What Does the Bible Say About Music in Heaven? (Answered from Scripture)

Yes, the Bible describes music in heaven, and plenty of it. The book of Revelation shows harps, new songs and a choir from every nation, all singing to God and to Jesus, "the Lamb". The Old Testament adds angels crying "Holy, holy, holy" and stars singing at creation.

The Bible doesn't tell us what heaven's music sounds like. But it tells us a great deal about who sings, what they sing, and why.

Harps and a new song

The clearest picture comes in Revelation 5, when Jesus takes the scroll from the hand of God:

And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

— Revelation 5:8-9 (KJV)

Two things stand out. The music is played on real instruments: harps, the instrument David played (1 Samuel 16:23). And the song is new, because it celebrates something new: what Jesus did on the cross.

Harps appear twice more in Revelation. John hears "the voice of harpers harping with their harps" singing "as it were a new song before the throne" (Revelation 14:2-3). Later, the people who overcame the beast stand on a sea of glass, "having the harps of God" (Revelation 15:2).

A choir too big to count

The song in Revelation 5 keeps growing. First the elders sing, then the angels join in, then all creation:

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

— Revelation 5:11-12 (KJV)

Ten thousand times ten thousand is a hundred million, and then "thousands of thousands" more. John is telling us the number is beyond counting. By verse 13, "every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea" is singing too.

And heaven's choir is the most diverse ever assembled: people "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Revelation 5:9).

The songs of heaven

Revelation records the words of several of heaven's songs. A few of them:

• "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come", sung day and night by the four living creatures (Revelation 4:8). Isaiah heard the seraphim cry almost the same words centuries earlier (Isaiah 6:3).
• "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain", sung by the angels (Revelation 5:12).
• The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints" (Revelation 15:3). It echoes the song Moses and Israel sang after crossing the Red Sea in Exodus 15.
• "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth", sung by a great multitude whose voice sounds "as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings" (Revelation 19:6). Handel set these words in the "Hallelujah" chorus of Messiah.

Music from the very beginning

Heaven's music didn't start in Revelation. When God asks Job where he was at the creation of the world, He describes a celebration:

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

— Job 38:7 (KJV)

"Morning stars" and "sons of God" are usually understood here as angels. Creation began with a song, and the Bible ends with one.

Did the angels sing at Christmas?

Christmas carols say the angels sang to the shepherds, but Luke's wording is a little different:

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

— Luke 2:13-14 (KJV)

Luke says "praising" and "saying", not singing. The angels may well have sung, but the text doesn't tell us.

God Himself sings

Perhaps the most surprising verse about heavenly music isn't about angels at all. It's about God:

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

— Zephaniah 3:17 (KJV)

Heaven isn't only a place where we sing to God. It's the home of a God who sings over His people.

What this means for us now

Worship on earth is practice for heaven. Paul tells Christians to be "speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19). Every time a church sings, it joins a song that's already going on around God's throne.

Heaven's music is about Jesus. Every song in Revelation points to God and to the Lamb. That's a good test for the music we choose here, too. For more on that, read what the Bible says about secular music.

There will be a place for your voice. The choir in Revelation is made of people "redeemed… by thy blood". You don't need a trained voice to join it. You need to belong to the Lamb it sings about.