If everyone could turn to Psalm 49, I am going to read the first few verses, starting with the inscription, which is the Word of God. I noticed a lot of times that when people are reading, they do tend to skip over the inscription of the Psalms, but that is just as much a part of the Word of God as the rest of the Psalm. It says in Psalm 49:1-4:
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: Both low and high, rich and poor, together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
I will stop reading there.
I intended to go into Psalm 49. Maybe sometime in the future we will because it is a very important Psalm for what we are learning today about God’s judgment process and what happens to man when he is judged by God and His Word. Like I always want to do when studying, I take a look at all of the verses, but I do not know how much further we are going to get than the first few verses today. We will start with the inscription:
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah…
This sounds very familiar, does it not?
To the chief Musician…
How many times have we read that in the Psalms? How many Psalms are addressed “To the chief Musician”? I counted them. There are 55 out of the 150, so over one third of the Psalms are addressed “To the chief Musician.”
It is interesting that this opening, this inscription, is found so often in the Psalms. Of course, we naturally wonder who the “chief Musician” is and why God is making such a special point and emphasis of saying that this Psalm is “To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.”
I do not think that it takes much thought on our part to realize that God Himself is the Chief Musician, that the Lord God, Jehovah, He is the Chief Musician, and the Psalms are His songs. They are the songbook of the Bible, the hymnbook of the Bible, some people say.
Some people think that Christians should only sing Psalms, exclusive to everything else, that we should really not sing hymns or spiritual songs but just the Psalms. Of course, you cannot go wrong with singing the Psalms because they are the Word of God, but God does tell us in Ephesians 5:19:
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
So there is more than Psalms. There are spiritual songs. There are hymns. Of course, there is nothing wrong with taking Isaiah 53 and putting it to music, as I have heard done. Actually, it is wonderful and beautiful. A great way of memorizing Scripture is putting it to song, which you can do with any part of the Bible, and that would be a spiritual song.
There is also nothing wrong with taking Scripture and finding the teaching of that Scripture and then making it into a hymn, like “Amazing Grace” or “O Come All Ye Faithful” or “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” like all of these beautiful Christmas hymns that we hear this time of year.
I am a great lover of Gospel music. I am not a very good musician. Actually, I am no kind of a musician. I do not know music very well at all. I personally cannot play any musical instrument, but I do love music and I love the music of God’s Kingdom. There is very much a place for the music of God.
There are times when you have read the Bible and you have prayed and your spirits are still kind of cast down and then, all of a sudden, you hear a song on Family Radio, you hear a beautiful hymn, a beautiful Christmas hymn, like “How Should A King Come?”. I love that song at this time of year. It points out how earthly kings would come, with pomp and circumstance and with great glory, and then how our King came, in a very humble way.
I am a lover of music. It can lift my spirits at times, and I think that God has designed His music to do that. There is no music—and I do not care what other area or type, whether it is Rock ‘N Roll or Jazz or Easy Listening or Heavy Metal, whatever other music—there is no music that is anything like the music of God’s Kingdom. The music that is derived and comes from the Bible is the most beautiful and glorious music that there is. I do not think that there is any comparison. The music of the Kingdom of God is supreme. It is supreme.
Sometimes you just hear a song and it is so beautiful and you know that it is so beautiful because it is not focused on man, it is not man-centered, it is not trying to glorify man; it is glorifying God. That is what makes it so beautiful, because what we were designed to do as people is to glorify God.
So this is “To the chief Musician,” and the word “chief Musician” is one Hebrew word. It is also translated as “set forward” in Ezra 3. In Ezra 3, the Hebrew word that is translated in 55 of the Psalms as “chief Musician” is found in Ezra 3:8-9. It says:
Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of JEHOVAH.
“To set (forward)” is the same word as “chief Musician.”
Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites.
So these men, the Levites, were basically given authority and were in charge of orchestrating the work of the house of God, “You men go over here and work on that, and you men go over there and work on that other thing.” They were setting forward the work.
It is also found as “oversee,” which I think gives us a better understanding of what the word means. In 2 Chronicles 2, I will read the first couple of verses. 2 Chronicles 2:1-2:
And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of JEHOVAH, and an house for his kingdom. And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.
That is the word “chief Musician.” As soon as I read that, I got a good understanding of what it means.
