THE 144,000 ON MOUNT
ZION
(continued)
“And
I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a
great thunder: and I heard the voice of
harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before
the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn
that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed
from the earth” (Rev. 14:2-3).
As
John stands enthralled by the vision, he hears a voice from heaven. As often, the voice John hears is an
unidentified voice. As to its sound it
was as the voice of many waters, like
the sound of the ocean breaking on the rocky shores of Patmos,
the voice of a vast multitude, that is,
the corporate voice of a great company.
Furthermore, it was as the
sound of a great thunder, peal upon peal, reverberating through the heavens,
that is, a voice full of power and authority. Now notice!
The voice does not come from mount Zion. It seems to be distinguished from the voice
of the hundred and forty-four thousand. It
comes out of the heavens of the Spirit of the Lord! It is a voice apart from the mount Zion
realm, as we shall see later on.
Then
John hears the sound of a multitude of harpists playing their harps, and you
will notice that it is the harpists who are singing to the music of their harps
— not the hundred and forty-four
thousand. The mount resounds with song,
rich and full of meaning to those who can understand it. Yet not a song that those on earth are
consciously singing, not found in any hymnal, nor flashed by any overhead
projection, nor taught by any praise team, for it comes out of the eternal
realm, reaching the ears and exciting the spirits of those who are called to
stand with the Lamb upon mount
Zion. Of this song Carl Schwing wrote, “In the
countless regions of the spirit there are sounds and words never heard by
mortals. There is music so glorious in
its magnification of the Godhead, that all that dwell within the vastness of
the heavens fall prostrate at the feet of the Creator of all things. Music so overwhelming, so quickening, that
everything that has breath is carried into a higher dimension of life in the
Spirit and is taken deeper into the unfathomable depths of the heart of God.”
The
harps are the Greek kitharais or
lyres. The sound of the music also comes
from heaven just as the sound of the great voice did, for the music is played
and sung before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and before the elders. It seems to be the combined voices and music
of a mighty choir and orchestra. Thus is
conveyed the ideas of fullness, of majesty, of sweetness. It is the song of the heavenly hosts! Oh, the magnificence and multitude of the
anthem raised — the celestial song, the perfect harmony, the melody of triumph,
the message of victory, the very sound of that music of long ago, “when the morning stars sang together, and
all the sons of God shouted for joy!” (Job 38:7).
Now
lest we should flounder in our understanding of these things, it is significant
to note that John describes the setting of this song which reveals a drama
quite different from what most of us have imagined. We must point out that John tells us that “they
sung as it were a new song.” Not
really a new song, but as it were a new song. Now notice the word “as” that fills these
verses. The song filled the air “as” the roaring of mighty waters or the
waves of the ocean. The sound was not
the roaring of waters, but “as” or similar to such a sound. Its majesty was also indicated by saying that it was “as” the
voice of a great thunder. It was not
thunder, but “as” or similar to peals of loud thunder. The King James Bible represents John as
saying that he heard harpers harping, but the Revised says the voice he heard
was “as” harpers harping. This must be
correct, for all three clauses are in the same grammatical construction, the
word “as” being in all of them. So while
John did not actually hear harpists harping, the sound he heard was like the
harping, meaning that it was both grand and divinely melodious.
The
song being sung was “as it were” a new song.
It is new, and yet it is not new!
It seems new, yet obviously the song has been sung before, but so
long ago that it has been forgotten — and now it is as it were a new song. It reminds me of the story I read of Helen of
Troy. The writer pointed out that
according to legend this beautiful queen was captured and carried away and
became a victim of amnesia. She became a
prostitute in the streets. She didn’t
know her name or the fact that she came from royal blood.
But back in her homeland, friends didn’t give up. One Greek man believed she was alive and went
to look for her. He never lost faith. One day while wandering through the streets,
he came to a waterfront and saw a wretched woman in tattered clothes with deep
lines across her face. There was
something about her that seemed familiar, so he walked up to her and said,
“What is your name?” She gave a name
that was meaningless to him. “May I see
your hands?” he pursued. She held her
hands out in front of her, and the young man gasped, “You are Helen! You are Helen! Do you remember?” She looked up at him in astonishment. “Helen!” he yelled out. Then the fog seemed to clear. There was a recognition in her face. The light came on! She discovered her lost self! She put her arms around the old friend and
wept. She discarded the tattered
clothes, and once more became the queen she was born to be!
Ah, my
friend, God searches for all men in the same way. He uses every method possible to look for men
and women and to convince them of their worth to Him — their true value! When
His word falls upon our ear and strangely stirs our heart, something awakens
within and we think it is something new that is dawning upon us, when in fact
it is a REMEMBERING of a reality we knew before, in the long ago. Can we doubt that this is what John witnessed
happening in the lives of the followers of the Lamb? Oh, yes!
