Have you ever stopped to ask yourself: “What will I be doing in the new heavens and earth?” This may come as a terrible shock to rugby fans but I have found no mention in the Bible that rugby is the game they play in heaven. Melburnians will be glad! Nor indeed is the age to come portrayed as a gigantic Westfield shopping mall where all our physical and sensual pleasures can be indulged on unlimited credit!

Instead, the book of Revelation tells us that we will reach complete fulfillment — not playing sport or indulging ourselves — but largely through the adoration of God. Of course, we will engage in other activi­ties, such as fellowship and service. Nevertheless, the Apostle John tells us that one of the main characteristics of the age to come is that we will experience such a heightened and intensified vision of God’s glory that we will be lost in wonder, love and praise. If you want to describe life in the new age, it’s easy. It consists, among other things, of unending praise and song.

That’s why it’s important that we take stock of what lies before us in the future. It would be tragic, to put it mildly, to devote our lives here and now to activities which will be utterly useless to us in the age to come. That’s why we need to keep our eye on the future so that we allow it to shape our present life together.

Actually, and this may come as a sur­prise for some, even preaching and evangelism will cease in the new age. Their functions in establishing us in Christ will be complete and will give way to unceas­ing praise and service. That’s why we need to think seriously about our calling as a church to worship God through song.

One of the things that impressed the Apostle John is that singing is one of the activities of heaven. Singing is to be part of our destiny. We find more songs in the book of Revelation than any other book in the Bible, with the exception, of course, of the Psalter. In fact there are 14 of them. These songs are sung by various groups: the angels, the elders around the throne, the four living creatures and the redeemed. The heavenly realms will resound with inspirational and spine-tingling music.

Do you find that strange — even unnerving? It shouldn’t be. In fact, it is meant to be something that we are meant to be thinking about very seriously. For instance, even now the apostle Paul tells us to “teach and admonish one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16). Further, the Psalmist says “sing joyfully to the Lord; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him” (Ps. 33:1-3). Singing is a mark of the church on earth. But it will be even more of a mark of the church in heaven. Why?

I think the reason is that then we shall have perfect knowledge of God. “We shall see His face” (Rev. 22:3). In that sense we are not like Moses, Samson’s parents or Isaiah who dreaded, as sinners, to look directly upon God (Ex. 33:20; Judg. 13:22; Is. 6:5). In heaven grace will have done its purify­ing work in our lives and we will be per­fected in holiness. We will be able to gaze without fear upon the beauty of God’s holiness.

Here on earth there are some visions that are so captivating that we cannot tear our eyes away. I can remember sitting on a glacier in the Canadian Rockies drinking in the sheer beauty and panorama of Lake Louise and not wanting to turn aside. I can scarcely begin to imagine what it will be like to see God face to face and look upon the Author of such magnificent splen­dours. It should not surprise us, therefore, that we’ll be more inclined to give expression to praise and delight. Our vision will be complete and unclouded by sin.

Again, I think music and singing has a major role in our future life because God has specially designed melody, harmony and rhythm to enhance the meaning of the words we sing. One of the important functions of music is to help words carry their meaning more effectively. Just think of some of the advertising jingles that have become Australian national treasures — the Vegemite, Aeroplane Jelly and Mortein songs — and you’ll see how a catchy tune can drive a message home to the heart.

In the same way, the music of heaven will help to infuse God’s Word into the very depths of our souls so that we will want to shout for joy. In this sense, the music of heaven serves a different purpose from the normal uses of music in contem­porary culture. For us, music is often thought of as “entertainment” or “art for art’s sake”. But for God it’s the medium into which He puts His most important statements. Is it any accident that when God wants to say something in a “Now hear this!” voice, He puts it into a poetic or lyrical form which can be readily accompanied by music?

It may come as a surprise that Christianity is not just a matter of believ­ing the truth. Truth, when we properly receive it, affects our bodies and emotions. If you believe the Gospel with sincere faith, then that belief will assert itself with singing. The Gospel always reveals its presence in our hearts through our voices.

The voice, of course, is God’s greatest gift. From an anatomical and functional point of view, it can serve as a musical instrument. No other creature has received it. It can perform extraordinary tasks, but the greatest one of all is to sing praise to our Creator, Redeemer and Judge (Rev. 4:11; 5:9, 10; 19:1, 2). We completely corrupt it as a gift when we use it for profanity or to harm others through evil speech. However, it reaches its greatest usefulness in the service of God, especially singing.

Thus the book of Revelation, being a picture of the triumph of God and His Christ, resounds with song. Indeed, Christ’s victory is so overwhelming and glorious and the privileges He bestows so great that a new song is called for (Rev. 5:9; 14:3). Why? Because only when the Divine Artist completes the picture of redemp­tion that He has been painting for thou­sands of years will we see the breathtaking wonder of all His accomplishments. We will see how Christ has ventured into enemy territory, routed the opposition, secured the release of all His prisoners and brought each one safely home. No one is missing in action. Such an amazing tri­umph calls for special victory songs.

Music is not simply important because we find it a moving and helpful aid to remember things. It is also honouring to God. God delights in music and song. He is the ultimate composer of the Bible’s songs and the wisdom they contain (Deut. 31:19; 1 Kings 4:29, 32). Indeed, the ultimate reason why we should sing is that God Himself sings (Zeph. 3:17): “He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Again,   the writer to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus delights to sing (Heb. 2:12). There he reminds us of Jesus’ attitude to sacred song, “I will declare your name to my brothers, in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.” Further, Paul says that Christ sings as a testimony to the Gentiles (Rom. 15:9). In each of these texts we discover that God is a person who delights in singing.

Given the emphasis on singing in the book of Revelation, we might expect to find some signs of musical accompani­ment. We are certainly not disappointed. Fanfares of trumpets announce the moments of coming judgment and redemption, and there are repeated refer­ences to harps. In view of this, I find it hard to see what possible objection some Christians have to the use of musical instruments as a form of accompaniment. After all, the human voice is a cross between a wind and string instrument, and God commands us to use it. He also says that His heart laments like a flute (Jer. 48:36), so presumably He has no objection to that instrument either. Christian musicians have a mandate from the book of Revelation to devote themselves to high musical attainments in the service of God.

However, it is not enough simply to sing. It depends what you sing. The characteristic of the songs of Heaven (Rev. 5:12-13) is that they focus our thoughts upon God and away from man. These songs dwell on the greatness of God and what He has done. There is no mention of apostles or prophets or any of the achieve­ments of Bible heroes. Unfortunately one of the modern trends in Christian music is away from God-centredness. Ours is a self-absorbed age which is completely man-centred. We are always thinking about ourselves. However, in worship the focus is meant to be upon God.

Finally, we should notice that God uses song to powerfully change us. We ought to be impressed that in Revelation 5, 8 and 14 those who sang “fell down and wor­shipped the Lamb”. This reminds us that we can’t praise or glorify God without being changed in the process. As Archbishop William Temple put it:

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imag­ination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God and to devote the will to the purpose of God.

As such, God-centred singing is one of the things we need most of all.