The “chief Musician” is the overseer of the music, just like people who are conductors in orchestras, and that is a very good picture as to what this idea of the “chief Musician” is. He is the conductor, the one who has the stick.
I do not know what that stick is called; that is how much music I know. Does anyone know? I do not. I was asking a few people. Okay, it is called a baton.
So the conductor is the one who has the baton of the Boston Pops or the Philadelphia Orchestra or these other orchestras that have dozens of members. They have all kinds of people who are a part of the symphony and the orchestra and they all play separate roles and parts. It is the conductor, or the maestro, who, with his baton, designates that it is this group’s turn to enter into the music and then it is that person’s turn to take their queue and then the other person’s, and all of it blends together in harmony and it is harmonious. It is very harmonious music. It is so beautiful. You can sit there and your mind is taken away because of the beauty of the music, when everything is jiving. When everything is fitting together, then it is really beautiful, like Handel’s “Messiah.” It is the conductor who must indicate when all of the players of the music, all of the ones with the different instruments, have their time. When it is their role, they enter in, and the conductor is the one who makes sure that everyone is on the same page.
That is what the conductor does, and, you know, in trying to learn about him a little bit, it is interesting how many people had the same idea that I had. I thought that he was just somebody up there waving a stick around. But, no, he does much more, much more. Without him, you would not have the piece played in the manner that it is played. He is the one who interprets the music. For example, he has Handel’s “Messiah” and he has a certain idea as to how he wants it to be played. He must interpret it and convey that interpretation to all the musicians so that everyone is on the same page. So that is the chief musician, and that is what is really being stated in Psalm 49’s inscription and in many of the Psalms, which is that God is the “chief Musician.”
Well, if God is the “chief Musician” and we can see how He does orchestrate all things, that everything is under His control, what is the music? Well, let us go to Psalm 119:54, which says:
Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
Psalm 119 is a Psalm that uses many different words to indicate that it is the Word of God. It uses synonyms such as “judgments,” “law,” “statues,” “the Word,” and they are referring to the Bible. Here, God’s Word has been the Psalmist’s, who is writing under the inspiration of God, songs. They have been his songs in the house of his pilgrimage; that is, as he has been traveling in this world, it is the Word of God itself that is a song in his heart, which is really saying that this is what gives him joy and rejoices his heart and comforts his heart. That is what music does and it is related to the Word of God.
Going back to the idea of the conductor and the chief musician who has to orchestrate all things, we see that the music in view or the song is the Word of God, and what does that make us think of? Remember the verse in 2 Peter 1, towards the end, “that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.”
It is kind of like that verse is saying that if there is an orchestra and there is a Chief Musician in front of the orchestra and people come to the Bible because this is the song, this is the music, yet they start saying, “Well, this is what the Bible says; this is my understanding of what this Scripture says; this is how I see this passage,” then they are not waiting on the conductor. They are not under the authority of the One who is in charge of the whole orchestra. It is like they just want to take the whole show to themselves, so they blow their trumpet all alone without any designation. They were not keyed in, so they did not receive a queue that it is their time to play.
That is exactly what is going on in the church today. It is like we have numerous musicians who are all playing their own beat and their own song, and what does the world hear? What do they hear? Do they hear a beautiful symphony? Do they hear something that they just stand amazed at because it is so harmonious and beautiful?
No, it is an ugly noise. It is an ugly noise. It is all off-key. It is all out of rhythm. There is no proper tempo. It is a mess. It is a huge mess.
So the song is the Song of Songs. There is no song like this. This is the greatest of all songs. There is nothing wrong with the music itself. It is absolutely the best music that there possibly could be, but the musicians are not placing themselves under the authority of the Conductor, of God Himself, and yet God tells us that when we come to the Bible, when we want to understand the Bible, we have to compare spiritual things with spiritual things, here a little, there a little, and then make sure that our conclusions mesh. Like the pieces of a puzzle or like music, it has to flow together perfectly. That is how we are to come to the Bible. That is how we are to study the Scriptures, and then there is glory given to God.
Well, let us go back to Psalm 49:1:
…Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
The Bible is for everyone. The Bible is for every person in all the world. God wrote it. It is His communication to mankind. Nobody is excepted. It is for every individual, and the next verse emphasizes that. Psalm 49:2 emphasizes that and makes that point:
Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
There is no respect of persons. There is not one person so high above in this world, in this life, because he has so much money or power or authority, who does not need the Gospel. The Bible is for every human being, every individual, and the contrary is true, that nobody is so low, a peasant or a beggar in the world, who, likewise, does not need the Gospel. It is for everyone.