There was a time long ago, before the present universe was fashioned, or
ever the sun kissed the mountains of earth, when the morning stars sang
together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, beholding God’s great plan of
creation, redemption, and restoration.
Every son of God was there that blessed day shouting for joy! And every son of God knew the song of the
morning stars! And now, at the end of a
long journey and travail, reaching the heights of mount Zion,
suddenly, amazingly, mysteriously, wondrously THEY HEAR THAT SONG AGAIN! It seems new, but it’s not new — it’s as it were a new song! Hearing the strains of that melody and the
lyrics of that hymn the fog begins to clear, the mists evaporate, recognition
brightens the face, the light comes on, and we remember the realm from whence we came. The throne room looks the same! Again we take up the scepter that was ours
before the ages!
There
is another fact which shows beyond any doubt that this song is originating from
a voice or voices which are not those of the 144,000 on mount Zion. We have previously shown that mount Zion is a symbol denoting
throneship — the authority of kingship and dominion. Yet this song is not from the throne, but is portrayed as being sung out of a heavenly
realm before the throne, and before the living creatures (kingship, sonship),
and before the elders
(priesthood). “They sing” refers to the harpists whose sound comes from heaven! Thus, the song is sounding forth from the
“voices in heaven” and not from the Lamb and His followers on mount Zion. Can we not see by this that the song is for
the benefit and blessing of God’s king-priest company, but it is not they who are
at this point singing the song! Instead,
they are hearing the song — it is as
though a great orchestra and choir have been assembled to perform before God’s
called and chosen elect in order to inspire, quicken, and renew within them the
message and revelation contained in the song.
Oh, the wonder of it!
And now
comes the final proof. “And no man could learn that song but the hundred forty and four thousand, which were
redeemed from the earth.” Can you
see the picture — the 144,000 are standing on mount Zion
listening
to this “as it were a new song” in
order to learn it! And no man — no man in heaven above, no man
in earth beneath, no man anywhere in all of God’s vast universe, could learn
that song except the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth! Let us now see the enormous depth that
streams to us out of this sublime scene.
The 144,000 have just been redeemed from the earth realm, raised up out
of a natural, earthly, limited, human, carnal consciousness, identity, and
state of being into the heavenly, spiritual, divine, infinite consciousness,
identity, and state of being of quickened, changed, transformed
Christ-men. And in this heavenly state
there immediately falls upon their spiritual ears the majestic chords and
powerful message of a song which at first seems
new to them — yet, somewhere, far away in the depths of their spirit, it
stirs a chord, they have the sense that it is not really new — that indeed,
somewhere, sometime, somehow THEY HAVE HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE! And now they must learn, actually re-learn
it, just as in all of our spiritual experience we are being re-deemed, re-newed, re-generated,
re-surrected — that wondrous song!
The
words of Ray Prinzing are instructive here.
“Volumes could be written on the qualifications of this company — this
company of firstfruits which He is bringing forth have a new song. It is stated that ‘no man could learn that
song, but…’ those of whom we have
been speaking. They have to LEARN IT,
but it is learned by the spirit. No man,
no flesh, no carnality, no self-will can learn the song! The word ‘learn’ means: to apply by study, to
experience, etc. Head-knowledge is not
the ultimate of learning. So we find
this word comes from a root from which we get disciple. A disciple is a taught one, one who has
been trained, disciplined, chastened, developed, until the lesson is worked
into their very being. There is an
experiential reality which we are to
share. No wonder man cannot teach man this song!
It is a sovereign inworking of the Holy Spirit!
“Deriving
our inspiration from the indwelling
Christ, next we note that a song must have meaning, importance, a message that
is clear, so that one can comprehend it.
Some years ago a certain Communist promoter made the statement, ‘Let me
write a nation’s music, and I don’t care
who makes their laws.’ For he knew that
if a message was clearly written into the music which the youth would sing, it
would work into their thought processes, until it became the moral compass of
their life, and they would follow the communistic ideology. Negative forces know this principle very
well, and thus the sex and violence-oriented message in the rock and hip-hop
music of the day is producing its results in tragic consequences. There are songs of suicide, and then people
wonder why there is such a sharp increase in suicide among our youth!” — end quote.
As we
meditate upon the verses of our text,
taking note of what they really say rather
than what we have assumed they say,
it becomes clear that we often read over such passages lightly and carelessly,
missing the true implication and import of the message! The scriptures are very clear that each of us
came into this world out of the bosom of the Father. Before the Creator formed you as a vessel of
clay, He knew you. He didn’t know you in
your present physical form as Joe Smith or Sally Brown, but He knew you as spirit.
God spoke to you about His plan for your life before ever you were
formed as an embryo in the womb of your mother.
