue to uplift the hearts of those who enter it, however often they do so. As the book has promised, so it has already fulfilled, Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.[6]

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 



[1] “9 And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’” (Revelation 5)
[3] Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10
[4] Revelation 5:9
[5] Revelation 5:5
[6] Revelation 1:3

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