These 6 passages exhaust the list of explicit references to the church’s music in the first 21 apostolic letters. (Other passages may imply or allude to singing. Some poetic passages appear to be songs of the early church. Heaven’s music is reserved for Revelation, to be considered soon.)
Are you surprised? If this seems astounding, it is also intriguing. Is this part of the Master’s mystery for those with ears to hear? If we listen for our own musical choices, we may miss Christ’s choice. Listening with human ears, we may not discern the new, divinely-heard music.
Again, at this point in the heavenly recital, we may act like an audience that thinks the listening is over. We may jump in with various theories:
- “Poor Christians could not afford instruments.”
- “They used them, but just failed to mention them.”
- “Being persecuted, they were scared to make noise.”
Again, we would be foolish to speculate about things we cannot know. What we can know is that various types of music continue in everyday life. Gongs and cymbals still clang (1 Corinthians 13:1). Harps and flutes still play tunes (1 Corinthians 14:7). Bugles still call to battle (1 Corinthians 14:8). Revelation 18 portrays music as a part of ordinary life, much like crafts and the grinding of grain— activities that end when a city falls.
So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more. (Revelation 18:21-22)