Paul
states it so clearly when He says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ: according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:3-4). The Amplified Bible reads, “Even as He chose us, actually picked us out for Himself in Christ, BEFORE THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”
Never doubt this reality for a moment — the only way
God could have loved you, chose you in Christ, and picked you out for His own before the foundation of the world would
be if you truly existed in and with Him before the appearing of the
worlds. Nothing can be plainer than
that! Yet we have supposed that we were
just recently, in this life, apprehended of God to sonship. I thought the work of God began in my life
nearly eighty years ago. Now I find that
the thing God is doing with His elect began in eternity! It didn’t begin in time. It began before the ages were framed! God loved me, knew me, counseled with me, picked
me out for His unique purpose, and commissioned me before the foundation of the
world! My origin was in God! The Lord referred to this wonderful truth
when He asked Job, who was void of understanding because of the veil of flesh
under which he was subjected, “Where wast
thou when I laid the foundations of the earth…when the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4,7). The words of the little chorus so beautifully
express the truth of this:
From out of
eternity, before time began;
In the bosom of the Father, while the
morning stars sang,
I shouted
for joy while beholding God’s great plan —
His purpose on earth, His election in man!
Each of
us was born into a mortal, physical body and into a world of darkness, sin, and
death. Our spiritual life was buried,
covered, encased, concealed within the prison house of a natural, worldly,
human consciousness just as a little child, if imprisoned in a room with no
ability to relate to the world he is in, will be unable to express, expand, or
function as a normal person. He will
have no idea of what the world is like or what the true human experience is
about. But our descent into this gross
material realm was according to God’s plan!
It wasn’t Adam
that created the cunning serpent or invented the desirable tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, or placed in man’s path the way of death. Oh, no!
It was God who planted the garden eastward in Eden and
placed all these things strategically in it!
But God has both a purpose and a plan!
Paul speaks of an action of God involved in that plan
when he says that we are “in hope of
eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised
before the world began” (Titus 1:2).
This is indeed
wonderful! We were born into this world
with a promise from God — the promise
of eternal life! The promise of
salvation from this dreadful travail and a return to life more abundant was
given us before the world began! When we came here we were born with a promise! In other words, when we came into this earth
realm with all its sorrows and woe, by the promise of God, given us before the
world was founded, we knew that we would get out of here
alive! We also understood the
great plan, the wonderful purpose, and the glorious outcome of it all! It was then, my friend, it was there, my
beloved, that the morning stars sang THE SONG, and all the sons of God shouted
for joy! Oh, yes, there was joy when our
heavenly Father clothed the shining suns with their brilliant garments of
light, and stationed the vast constellations in their ample orbits, and filled
with radiance boundless space of His illimitable universe. Yes, there was joy even when our planet was
clothed with blooming garments of living green, when the air was filled with
feathery songsters, and the waters with finny tribes, and the world was covered
with teeming life enriching the earth for man.
But all these mysteries and wonders of creation are infinitely
transcended by the inexpressible purpose of
it all!
When
we were with the Father as His sons we were perfect, but innocent and
unproven. Job was a perfect man, the
Lord said, but at the same time he was untested, untried, and thus all that
befell him was for the testing. We could
have remained hidden in God, and been holy and pure but without the maturity,
understanding, wisdom,
and power that are developed through experience. We would never have been holy because we chose
to be holy. We would have been pure as a
little baby is pure — pure but innocent, weak, and helpless. We would never
have understood
why the way of sin and death is delusive,
dangerous, and disastrous. We would never have possessed the
character
of one who has been tried, tested, and processed. We would have been something like an
over-protected child in this world, one who is innocent of much that goes on
about him, and therefore unable to cope when exposed to the pressures,
problems, and negatives. God wanted sons
who became mature sons in the crucible of experience,
having experienced all the opposites of life, holiness, wisdom, power, and glory — to overcome in
it, to be made strong and victorious by it; not inexperienced and undisciplined
sons rich by inheritance but with no nobility of character to handle what they
receive. This is why we had to come this
route, and believe me, before God would turn the whole vast universe over to us
as the rulers in His kingdom WE HAD TO COME THIS WAY!
We
must not think that when our ministry is finished here on earth, and all men
have bowed the knee and happily owned Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, when
all the earth has been set free from the curse and sin, sickness, and sorrow
have flown away; when the dirge music has sung its last song, and the minor
chords are all gone, that the Master will then say, “Go sit on a heavenly
mount, and sing yourselves away forever and ever.” No way!
