The Universal Harmony

“And I looked, and, to, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty a?idfour thousand, having His Father’s 7iame written i?i their foreheads.... And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.” — Rev. xiv. 1-2.

The summing up of the universe is the revelation of harmony. It is not that the harmony comes at the end, but that the harmony is revealed at the end. The universe is all music, but it is not all music to our ear. We only hear a few chords, and they are minor chords. The minor chords seem discords when they stand alone; they want the full symphony to bring out their symmetry. Often art thou crying out that thou art living in a world of discords. Thou art living in a world of perfect music, only thou hearest but a small portion of the music. Often art thou saying that the coming melody shall atone for the jarring chords. Nay; say rather that the jarring chords themselves shall be revealed as parts of the completed harmony. The melody is not to come, it has come already; it has only to be completed to be revealed, and then the harpers shall stand upon the glassy sea.

My soul, bethink thee, what was that which to the Seer of Patmos made the harmony complete? It was the vision of a vast multitude surrounding with their praises the Lamb of sacrifice. There was a time when, to that multitude, the spectacle of sacrifice would have brought discord to the heart; in the completed harmony it brings joy. The sweetest music to the heart of thy God is the ripeness of thy soul for sacrifice, the moment when thou art able to say, “I am now ready to be offered.” At such a moment all the sorrows of life are justified, sanctified. The minor chords get a meaning and receive a vindication when the harpers stand around Mount Zion in praise of the sacrificial Lamb. Knowest thou not that this was from the outset the goal of thy being — to be made perfect through suffering? It was for this that thy first innocence was clouded. It was for this that thy first joy was dimmed. It was for this that thy first hope was shaken — that thou -mightest reach Olivet by the steps of Calvary. The wilderness of the Son of Man is better than the garden of Adam. The morning stars sang together over thine untried nature; but there awaits thee a yet grander music — when the harps of God shall proclaim that thou hast conquered through the Cross.