The word “song” is a word that would be familiar to us. It is a word in the Greek language that’s familiar to us in the English language. It’s spelled the same as our word that we pronounce “ode,” but pronounced a little differently in the Greek, with the accent on the “de,” sounding like “oday.” This word in the original language, “ode,” is used and occurs in the New Testament only when it is referring to praise to God and to Christ: Ephesians 5:19: “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…”; Colossians 3:16: “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”; here in Revelation, chapter 5, twice, and then again in chapter 15, twice. Those are the only times when this Greek word is used, and, again, it is specifically in regard to, specifically in reference to, praise, the praise of God and of His Son Jesus Christ.

This “new song” praises the Lamb for His worthiness through sacrifice. Through this sacrifice, He is worthy to take the scroll from the right had of God, the scroll which is God’s eternal purpose. He is worthy not only to take the scroll and to open it, but also to open the seals, to make known what is contained therein, AND to carry it out (perform and complete).

Though He is worthy, though He is given honor and praise on this occasion, we see that this perfect and all-sufficient Lamb had, through what He had accomplished already, purchased men with His blood. That’s part of what is being sung here in the “new song.” Depending on your translation, it may say “purchased”; it may say “redeemed”; it may also have the word “ransomed.” Verse 9: “For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood….” This concept, “to purchase,” “to redeem,” “to ransom,” comes from a Greek word which is derived from another Greek word for the ancient market place in Grecian communities—a place where things were purchased. The word that’s used in the Greek that says that “He purchased [redeemed]” is that same word. It had to do with a transaction that took place in the marked place. There was something, usually money or other goods that was exchanged for something else. That is what is being said in the “new song” here, that the Lamb has “purchased [“redeemed”] us.” What is the purchase price? It is His blood.

Paul uses this same word, this same concept, when he speaks in 1 Corinthians 6, and verse 20 and again in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 23, saying that we have been “bought with a price,” indicating those who have come into contact with the blood of Christ, those who have had their sins forgiven, those who have been “redeemed.” That word “redeemed,” of course, means “to buy back, to purchase again.” [1 Corinthians 6:20: “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 7:23: “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”]

Peter also uses this same word, this same concept, when he writes concerning false prophets, those who deny “the Lord Who bought them”, 2 Peter 2, and verse 1. [2 Peter 2:1: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord Who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”]

Being purchased by His blood is the equivalent of His washing us from our sins by His blood. Remember, that is one of the descriptions we saw in Revelation, chapter 1, and verse 5. Of those several descriptions there describing the Lord, one of those descriptions is the “One Who washed us with His blood.” [Revelation 1:5: “and from Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him Who loved us and washed us from our sins in His Own blood….”]

These ones purchased unto God were representative of all peoples, being fromevery tribe, every clan, or company united by kinship, and every tongue. [Revelation 5:9: “…You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation….”] This is a fulfillment, actually, a carrying-out, of what the prophet Daniel had said in the long ago, Daniel 7, verses 13 and following. Let’s read that—there are many passages in Daniel that we see are referred to, or we see the fulfillment of, in the New Testament, and often, reference is made in the book of Revelation. Daniel 7:13-14: “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.”

Again, the “new song” is praising Him, because what He has done, what He has accomplished, reaches across the boundaries of nationality, and of language, and of race. It is inclusive—it takes in people of every stripe [people of every kind; people of every sort]. So this is, in part, the “new song” that is being sung.

Verse 10: “And have made us priests and kings to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.” Since those who have been purchased, those who have been bought, with Christ’s blood were purchased unto God, that is, FOR Him, they now, therefore, belong TO Him. Because those belonging to Him, who have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb, were made kings and priests to our God, it follows that these are now the kingdom of God.