What Bethlehem was among the thousands of
Judah,
this little earth is to the great Universe of God — for it is here that the
glory of God has broken forth! All those
stars, those worlds of light, who knows how many of them are inhabited? It is my conviction that there are regions
beyond our imagination to which every son of God shall become an everlasting
illumination, a living expression of the love, wisdom, and power of their Creator and
God. The creatures in those far distant
worlds could not see Calvary
as this world has seen it; but they shall see
it in the redeemed that are conformed to His image. Some entertain the foolish notion that each
of those worlds have their own way to
God, but such cannot be the truth, for it is the testimony of scripture that it
is in Christ that all things are gathered together into one, of
things both in the heavens and in the
earth (Eph. 1:10). And we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, therefore we have a
part in this great “gathering
together” of all things into Him!
Truly
in that day the Lord shall say to His sons who have brought the kingdom of God
to pass in the earth, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast
been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” He is to keep on doing something, you
see. God’s kingdom does not stop here on
this globe, and God’s revelation is not limited to mankind. Compared to the orbs of space the earth is
insignificant. The celestial realm is
unutterably greater and its glories grander.
Men will risk all of their fortunes and their lives to seize the reins
of even the smallest of earth’s governments.
Yet the glory of universal
dominion promised to the sons of God is greater than all! The man who has been a faithful and wise steward of God
here, will be promoted by our heavenly Father to more eminent service in the
ages to come. This shall be our heaven,
not to go there and walk on golden streets waving palm branches and playing
harps, but to enter upon some larger, nobler ministry for which we are
preparing by the lower and more arduous service of this present time!
The
Bible clearly teaches that God’s sons shall inherit all things (Rev. 21:7; Ps. 8:3-6; Heb. 2:8). The eighth Psalm shows clearly that this
includes the stars, the galaxies, and the planets. The whole vast universe shall be theirs! Every world that floats in space shall be
subject to their word and at their disposal, as they range the broad fields of
the boundless heavens. Here and now we
are a people in whom there is royal
blood; sons of God, heirs to the throne; we are born to rule over all things,
and God is preparing us for that dominion.
The rule of one little world is not enough for a man born of the omnipresent
God of the universe! It may be for a
chipmunk. It is not for a son of God,
because one born from above is too
big in his spirit, which is his real divine self. To be a spiritual man, a heavenly man, he
must reach out to the future, to infinity, to eternity, and grapple with the
powers of the ages to come, and compel them to gird him with strength to
fulfill the ultimate intention of our heavenly
Father. Methinks this high knowledge
is a part of the glad refrain of THAT SONG which the 144,000 hear upon mount Zion,
which is “as it were” a new song, yet we now know within ourselves that we
truly heard it before, when the morning stars sang, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy as before the foundation of the world our heavenly Father promised us eternal life and universal
dominion as the fruit of our being lowered into this dark realm.
Today,
unregenerated, carnal man is shooting rockets to the moon and Mars, boasting
that he is going to use the planets as a launching pad to soar to the universe
beyond. But man is simply getting in too
big a hurry! He is striving to “take
over” and rule what he has not fitted himself to manage. There is that deep, innate knowledge in the
subconscious of man that he is destined to explore and subjugate the
universe. But man has not yet proven his
ability to wisely rule this planet, much less the worlds beyond! Man with his history of greed, lust, strife,
treachery, warfare, bloodshed, deceit, corruption, and perversion has now
stockpiled enough atomic bombs to not only blow the earth to smithereens, but
twenty more just like it! Shall God indeed commit into the
hands of corrupt, depraved human nature the rulership of the universe? No way!
Man is reaching out to rule that which he has not qualified himself to
rule — and before it has been made lawfully his! Man is still a rebel. But what mankind does not know is, that when,
through Christ, he first qualifies for the trust, it has been
God’s intention all along to place not only the moon and Mars, but the WHOLE
VAST, LIMITLESS INIVERSE under his jurisdiction!
Oh,
the wonder of it! Our Lord Jesus Christ
has been exalted to the right hand of God.
He has been given the dominion and the kingdom. The whole universe has been delivered into His mighty hands for He has
been given all authority and power in
heaven and in earth. He is the heir of ALL THINGS! Now He tells us that it belongs to us (Heb.
2:6-10); and we have been raised to sit together with Him at the right hand of
the Majesty on High, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto
us (I Pet. 3:22). We are to sit with Him
upon His throne, which is the Father’s throne (Rev. 3:21). We are not only raised up to sit with Him on
His throne, but He has been given a name that is above every name, and we are
also to share that wonderful Name. Listen to this: “To him that overcometh…I
will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city (government) of my God, which is New
Jerusalem…and I will write upon him MY NEW NAME” (Rev. 2:12).