When we are standing on a street corner and we have tracts in our hand, isn’t it true that sometimes it is a lot easier to give the tract to the guy who is looking through the trash for a little food or something to get out of the trash can—he wanders by, “Here, would you like a tract?”—rather than the individual who is walking by in the nice suit or the beautiful young woman in the expensive dress?
As far as our perspective, it sure is easier to give it to the one who really looks like they need it, whereas, we know that these other people, maybe, are not going to think that they need it. Of course, that is our mind that is thinking that. They might be in the right spot where God would have them be to accept and to take that tract and to read it, but God says, and this is His viewpoint and it should be ours, that no one is too high or too low to be a recipient of the Gospel, to receive the Word of God. It is for everyone, every single human being.
It goes on to say in verse 3, Psalm 49:3:
My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.
That is very similar to Proverbs 1, in the first several verses. Proverbs 1:1-6 says:
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
Psalm 49:3 fits in with that passage and so does Psalm 49:4:
I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
The “dark saying upon the harp,” what is that referring to? Well, it is very much saying the same thing as the first part of Psalm 49:4 where it mentions a parable:
I will incline mine ear to a parable…
The “dark saying” is a parable. “Dark saying” is translated many times as “riddle.” Do you remember when Sampson put forth a riddle in the book of Judges? That is the word “dark saying.”
It is very appropriate, and I kind of like this compared to the word “parable,” because this is actually explaining more of what a parable is. It is a “dark saying.” It is something that is shrouded. It is concealed. It is hidden. It is a little bit in darkness. It is something that you cannot see very clearly, and that is how God wrote the Bible. That is the Scriptures. The Word of God is like a “dark saying.”
Some people think that the Bible is simple. You always hear about the easy plan of salvation—steps 1, 2, and 3—but that is not true and that is not the Bible. The Bible is a very complicated and difficult Book. Even in the matters of salvation, people think that it is so simple, normally. But, hopefully, they will find out that, no, it is much more complicated than that. You can not just accept Christ and take Him to yourself and become saved. That is not possible. God has to do the saving. He has to be the One who gives us the gift of salvation, and He will only do that for His elect people.
So here, it is a “dark saying” that is being opened “upon the harp,” and that is kind of unusual. Why the harp? The harp is a musical instrument. Why is a “dark saying” being opened “upon the harp”?
If we go to 1 Chronicles 25, I think that we will find a little bit more information about this. In 1 Chronicles 25:1, it says:
Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps…
To prophesy means to declare the Word of God. All believers, in one sense, are prophets because we are commanded by God to declare His Word.
Now, in the days when the Bible was being compiled, a prophet would be an individual who would receive revelation from God and he would prophesy; he would declare that. But once the Bible was completed, well, there is no longer anyone receiving revelation from God. But still, we are declaring what the Bible says. We are prophesying in that sense.
Here, the sons of these three men, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, would prophesy with harps, and it is interesting what these three men are named. Asaph wrote how many Psalms? This is another quiz question. How many Psalms did Asaph write? He wrote twelve Psalms. Heman wrote one Psalm, and Jeduthun is mentioned in three Psalms but he is not given any credit. I say that Asaph wrote it or Heman wrote, but we, of course, know that God wrote it because all Scripture is given by His inspiration. But these three men are mentioned several times in the Psalms.
It is also interesting, if you go 1 Chronicles 25:5, where it says:
All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer…
He was one of those three men who were listed in the first verse. It says that he was the king’s seer and that word “seer” is translated as “prophet” once or twice.
Or go to 2 Chronicles 29:30:
Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto JEHOVAH with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer…
And go to 2 Chronicles 35:15:
And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer…
Each one of them, in individual passages, is called “the king’s seer,” and a seer is a prophet who declares the Word of God, and their sons were to prophesy upon harps. God is using a picture, but, still, He is indicating that these men, when they played their music, it would be like declaring the Word of God. It would be as if they were speaking the Word of God. That is what it means to prophesy and to be a seer.
