Revelation 5:8

Revelation 5:8: “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.”

One of the important keys of interpretation is that the Bible defines the symbols that it uses. As we can see here, incense is symbolic of prayer. Therefore, when you are reading the Bible and come across a passage that uses incense in a symbolic way, you can know that it stands for prayer. That is how symbol interpretation works.

Did you notice that the verse mentions harps? I was a bit surprised to see that. As it turns out, though, the book of Revelation mentions harps a number of times:

Revelation 14:2: “And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:”

Revelation 15:2: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”

I always thought it was a bit silly to imagine that people in Heaven had harps, but I see I was mistaken. The people who have the harps are the 24 elders, and the elders are symbolic of the Church – so in Heaven it does look like we will have harps. (I’ve actually never played a harp before, but it seems that harp playing may be in my future.) Since the verse explains the symbolism of the incense but does not say anything about the harps, that probably means that the harps aren’t symbolic and are actually real.

Now, I still think that the common picture of Heaven is wrong. We are not going to spend eternity sitting on a cloud, holding a harp and wishing we had something to do. The book of Revelation makes it quite clear that no one who is standing in the presence of God is bored. In fact, the response to being in God’s presence seems to be awe, worship, and praise. Greatness invites praise, and being around the greatness of God creates an urge to praise Him that simply cannot – and should not – be suppressed.