“And I looked, and lo a Lamb stood on Mount Zion and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” Rev. 14:1-5. “2 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.”

Continuing with the words of Charles H. Spurgeon, on exposition of the Psalms, he said;

“…If Israel when restored and renewed has new cause for rejoicing, much more should the New covenant Israel feel constrained to strike the new note of triumph. Infidels blaspheme, the ungrateful murmur, the thoughtless are silent, the mournful weep, all acting according to their old nature; but new men take up a new mode, which is the divinely-inspired song of peace, charity and joy in the Lord” (Page 455).

Again, commenting on Ps. 96:1, “O sing unto the Lord a New Song,” he said, “New joys are filling the hearts of men for the glad tidings of blessing to all people are proclaiming, therefore let them sing a new song. Angels inaugurated the new dispensation with new songs, and shall not we take up the strain? The song is for Jehovah alone, the hymns, which chanted the praises of Jupiter and Neptune…, are hushed forever …lascivious sonnets are no more. Unto the one only God all music is to be dedicated. Mourning is over, and the time of singing of hearts has come. No dismal rites are celebrated, no bloody sacrifices of human beings are presented, no cutting with knives, and outcries of lamentation are presented, by deluded votaries (devotees) the names of Baalim are no more on their lips… The foolish chatty and the cruel war songs are alike forgotten; the song is holy, heavenly pure and pleasant…” (Page 181).

“…Sing a New Song.” That is let us put off the old man, and become new men, new creatures in Christ; for the old man sings old songs; only the new man sings a new song; he speaketh with a new tongue and walketh in new ways, and therefore doth new things… his language is not of Babylon or Egypt, but of Canaan, his communication doth edify men, his song glorify God…” (Page 215); end quote.

THRONE OF GOD

“And they sang a new song BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD and before the four living creatures and before the elders (of the heavenly Sanhedrin)…,” Rev. 14:3 AMP. The next thing is the THRONE OF GOD. So just what do we understand by this? Where is the throne of God? Is it just up somewhere in the heaven or can it be located elsewhere?

Now do not forget that these 144,000 which are redeemed of the Lord from amongst men that are from the earth are singing their new song “before the throne.” We shall understand better what this means as we progress.

Meanwhile the question is what do we mean, “the throne of God?” The Greek word for THRONE is thronos, while in Hebrew it is Kisse and basically it all means “seat” (1Sam. 4:13) or a seat of special importance such as a “throne” (1Kg. 22:10).

The application of this word is not limited to the seats of a ruling monarch as in 1Kgs. 2:19; Neh. 3:7, etc., nor does it strictly refer to a seat with a high back and armrests, such as the ones seen in the palaces of African traditional rulers.

For we can see that Eli while at the gate of Shiloh fell backward from his throne (Kisse), indicating that there was no backrest. Evidently, the Bible shows clearly that all civilizations from time immemorial had thrones; e.g., the throne of Egypt (Gen. 41:40; Exo. 11:5), that of Assyria (Jonah 3:6), Babylon (Isa. 14:4, 13; Dan. 5:20) even that of Israel (1Kgs. 10:18-20; 2Chron. 9:17-19), etc., that were given a graphic description in the Bible.

So we find that scripturally speaking a ‘throne’ is, therefore, a seat of ruling authority (1Kgs. 2:12; 16:11) or the authority of a King and His sovereignty (Gen. 41:40; 1Chron. 17:14; Ps. 89:44), referring to a reigning government or royal administration (2Sam.14:9) or the sovereign control over a territory (2Sam. 3:10). Therefore, it is a position of honour as can be seen in 1Sam. 2:7-8; 2Kgs. 25:28.

I herein quote 1Sam. 2:7-8, “The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; he bringeth low, and maketh up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifted up the beggar from the dung hill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit THE THRONE of Glory; for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s and He hath set the world upon them.”

So we find that there is a throne called the throne of Glory which the poor can be exalted to in God. We are, therefore, beginning to understand that when we are talking of the throne of God, we should not just have our minds fixed on an arm chair with a foot rest located somewhere up in the sky where God is seated at the center and Jesus Christ at His right hand, perhaps on a lower throne, with nobody at the left hand, or as the Church says, the Holy Ghost is at the left hand. Does that make sense?

Next will be “GOD’S THRONE.”

To be continued…