Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 14:3

"and they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, [even] they that had been purchased out of the earth." — Revelation 14:3 (ASV)

This “new song” should be related to the “new song” in 5:9, also sung by the angelic choirs. It is the song of redemption and vindication. What was seen in ch. 5 as secured for the redeemed by Christ’s death (i.e., that “they will reign on the earth” [v.10]) has now been realized on Mount Zion. In the one further reference to a song in Revelation, the redeemed “victors” sing “the song of Moses... and the song of the Lamb” (15:3), which may also relate to the new song of chs. 5 and 14 . This heavenly example of worship may help us understand and appreciate Paul’s references to songs inspired by the Spirit and sung in the first-century congregations (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Also instructive are the OT references to a “new song” (40:3; 96:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10). A new song, resulting from some mighty deed of God, comes from a fresh impulse of gratitude and joy in the heart. The angels sing a new song because now the victors themselves have become victorious. We are reminded again of the Passover motif (Exodus 15:1ff.).

While the angels sing, only the 144,000 can “learn” (GK 3443) the new song, for they alone of earth’s inhabitants have experienced God’s mighty deed of victory over the beast through their ordeal of suffering and death. The word “learn” may also mean “hear deeply” in this context; in the Gospel of John, this word is used in the sense of a deep listening to divine revelation that results in learning . The 144,000 who were “redeemed” (GK 60) “from the earth” or “from among men” (v.4) must be the same as those “purchased” (GK 60) from all the earth’s peoples in 5:9 and those sealed in 7:4–8, who have washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb (7:14ff).