"Assignment Attitude'

‘Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.’ (Psalm 98:5), then ‘And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne’ (Revelation 14:2,3a)

The harp is also used by:

‘Them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints, Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest.’ (Revelation 15:2-4)

This great anthem of praise to the Lord God Almighty also nicely parallels the emphasis in Psalm 98 and supplies the answer to who it is that is playing the harps in Revelation 14. These are the soldiers of the Cross/martyrs who ‘loved not their lives unto the death’ spoken of in Revelation 12:11. They are also referred to in Revelation 6:11.

They have gotten the victory over the Satan’s emissary the beast, and now are in heaven after being martyred having given their lives for the cause of Christ during the Great Tribulation. Now they have been given the great privilege of playing ‘the harps of God’ in praise to Him who alone is worthy. They also are singing ‘the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb’ demonstrating the merging of the Old and New Covenants in their victory song of praise!

While the song of Moses (Exodus 15) is a song of victory and praise for His redemption and deliverance of the people of Israel after the Red Sea experience and represents the Old Covenant, the song of the Lamb underlines the New Covenant and focuses on the three-point message of the ‘Everlasting Gospel’(Revelation 14:7):

‘Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord and glorify Thy name? For all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest.’

Revelation 15 is the powerful introduction to the Grand Finale of the wrath of God (Revelation 16), ‘the seven last plagues for in them is filled up the wrath of God’(Revelation 15:1) referring to the seven vial judgments which are ‘full of the wrath of God’(Revelation115:7).

These are the seven last plagues, with the seven trumpet judgments being the seven first plagues (Revelation 9:18-20) sent by God at the beginning of His wrath, the Day of the Lord, which began when the seventh seal was opened (Revelation 8:1) revealing the Day of the Lord judgments/contents within the book/scroll (Revelation 5).

This sequence demonstrates the chronological order of the book, even though there are expansion chapters inserted that further explain the event filled Great Tribulation. Therefore, the Lord provided chapters 12 and 13 to give details and explanations concerning this complex and difficult period at the end of the age.

However, there is a definite flow of events, and chapter 15 is a vital chapter showing the merger of the two economies, with the singing of the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb by the Great Tribulation martyrs now having been given the harps of God which were utilized by the 24 elders in chapter 5.