In my previous article [“Holy, Holy, Holy!”] I alluded to the 1960s movie about the love life of the classical piano music composer Franz Liszt, “Song Without End.”
Aficionados of great classical music claim that the excellent quality of classical music makes it “immortal” – music without end. Music that people enjoy decades, even centuries, after the composer has died.
But can any piece of music composed by man really survive until eternity? Revelation 4:8 describes a vision of angelic beings [seraphim] saying a praise to the Lord God Almighty, “Holy, Holy, Holy!” “without resting day and night.” The prolonged sound of the words may well turn out to be a song, one we might call “immortal” – “song without end.”
A great British poet said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Beautiful music is one such thing. And how it comes to be composed is a mystery of some sort. For a while, men thought that some spiritual “muse” or goddess of music inspired composers to create their music.
Exodus 31:1-11 records how God put wisdom in the hearts of all gifted artisans to design and execute works which God desired to be made for His tabernacle and later, His temple. Could God have put similar wisdom in the appointed singers and musicians in His temple (2 Chronicles 5:12-13)?
Let’s take the case of the time-honored oratorio “The Messiah,” made by German composer Georg Frederic Handel. The oratorio is of such an excellent quality that choral groups all over the world perform it year after year. The appeal is not only due to the majestic music but also the lyrics. Someone remarked that it must have taken God’s Spirit to inspire the lyricist to put together the passages of the Holy Bible that pertain to the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Could it be possible that God would preserve this oratorio for all eternity – to be enjoyed by the divine family of God forever?
What about the other great oratorios – Felix Mendelssohn’s “The Elijah” and “Saint Paul,” and Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Saint Matthew’s Passion?”
Whatever the truth may be, one thing is for sure: God’s word abides forever (Isaiah 40:6-8; 1 Peter 1:25). And, being a part of God’s word, the Book of Psalms – songs of praise to the LORD God Almighty – will surely remain and endure forever. When their composers — Israel’s King David and the temple choirmasters – are resurrected, they can show us how these psalms or songs were sung originally. Wouldn’t it be exciting to hear these magnificent “oldies?”
God will also inspire new songs to be sung in His praise, as He did when He laid the foundation of the earth and “the morning stars [symbolic of angels, Revelation 1:20] sang together, and all the sons of God [angels individually created but not begotten, Hebrews 1:4-6] shouted for joy” (Job 38:4-7). A joyous or joyful sound, a shout– even “noise!” (Psalms 66:1; 81:1;1-2; 98:4-5; 100:1, KJV) – is often musical, a form of song.
Revelation 14:3 says that the redeemed 144,000 of the twelve tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:3-6) will sing a “new song” before the [Father’s] throne, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders.
Isaiah 35:10 says, “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” This verse, in part, must have inspired the song [for Tenor] “Then Shall the Righteous Shine Forth” in Mendelssohn’s “The Elijah.”
Many in the Book of Psalms, in fact, has God commanding, or His people/creation vowing, to sing to Him or about Him songs, new and old, for who He is and what He has done. See: Psalms 31, 66-69, 71, 84, 89, 92, 95-96, 98, 100, 105-106, 138, 147, and 149.
This does not mean that the immortal children of God will have nothing to do for all eternity but sing God’s praises. There will be much work to do in order to finish the “project” of beautifying the whole vast universe – God’s plan to “plant the heavens” (Isaiah 51:16) – when God will “make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). But because of the “everlasting joy” in the minds and hearts of God’s divine family, there will always be divine music for all to enjoy. One goal people strive for is to make working so enjoyable that it would look and feel not like a task or chore but like playing or having fun! “Whistle While You Work” is a song that may well say it.
What a joyful future awaits in God’s everlasting kingdom, where there are “pleasures forevermore” in God’s right hand (Psalm 16:11)!
Pedro R. Meléndez, Jr.
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