Revelation 15: Jesus put this song into our hearts.

I saw in heaven another great and marvellous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues – last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

‘Great and marvellous are your deeds,
    Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
    King of the nations.
4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
    and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
    and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.’

5 After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple – that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law – and it was opened. 6 Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes round their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.” NIV

Praise God for a God-given song. I would not have a ‘harp’ to play if God had not put it into my hands. I know I need Him to constantly teach me to use it.  Singing is a significant expression of the Spirit-filled life (see Ephesians 5:18-20):

‘When your body is filled with alcohol, it affects your whole being. It is the same when we are filled with the Spirit, we can’t do anything without His influence. We open our mouths and God comes out because we are filled with Him.’ Spirit-filled people ‘are filled with praises for God, so when they talk to you, those praises come out.’ They are ‘singing and making melodies in their hearts because that is what the Spirit always wants to do. They are ‘’giving thanks always’’ (v.20) because the blessing of the Spirit’s presence makes them grateful.’ Francis Chan: ‘Letters to the church’, p.122.

In this life we sing when the Spirit controls us. But what songs will we sing in heaven? What music will there be when we have come through the battle unscathed? The imagery in (3) is drawn from the exodus, when the Israelites came through the Red Sea victorious, and the church in heaven like Moses and Miriam, stands on the other side of struggle, singing a new song of praise.

As so often, F.B. Meyer sums up this glorious scene with a few verbal brush-strokes:

‘This is the scene of the deliverance from Pharaoh on the shores of the Red Sea, translated into the imagery and language of eternity. The hosts of God shall emerge ere long from their long oppressions; by suffering they shall conquer; they shall come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name.’He goes on to say later in the same piece:‘Israel broke into rapturous thanksgiving, as the people saw their enemies dead upon the shore. ‘’Sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously!’’ But those triumphant notes, though chanted by an entire nation, shall be a whisper compared with that song which shall break in thunder from the saints of all ages. Those who were brought up under the dispensation of Moses, and the followers of the Lamb in the present dispensation, together with all holy souls who have overcome, shall constitute one vast choir. But search the song of Moses as you will, you will fail to find one note that equals this in sublimity.’ ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.467.