Revelation 15:2

And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God.

As it were a sea of glass mingled with fire ... Rist and a number of others believe that there is an indirect reference here to the Red Sea,[15] through which God delivered the first Israel from the wrath of Pharaoh; and the typology certainly fits, but Beckwith declared such an interpretation as "purely fanciful."[16] Perhaps it is best to view it as "symbolizing the majesty and holiness of God,"[17] as in Revelation 4:6. The group here assembled is clearly the host of the redeemed from earth, as in a number of similar visions throughout the prophecy. As for the glass sea, Lenski was sure that, "It is the same as that in Revelation 4:6."[18]

Having harps of God ... "These are symbolical of heavenly melodies."[19] "The harps are a symbol of their victory ... of praise and worship to God."[20] We prefer the view that sees the harps as symbols of the songs of the saints, especially of that song which this company was about to sing (Revelation 15:3). It is nothing short of phenomenal that a whole group of commentators go hog wild on this verse and find nothing at all in it except literal harps. Even Lenski identified them as "zithers of God on which to play the music of the glory song!"[21] Beasley-Murray saw "harps for the worship of God."[22] "They are holding the harps that God had given them."[23] Earle was certain that "these harpists sing as well as play."[24] Such literalisms are absolutely preposterous. As Pieters said:

Literalism is here hopeless. How could one put the wrath of God in a bowl and pour it on the sun?[25]

Actual harps in heaven? Who could believe such a thing? Is there also a department of cats to supply the cat gut strings? Ridiculous! Note that God "gave" these harps to the singers. What else could this be except the voices which were created by God? In the entire history of the world up to this time, that is the only musical instrument which God ever made; and we refuse to believe that he will enter into the manufacture of mechanical instruments of music in heaven. In Revelation 8:4, the "incense" is the prayers of the saints; here the "harps" are the songs of the redeemed, as the very next verse says. To literalize "harps" here, and then to declare that this constitutes divine approval of mechanical instruments in Christian worship, is just as unreasonable as it would be to declare the "incense" of Revelation 8:4 to be literal and as divine approval of the burning of sacred incense in Christian worship. We dare to affirm that not a single one of the exegetes who did this to the harps would dare to follow their own reasoning and apply it to the incense. How strange it is that the same scholars who have no trouble at all seeing the symbolical nature of these visions in the instance of the incense, lose all rationality when they come to the "harps."

[15] Martin Rist, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. XII (New York-Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 478.

[16] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 674.

[17] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 235.

[18] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 455.

[19] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 383.

[20] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 204.

[21] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 456.

[22] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 235.

[23] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 197.

[24] Ralph Earle, op. cit., p. 585.

[25] Albertus Pieters, op. cit., p. 243.