This
present time is but a proving ground for those who through grace will reign
with their Lord over the endless vastnesses of infinity. They have proven faithful over few
things. Now they shall be made rulers
over many…over ALL
HIS POSSESSIONS (Mat. 24:45-47). He has
given us His glory because we are His brethren, bone of His bone, flesh of His
flesh, spirit of His spirit, life of His life, mind of His mind. We are of common parentage, brothers by the
new birth, becoming like Him in name, nature, and being. We are all “out of one” for which reason He
is not ashamed to call us brethren. He
has raised us up to sit with Him in the higher than heavenlies, hence we belong
on His throne. And the place which He
has been preparing for each one is not only a world to come, and a kingdom of
life, light, and love, but a position, a place of eminence at His side, ruling
with Him over all the eternal endlessness of His unbounded heavens! This is the song — I have heard THIS SONG
upon mount Zion! The millions of believers in the church systems of man know nothing of this song, for
no man can learn this song except the 144,000 which are redeemed from the
earth-realm! It is as if it were a new
song, yet it is an old song, and we first heard it before the dawn of creation.
While
we thus stand, as it were on Pisgah’s heights, and view the grand prospect just
before us, our hearts rejoice in the Lord’s great plan, with unspeakable joy;
and though we realize that God’s sons are still scaling the heights of mount Zion,
and that the hour of divine breakthrough has not
yet fully come, yet, seeing the implications of its rapid approach, and in
spirit already discerning the dawn of the New Day, we lift up our heads and
rejoice, knowing that our redemption draweth nigh. Oh what fullness of blessing and cause for
joy and thanksgiving the truth contains! Truly, the Lord has put a new song into our
mouths. It is the grand anthem which was
sung by the angelic choir at the birth of the firstborn Son of God — “Behold, I
bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be unto all people, for unto you is
born this day a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord.” Thank God, the harmonious
strains of this song shall ere long fill heaven and earth with eternal melody
as a whole family of sons in His exact
image and likeness and form are born — saviours on mount Zion
— and the work of universal salvation, the restitution of all things, which they come to accomplish, progresses
toward its GLORIOUS CONSUMMATION!
Earlier
we mentioned that God gave us a promise of eternal life before the world
began. Few understand it, but in that
long ago He also gave us the promise of manifest sonship! We were predestinated at that time to be the
manifest sons of God! “For whom
He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many
brethren” (Rom. 8:28-29). Not only was
eternal life and manifest sonship promised, the kingdom was promised also! “Then shall the King say to them on His right
hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world” (Mat. 25:34).
All these wonderful things happened to us, and many more too numerous to
mention at this time, before we entered this world as a human being. But do you remember any of it? Can you remember when you were there with the
Father? Can you remember Him informing
you of the plan, the purpose, in sending you to earth? Can you remember what was said, what you
knew, what you agreed to, and why, and what you had when you were there with
the Father? Do you remember being chosen
in Christ, promised eternal life, promised a kingdom to reign in, and
predestined unto placement as a son of God — before the foundation of the
world? Do you remember the beginning of
your journey?
Ah
— YOU ARE REMEMBERING! Do you know how you’re remembering? The answer is simple — all revelation is but a remembering! Someone says,
“Oh, brother Eby, the Lord showed me such and such — I’ve had a revelation and
I see thus and thus.” Yes, you received
a revelation! The reality is, however,
that what you perceived as a revelation was “as it were” a new song, but it was
not really new, God was simply reminding you; He woke you up,
refreshed your memory, and caused you to recall
a hidden, secret knowledge you once possessed before you entered this mortal
state of limitation and confinement!
We
should always be fervently aware that a revelation
is an unveiling. That is the meaning in the Greek. To have something revealed means to have it
unveiled. There have been masterpieces
of art and sculpture that have had a day of unveiling. Michelangelo was famous for the unveiling of
some of his great works. But you see, my beloved, the unveiling is not the creation of the thing unveiled! The unveiling is simply the revelation or uncovering of something which already
exists! Spiritual revelation is not
the impartation of either knowledge or experience that you have never known before. Not at all!
Spiritual revelation is the uncovering of the secret knowledge of God
within our spirit. Revelation is a remembering! The whole purpose of the Holy Spirit’s moving
upon us in our journey in God in this life in the flesh is to cause us to
remember the realm from whence we came, who we are, what our purpose is — that
we might complete the journey and fulfill that purpose! That is the mystery.
A
son of God can go a long time before he
is awakened to the fact of his sonship.
In fact a lot of God’s children are like the story of the baby eagle
that was hatched out under a hen. You
know that the eagle is a type of the sons of God who live and soar in the high
places of the Spirit. Well, a farmer
took an egg from an eagle’s nest and he placed it under a hen. In due time all the eggs under the hen
hatched out. The baby chicks got along
fine with the mother hen but that little eagle could not figure out the
clucking and scratching for food in the manure pile. He managed to make a living but he was pretty
confused about it all. But one day, from
way up in the air the mother eagle that had laid the egg spied that little
eagle on the ground. She swooped down
with tremendous speed and screamed at the top of her voice for him to fly up to
meet her. He had never heard an eagle cry, but when he heard
that first scream something in him stirred and he longed to launch out toward
it. But he was afraid to try. Again that mother screamed for him to arise
in the wind and follow her. He screamed
back that he was afraid. Once more she
called out, screaming that he try.