Do you remember King David? He played what instrument? He played the harp. Who did he play for? He played for King Saul. What would happen when David would play the harp for King Saul? Saul was troubled by evil spirits and when David played the harp, he mellowed out, we could say. David got called and the evil spirit would leave Saul, and, really, the picture there is that when the Word of God comes, the Word brings peace and it is able to drive out evil sprits.
There are a few more spiritual teachings there, but God refers to the harp in many places in the Bible. If we go to the book of Revelation, it says in 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…
All twenty-four elders, and why are there twenty-four elders? There were twelve tribes of Israel and there were twelve apostles. So it is basically indicating that these twenty-four elders represent the totality of believers, from the Old Testament and the New Testament, and they all have harps; they possess harps.
If we go to Revelation 14, it is speaking of the 144,000 thousand, which are the firstfruits unto God who typify all of those people saved during the Church Age, from the Cross and up until 1988 when the Church Age came to an end. It says in Revelation 14:2-3:
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: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
The believers from the New Testament Church Age were seen in Heaven, in this little glimpse that we are given of them, in the eternal Kingdom of God in Heaven, and they are “harping with their harps.”
That is why we have that silly picture of man’s idea of what Heaven is, which is people floating around on a cloud playing a harpsichord. They get some of that from the Bible, but that is not what people are going to be doing in Heaven. That is man’s idea of Heaven, a lazy man’s paradise: just kind of float around doing nothing forevermore.
No, we are going to be busy in Heaven. We will be occupied with doing God’s business and rejoicing and greatly thrilled that we are occupied, and we will love our work. Whatever it is, we are going to love it and it is going to be perfectly satisfying, but it is not going to be lounging around like we are on an ocean liner, on a cruise ship, taking a vacation into eternity. That is not going to happen. I think that we can be sure of that.
When we read the Bible, God is a God of work. He is always working. He is always doing something and so will His people. Here, these saved people are in Heaven, harping with their harps.
Turn to the next chapter, to Revelation 15. In the first few verses here, this is describing the great multitude that comes out of Great Tribulation, including you and me or anyone who is saved. This is what all those whom God is saving during these days will be seen doing in Heaven. Revelation 15:1-2:
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. 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…
When do we get the victory? When is the victory over death won? When is the last enemy put under Christ’s feet? May 21, 2011.
So the victory is won. God takes up His people into Heaven, and then it goes on in the latter part of verse 2, where these who got the victory, we read in Revelation 15:2-3:
…stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb…
We sing the song all the way through this life, “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage,” and then we are taken up into Heaven and we are singing the same song.
Now, this group of believers are not just singing the Song of the Lamb, they are also singing the Song of Moses, because the Song of Moses, if you read it in the book of Deuteronomy, has to do with God’s judgment on His rebellious people.
So we are singing the Song of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we have been redeemed, and we are also including in that all of the information that God has opened up regarding the end-time judgment on the church and all of these other things that we are learning. They are all part of the Song, and when someone becomes saved, they immediately begin to sing. They may not be able to sing very well out of the hymnbook, and I am sure that there are some people who will vouch for that for you. You may not be able to sing, like me, very well, or play any kind of musical instrument, physically, or in this world, but, however, you are signing, if you are a child of God, the moment you become saved.
If we go back to Psalm 40, which is a Psalm that is addressed “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David,” we read in Psalm 40:1-3:
I waited patiently for JEHOVAH; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock…
That is the Lord Jesus when we become saved.
…and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in JEHOVAH.
You see, God has saved a person. He has saved that person and that person was just like anyone else in the world, except they happened to be one of God’s elect. They were just as sinful as anyone else and no better than anyone else. But God, for His own purposes, according to His own good pleasure, saved that person. He immediately gives them a new song, and their minds are going to change. They are going to begin thinking and speaking differently than the people around them in the world because they are different now. They have been bought. They have been purchased and redeemed and given a new heart and a new spirit, and God is going to begin developing their minds to pattern them after His own and they are going to begin having a different understanding of what the world is about and how they operate in the world and how they go about their business in the world and they are going to also share with others the Gospel that has saved them.
For instance, in Luke 8, we read of the man who was possessed with a legion of devils. Christ cast them out, and says in Luke 8:38-39:
Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.
So he is singing the Song. He is declaring that he has become saved.
