So in the middle of his message the preacher tossed out an aside, ‘Well, of course, angels don’t sing.’ I stopped in my tracks! Surely he knew his carols? I forgot the rest of his sermon, but like the Bereans in Acts 17, I couldn’t leave it alone.
First, I checked out the shepherds. The angels announce Jesus’ birth. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:13-14.
It says, ‘Saying…‘ Hmm. Then I checked all references I could find to angels. No songs. Until at last I caught him out in Revelation 5. Verse 12 says thousands of them, In a loud voice they sang:
Quickly check the Greek… ‘legontes.’ ‘Lego’ means ‘to say’. Same word in the next verse. The Greek word for sing is ‘ado’. For example in Revelation 15:3.
But surely John, there’s lots of other singing in the book of Revelation? Yes! The 24 elders sing (Rev 5:9), the saints sing (Rev 14:3 and 15:3). So there’s no reference anywhere to angels singing.
‘But I know several people say they’ve heard them singing.’ Yes, so have I! Until I realized it must be the saints singing. Not the angels.
Does this matter? Really? A thousand times, ‘Yes!’ Because the Lord loves worship, and he loves us to worship him in song. And if the angels cannot, then it is the unique privilege of the saints. We have been entrusted with a very special form of worship. No wonder the Lord tells us in Psalm 96:1, Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.