Beating his wings he hurled himself into the air, and answering the cry
of his mother, he soared off into the blue skies. You see, he always was an eagle! He acted like a chicken for a little while
but he could not be satisfied. But when
he heard the call of the great eagle he came to his own place. And once a son of God hears that symphony
from out of eternity, once it reverberates down the corridors of his soul, he
too, will realize who he is and run to the great eagle who begat him to be
seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, to stand with the Lamb upon
mount Zion — there to learn again that song he sang before the foundation of
the world. It is indeed wonderful!
With
deep spiritual insight brother Carl Schwing wrote, “There is a song that only
the Sons can sing. That song was born
within their hearts eons ago when they beheld the Lamb upon the throne. It is a song of all in all…a song that flows
from the heart of the spirit…a song of wisdom
and knowledge. It is a song of
holiness…with words of life, liberty and perfection for all that the Father has
made. If our ears could be opened for
just a moment we would hear that song.
Yet, the Melody has already begun His good work in us. It is unto Him that we look…it is by Him we
live…and it is in Him that we abide.”
Another
has written, “This song of the Lamb, known and sung only by these firstlings,
is a song that no ‘man’ can learn for it is not birthed through human and
earthly experiences. Man cannot be
taught it, for it comes out of the far distant past when these few were chosen
to join in harmony with the Father and His precious Lamb as the master plan to
subject His good, perfect, and heavenly creation to the frailty and futility of
a human and earthly embodiment was made known to them. These chosen ones, elected of God for a
purpose, see a God who is working all things after the counsel of His own will;
a God who works in His creation both to will
and to do of His good pleasure.
These were chosen in Him before the foundation of the earth” — L. Dane Tabor.
A
distant relative of mine, Dr.
Richard Eby, was accidentally
killed when he fell to the street from a three story building. Instantly he was conscious in the realm of
spirit. One moment he was conscious with
a flesh-restricted mind, the next moment with a heaven-released mind whose
speed of function was that of light. He
was instinctively aware that the Lord of lords was everywhere about him, though
he did not at that time see Him.
Hours later he was raised from
the dead, and of one of the wonderful experiences encountered in that heavenly
sphere, he said, ‘Music surrounded
me. It came from all
directions. Its harmonic beauty, unlike
earthly vocal or instrumental sounds, was totally undistorted. It flowed
unobtrusively like a glassy river, quietly worshipful, excitingly edifying, and
totally comforting. I had never sensed anything
like it. The music was sounding within my head, not from an
eardrum. Obviously
it was not airborne. Most unusual to me
was the absence of any ‘beat.’ Then I
realized that without time this
heavenly music could have no beat which
is a measure of time! I was hearing
harmonic perfection, undistorted by any interposed medium between me and its
source, as heard mind-to-mind. The music
around me suddenly seemed louder. I
rushed to a nearby tree and grasped its trunk to my ear: it was ‘singing.’ I lifted my right elbow to my head; it emitted
the same joyous, beatless melody.
Excitedly I stopped to pick some flowers, and found them already in my
hand. They, too, were ‘playing’ the
tune!”
The
atmosphere all about us is permeated with this celestial song of creation. But only the sons and daughters of the most
High can tune in to that higher frequency and sing its melody, for these are
they who follow the Lamb. The music
transcends any earthly sound, nor are there necessarily any words of earth’s feeble
languages with it. It is not learned in
words, nor does it depend upon the skill of utterance. But it is a living vibration of all that GOD IS which is released from the very
substance of the spirit within, flowing outward from the tabernacle of
creation. This music is the beauty of
holiness, the glory of the living God, the divine communion between Christ and
His body, the spiritual harmony between the Father and His sons, the unspoken love between the Bridegroom and
the bride, the triumphant symphony of glory!
The source of power within the Song of songs is not tones or chords or
melodies or harmonic sequences but, as it were, spiritual vibrations of
divine power and reality — Perfect Love, Life Everlasting, Joy Unspeakable,
Wisdom Unsurpassable, Omnipotent Power, Infinite Light.
As
sons of our heavenly Father we are called, not merely to sing that song, but to
BECOME that Living Song of songs! “And give Him no rest, till He establish, and
till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Isa.
