Revelation 14:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Verses 2-3. The sound of many waters, of thunder, and of those playing on harps indicates the sonority and clarity of the saints' hymns. It also indicates the order, beauty, and harmony of their song, which resounds through the whole Church and the assembly of the firstborn written in heaven. Like the harmony of strings, it agrees with the saints' unanimity in putting bodily passions to death. No one can learn this song except them. For our knowledge itself conforms to the character of our life, just as among human servants the knowledge of their masters' secrets corresponds to the masters' disposition and love toward them.

That the sound came as though from those playing on harps indicates the divine sweetness and harmony of the song. For if praise is unpleasant in the mouth of a sinner (Sir 16:9), according to the word of Scripture, then it is certainly pleasant and fitting in the mouth of the righteous.

Loud is the voice of the saints. Great is the reverence of love that John says he heard from heaven, while those who uttered it stood on Mount Zion.

By Mount Zion he means nothing other than the Church. Encouraged by contemplation of the things above to overcome heavy persecutions, she celebrates the sufferings of her King, equally praising Him and imitating Him.

This is truly what it means to sing to the Lamb standing on Mount Zion. All the saints are God's harpists. By crucifying their flesh with its passions and desires, they praise Him on psaltery and harp.

"The voice of many waters and of thunder, of those playing on harps," says Andrew of Caesarea, "shows the sonority of the saints' hymnody, and the sweetness and order of their song, which resounds through the whole Church of the firstborn written in heaven."

What, then, was this singing of the 144,000 who surrounded the Lamb? The seer distinguishes two properties of this wondrous singing: its power and its attractiveness. On the one hand, the singing was like the sound of many waters or the sound of mighty thunder. At the same time it was extraordinarily pleasant, like the voice of harpists playing on their harps.