As the redeemed people of God, our future has been secured through Christ, and yet, our battle against sin is a daily struggle. This affects all parts of our life, and music is no exception. There is no comparison between the new song that we will sing in glory and our current reality. The music we will experience in heaven will be harmonious perfection without a single dissonant note.
The value of something can be proven when it stands the test of time. Like the hymns we sing at church on Sunday, or at home any day of the week. These theological melodies are timeless and are worth our time, attention, and voices still today. Join us as we study the timeless classic hymns that stir our hearts in worship of the Savior.
Do you ever think about heaven? It’s not a common practice in the 21st century compared to previous centuries, but there is much we can look forward to in eternity, and one anticipation of heaven that thrills me is music. As the children of God called from every tribe, language, people and nation (Rev 5:9) our experience of heaven will be melodious. We are promised a new song to sing:
And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. – Revelation 14:3
This will be our experience of glory, to sing a new song before the throne of the glorified Lamb of God, the One who purchased us with his blood (Rev 5:9). What joy we have to look forward to!
As well as being a Christian’s future inheritance, music and singing are also our current experience. Music is one of our Creator’s gifts to us as humankind. The versatility of our vocal chords allows us to sing a hushed lullaby to a baby, to sing with gusto at a sporting event, and patriotically at times of national celebration. Singing can be the natural response to an occasion of joy and the mournful response to sadness. We can sing with smiles on our faces and laughter in our eyes, and we can sing through tears with a burdened heart.
As the redeemed people of God, our future has been secured through Christ, and yet, our battle against sin is a daily struggle. This affects all parts of our life, and music is no exception. There is no comparison between the new song that we will sing in glory and our current reality. The music we will experience in heaven will be harmonious perfection without a single dissonant note. Perhaps the closest we humans have come to hearing such beauty was the experience of lowly shepherds perched on a hillside in Bethlehem when, as Luke recounts,
And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased –Luke 2:13-14
We can say with certainty that the music of heaven will be wondrously perfect, but there will be an additional beauty to our choral experience of heaven—it will be delivered by the unified body of God’s people, totally absorbed by the worship of the Lamb. We may desire for this to be our experience now, but the reality is not yet.Music only works when it is harmonious; the great irony, therefore, is that in churches, diversity of preferences over music can often lead to discord.