62:7). It is when we become
this mighty concerto of Life, Light, and Love that its power is made
manifest. The release of the Christ-life
within causes us to become this rhythm of glorified Life — creation’s heartbeat
of joy, peace, and victory. The song is
sung as Life, Light, and Love and is expressed as the essence of Being. It is an immortal
Song — the vibration of incorruptibleness. It is not in words spoken — it is in a
state of being, the emanation of God’s glorious and eternal reality to all about. Every man who develops the power to hear this
Song out of the realm of the spirit is given the ability to sing the Song,
sending it forth to a burdened and captive world. Sing that Song, O ye sons of Zion, for it shall
eternally triumph! Let the beauty and
majesty of the King of kings in the harmonic perfection of this Song vibrate
from your redeemed spirit that it may fill the whole earth and subdue all the
nations! It is the Song of the Lamb, the Song of mount Zion, the Song of
the manifest sons of God, but its redemptive, healing, transforming effect is
unto all the ends of God’s great creation!
Truly
we experience those moments when verbal praises are inadequate to even begin to
express that which surges deep within.
There is a note, a chord, an inner song of rejoicing that finds no
articulation in mortal words nor any audible strains of melody. From whence cometh this? In the measure body and soul are brought into
subjection to, and union with, the spirit, the Song of the morning stars begins
to vibrate once more — there is a Song of songs to be sung unto His glory. It is heard through the celestial realms
as the NEW MORNING STARS take up that
Lost Chord and begin to express the life and reality of God in spirit and in
truth. There is a glorious company that
stands upon mount
Zion
with the Lamb, they are of the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the
north (Isa. 14:13; Ps. 48:2), and they are even now hearing that song, learning
that song, beginning to sing that song, and are becoming the song! Hallelujah!
A
song is peculiarly expressive of praise — praise with a message. And the quality and
depth of praise is dependent upon one’s spiritual progression in God. Those who have received salvation, but have never followed on to know the Lord in intimacy of
fellowship and vital union of life, are limited in their praise and the message
in the praise; for the more we experience the depths of God, the more His essence of Being is
revealed. Saints are filled with praise
according to their individual
capacities. Consequently, while
unfaithful and immature saints will be filled with the good things of God
according to their various capacities, yet these can never render the same worship as those who
have followed their Lord all the way into the fullness of His life. Therefore these sons of Zion are said to sing a NEW SONG that no one
can learn, except those who have traveled the same road as they. Those who have never
climbed the heights of the mount are satisfied with the songs they sing on
whatever plane they are, for they do not miss the greater song, having never heard it nor been
moved by it. All have different
capacities and different interests. I
remember walking into a little Pentecostal church many years after the Lord had
called us out of that realm, and they were singing some of the old Pentecostal
hymns about flying away to heaven, and others even worse, and I caught myself
thinking within myself, “My God! Are
there really people on this earth still singing that stuff?!”
A
song in scripture represents both praise and
a message. It is praise that bears a message, or
beyond that, praise which is birthed out of revelation and experience with
God. You can tell the spiritual level of
a person by the songs he sings! A
person’s “song” will always express his depth of understanding and relationship
with God. When we receive new revelation
from the Lord, experientially inworked into our lives, a new song is
created. There is an old English ballad
the first line of which runs, “I cannot sing the old songs.” Some change has taken place in the singer’s
feelings and experience which makes the old songs inappropriate,
impossible. We all know something of
this kind of feeling. Sometimes I look
back over old sermons, and very often I have to say to myself, “I could not preach
that again.” God has been teaching me
during the years of my ministry, leading me into a fuller knowledge of Truth
and a deeper walk in the Spirit. Hymns
and choruses which once ministered life no longer express what the Spirit is
doing and speaking in our lives, so we no longer sing them as we once did, and
sometimes we change the words. Children
always sing different kinds of songs than adults do! In the things of God, as in well-nigh
everything else, “Time makes ancient good
uncouth.”
Paul Mueller stated it so well when he wrote, “Again
and again we are told to sing a new song unto the Lord. ‘Sing
unto the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth’ (Isa. 42:10).
The old songs of yesterday are empty, meaningless, and of no value to us
now. They have lost their prophetic
appeal and purpose, for all those former things have been fulfilled on the
plane for which they were appointed.
They are yesterday’s manna, and the spiritual people that we are can no
longer live on yesterday’s manna. We
must have a new song to sing, and by the Spirit, God is giving us that NEW SONG
TO SING, which we shall sing to the glory of the Lord with all that is within
us! Our new song is a song of the
fullness of redemption, with nothing left out, which the prophets foretold was
to be fulfilled in God’s elect.”
Thank
God, there is a new song, a new revelation, a new message, a fresh word, a
higher experience in God for this day, and for all the days to come! Those who sing the new song have outgrown the
old ones. They no longer express their
experience nor resonate with their state of reality. As the triumph of His life works within we are more and more
learning to sing that song, the new song.
The melody of praise which arises from the soul set free is
rising as a sweet incense unto the Lord.
All praise to the Lamb who hath redeemed us from the earth-realm!
REDEEMED FROM THE EARTH
“And
no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth” (Rev.
14:3).
