“And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mt. Zion, and with Him 144,000… and they sung as it were a new song before the Throne… and no one could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed from earth.” – (Revelation 14:1-3)
These soldiers are God’s special forces during the Great Tribulation. And in this chapter of Revelation, they are joining in a song that reaches from Heaven to earth: Jesus has brought them “Through It All”. People mistakenly read that they sing a “new song”, but that’s not what the text says. They sing “as” if it were a new song. It’s an old song, eternally true, sung with new zeal, and thankfulness in the light of their shared experience.
Experience changes everything. How often do we sit in Church and sing songs that were written out of someone else’s suffering? “It Is Well With My Soul” … “Amazing Grace” … “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” … yet very few have suffered to the depths in which those songs were written. Familiarity can breed disinterest as well as contempt. But a shared experience brings new light, new appreciation, and new celebrations.
The Bible says… “we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation produces patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope…” (Romans 5:3,4). How precious are the words of Jesus… “My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Those words so thrilled the Apostle Paul, that he responded… “Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9,10).
The trials we dread so much bring fresh experiences of Christ’s power and goodness. He has guaranteed to bring us “Through It All.” And what will we sing when we get There? Katherine Hankey wrote it from her sickbed… “And when in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, ‘twill be the old, old story, that I have loved so long.”
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