“Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing.””
Revelation 5:11-12 NLT
John, bemused and captivated by the new song being sung by the four living beings and the twenty four elders, must have blinked, because he suddenly then became aware that the inhabitants of Heaven, millions of angels, were singing too. And they joined the new song for the chorus;
Worthy is the Lamb
who was slaughtered,
to receive power and riches
and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and blessing.
I envisage the scene as being like a gospel choir, where the main singer belts out the main lyric lines, and the rest of the choir responds. But on a scale totally beyond comprehension. I can imagine that the hairs on the back of John’s neck were standing up as the emotion of the occasion washed over him.
The lyrics of the chorus retained the focus on Jesus’ sacrifice, but then ventured into praising Him, mentioning seven attributes he was worthy of. Yes, that number seven again. Because of what He had done, the chorus goes, Jesus had complete and total entitlement to everything possible. Nothing left out. Power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing. But the amazing thing is, He had had access to all of that before He came to this earth to die for us. And because of His love for us pilgrims, He was prepared to abandon it all, adopting instead the limitations of a human being. That must be a thought that drives us to our knees in thankful adoration.
One day, we pilgrims will have the opportunity to join in the heavenly song, but before then we have our feet established firmly on Planet Earth. In the lives we lead, what songs are we singing? Are they songs of sadness, focussed on the miseries of our earthbound lives? Or are they songs of thanks extolling the virtues of our wonderful Heavenly Father? We may not be aware of the “songs” we are singing. But those around us, in our families and workplaces, schools and supermarkets, will know what we are “singing”, by how we behave and what we say. Let’s learn a new song, worthy of Him who brought us abundant life. And belt it out whenever we have the opportunity.
Father God. We choose today to only sing God-songs, songs that those around us will notice and hopefully copy. In this lost world, our songs of hope will bring solace to to our friends, families and communities. We love You, Lord! Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 