Redeemed
— what a glorious word! How deep, how
high, how broad! Oh, yes, it is true
that we have been redeemed, but, like salvation, redemption is no single act or
experience; as one has stated, it is “a crisis leading to a process” as we are progressively “loosed away” from
one realm to another, from one mind to another, from one nature to another,
from one state of being to another.
Truly we are being freed from the dominion of the carnal mind, from a
world of flesh-centered, self-assertive religious activities, and from the
power of sin and death, first in spirit, working outward into the mind, will,
emotions, and desires of the soul life, and finally in body by the mighty
working of His power whereby He is able to change even our vile body, that it
may be fashioned like unto His body of glory (Phil. 3:21).
The
prefix “re” in “re-deem” means “again” (as in re-copy, re-wash, re-write). The main part of the word is from a root that
means “to purchase, to buy.” So an
article that is left in a pawn shop can be redeemed by paying the money that
was borrowed, plus the interest charges.
The item is thus re-bought or bought back. The word is also used when a company finds it
possible to call some of its indebtedness,
pay the borrower, and cancel the obligation: this is the redemption of bond issues.
Spiritually, it means a return to that place, wisdom, knowledge, life,
glory, and dominion which we once had in God before the ages were framed, ere
this present cosmos or world-arrangement began.
This confirms in a beautiful manner the truth we shared concerning the
“as it were” new song learned by the 144,000 on mount Zion;
not a new song, but it seemed new, yet they had obviously sung this song
before, long before they came to earth from the bosom of the Father. They can now hear and re-learn and sing again
that heavenly song because their earth-journey is ended — they are redeemed from the earth! That doesn’t mean they have left the earth
and flown away to some far-off heaven somewhere. Oh, no!
It signifies a state of being — deliverance from the power of sin, carnality, sorrow, pain,
limitation, and death. Redeemed from the
earth-realm!
The
English word “redeem” translates three Greek words, each of which has a rich
meaning in connection with our salvation and transformation. One Greek word, apolutro, means “to loose, untie, deliver.”
Another Greek word used in scripture and translated by our English word
“redemption” is agorazo, the common Greek word for marketing. The noun agora
means the market place, and the verb agorazo
means to buy. In the New Testament
the word is applied to souls. This would
be readily understood in the ancient world, since there was a slave market that
operated almost every day, and the traffic in slaves was very great. That Christ should have walked into the slave
market and purchased, or redeemed, men who were slaves to the realm of
carnality, sin, and death, would have been easily comprehended!
There
is another Greek word which gives additional light on the thought of
redemption. The word is exagorazo (agorazo with the prefix ex),
and carries the idea of buying something out of the market. There is a difference between a purchase that
is for resale and a purchase that is made in order to take an article out of
commerce. For example, a dealer in rare
books and works of art might purchase an item at a London
or New York
sale, and hold it for resale to a customer.
Some pictures, books, manuscripts, and art objects are bought and sold again and
again. But finally, when a great work of
art is bought by a museum, it is thus TAKEN OUT OF CIRCULATION
PERMANENTLY.
Today,
we are being redeemed, loosed away from the earth — the earthy part of
ourselves. The natural man always tends
to gravitate towards the earth, towards soulish, earthly, fleshly, sensual
things. We are being redeemed from this
earthly mentality, consciousness, activity, and state of being! “The
first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are
earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (I Cor. 15:47-49).
We
are, furthermore, as sons on mount
Zion,
redeemed from that religious realm which arises out of the soulical nature of
man. Redeemed from soulishness! Redeemed from religion! Redeemed from the carnal church systems of
man! Perhaps you never thought of that. We equate redemption with freedom from sin
and death. Yet, here in our text it is the
redemption, not of sinners, but of sons from the beastly religious
orders set forth in chapter thirteen of the Revelation, represented by the
beast out of the earth. This bespeaks redemption from that
soulical “earth realm” that we read of again and again throughout the pages of
the Revelation. That is the mystery!
Truly
we have been loosed from this earth’s carnal systems. Oh, how
our spirits were once tied to this world’s religious orders! We committed, we conformed, we volunteered,
we were drafted, we labored, we worked, we performed multiplied works,
participated in programs, drives, and promotions, tilling, as it were, the soil
with the sweat of our brow — busily working “for” God! But God is LOOSING a people from the worldly
religious spirit and bondage. No more is
our spirit yearning to “do” great things “for” God, but our spirit is set free
that we might go on to BEAR THE IMAGE OF THE HEAVENLY, to be a manifestation
out of the heavens of the spirit of the grace, and glory, and majesty of our
God! Ah, these “redeemed ones out of the
earth” are the ones STANDING ON MOUNT ZION,
SINGING THE NEW SONG. And it is they who,
like Moses of old, shall bring down from the mountain the new order for the new day! Redeemed — how I love to proclaim it!
To
be continued… J. PRESTON EBY