We will see this even clearer in Acts 3 with the lame man who is sitting at the “Beautiful gate of the temple.” It says in Acts 3:2-9:
And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
Just as we read in Psalm 40, that God will put a new song within us and many shall see and fear. So others are going to hear the Gospel through the individual whom God has saved and given His Song, which is the Gospel message, to share with them.
This is one of the ways in which God views His Word, as a Song. Looking at this idea, there is one other place, Isaiah 35:3-6. It says:
Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
Do you see what God is saying? He is going to come and save you. After He saves you, well, it is like the lame man who begins to leap, or the dumb man, which is someone who could not speak, begins to sing, singing the beautiful “songs of Zion.” The glorious notes of the Scripture, the Gospel of salvation, they are going to bring to the world.
So this is the good news, the glad tidings that God has brought when Jesus provided salvation for His people, but there is also a warning attached with this. In Ezekiel 26:13, it says:
And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
This is referring, first of all, to the church, to the churches and congregations of the world. There is no harping going on in church. Yes, they have Bibles and they have preachers and they have elders teaching the Bible, but there is no blessing of God upon it so no one is becoming saved. God has basically ended that Song within the church.
He also tells us this in Revelation 18:22, where He is speaking of Babylon being thrown down. It says:
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
You see, God has started with the church, judgment has begun there, but on May 21st, He is going to expand His judgment to cover the whole world for that 5-month period. When the Gospel Light is removed, it is like the music is gone. There are no trumpeters, there are no harpers, there are no singers, and there is no salvation of any kind that is taking place.
Well, I say there is no music, but actually there is. There is still music at that time. If we go to Isaiah 23, speaking of the ships of Tarshish, which represent the churches, it says in Isaiah 23:15:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king…
Tyre is a picture of whom? Anybody? The church. The congregations. And it is forgotten 70 years. What is 70 years tied into? What does God use 70 years in the Bible to represent? The Great Tribulation. It is typified by the famine in Joseph’s day of 7 years. It is also typified by the 70-year period, from 609 B.C. until 539 B.C., when God brought the enemies of Judah upon them until they were freed by Cyrus and the Medes and the Persians.
So they were forgotten, and to be forgotten means that there is no mercy. In the Psalms, it says, “How long wilt Thou forget me, O LORD?,” and it ties that in with God not showing mercy, and there is no mercy in the churches at this time for the period of Great Tribulation, which, actually, is 23 years, but it is typified by the 70 years.
It goes on to say, though, in Isaiah 23:15:
…after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
For individuals who have studied the Bible, they see that the 70 years represent the Great Tribulation, and this is after the 70 years. Is there a time after the Great Tribulation? Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall, and that is May 21st. The 8400 days of the tribulation ends on May 21st. I did not know this before, and I think that many of us did not know this, but there is a period of time of 5 months after the tribulation.
So, here, after the end of 70 years, after this period in which Tyre has been forgotten, she, or Tyre, will sing as a harlot. To sing means to bring the Gospel, as it says in verse 16, Isaiah 23:16:
Take an harp…
Prophecy upon thy harps, we have read. All believers, God spiritually paints them as having harps and playing them because we all bring the Gospel.
Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten…
That is those 70 years, the Great Tribulation.
…make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
To be forgotten means no mercy, and to be remembered would be for God to show mercy. I think that this is an indicator that after the Great Tribulation, what we have learned about the locusts in Revelation 9, that they are representing false teachers who are bringing a gospel to a doomed world for 5 months, is actually what is going to happen. They are going to sing many songs, but as a harlot. They will sing as a harlot, that they may be remembered, that there might be salvation, that people might still find God’s grace, even though God has said, “No, the door is shut,” and Christ is the Door. There is no more entry into Heaven. But here, these verses are verifying that this is going to happen during the 5-month period.
Okay. We will stop here. Lord willing, another time we will go back to Psalm 49 and maybe get further into this Psalm. Why don’t we close with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Your grace and Your mercy, and we thank You that today is the Day of Salvation, that You are still saving a great multitude of people, and, Father, we do ask that You would help us to trust You more. As the days go on, help us to live according to Your Word, in obedience to Your Word. We ask that You would give us these gifts, along with the gift of salvation, and we ask that You would be with us the rest of this day as we have lunch and fellowship. May everything we do be done in accordance with Your will, and we pray this in Christ’s Name. Amen.