Its Prophecy Fulfilled: Hymn Bible Study

Speaker A 00:00:04 - 00:00:56 Hello, I'm Dr. Kylie Fisher. Welcome to Heavenly Harmonies. Just before he left earth to return to heaven, Jesus spoke one of his most precious promises to his troubled disciples. John 14:3 records how Jesus said, I will come again. This promise has inspired the hearts of all God's people Who count themselves as pilgrims and strangers on this earth. As we look around us today, we see everywhere signs that Jesus also foretold, showing that his coming is near. This promise and the earliest signs of its appearing are captured in our hymn for today, Jesus Is Coming Again. Stay with me to discover heavenly harmonies that will keep you near to the heart of God. Speaker B 00:00:56 - 00:01:00 Jesus is coming again. Speaker A 00:01:23 - 00:10:09 So this episode is actually the final episode For the season, the final episode for Historical Foundations of Present Truth. And so this episode brings us to the start of the time of the end, the time when the Second Coming of Christ becomes present truth. So we've read it before. We read it in previous season. But I want to read once again, 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, and verses 2 and 3, because these are really, really key and important verses. 2 Thessalonians 2:2-3, which says, Paul writing to the believers that were living in Thessalonica, he said, he said to them, don't be soon shaken in mind or be troubled, et cetera, et cetera, by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. So Paul is here saying he does not want the believers to think that the coming of Christ is at hand or that it's very close because Paul goes on to explain in verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. And so when Paul speaks about that man of sin, he's talking about the little horn power that's described in Daniel chapter 7, which had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And we have been looking at how this power ruled for 1,260 years. It was actually from 538 AD to 1798 AD. And so during this time, this was a terrible time of persecution for God's people. Very few people had access to the Bible. particularly at the beginning of that time. And those that did, you know, it was only written in scholarly languages, so very few people could actually understand the Bible. But it was preserved by people like the Waldenses. And then through the Reformation, this terrible persecution— and indeed, according to the words of Jesus, the terrible persecution was actually shortened as the Bible began to be restored to the people and its great truths began to be rediscovered. And we have focused particularly on how the truths that were discovered during this time were truths that related to the sanctuary. And so we have looked at different hymns, and we have seen how these different hymns reflect on truths from the sanctuary, although the hymns themselves Most of the time, they maybe use like sanctuary imagery and Bible verses that relate to the sanctuary. But most of them don't actually— well, like Love Divine or Love's Excelling, that used the word temple, although it was probably in a slightly different context. But most of these hymns don't actually use the word sanctuary. And, you know, when I was thinking about the truth that we rediscovered during this time and thinking about, you know, what hymns can I match to these truths because we need to learn these truths. We need to know these truths because as we've seen, the, the present truth for this time is Revelation, Chapter 14, and verses 6 to 12, which is the Three Angels' Messages. And a vital part of those Three Angels' Messages is the everlasting gospel, the everlasting gospel. And so there is history in it. That's why we need to understand these historical foundations of present truth and the sanctuary. We cannot understand the Three Angels' Messages if we do not understand the truths about the sanctuary. And what better way to understand them and to study them and to remember them than in song? And so that's what we've been trying to do, match up hymns to these truths about the sanctuary that were rediscovered during this time. Because there is new— because we're now living in a different time when actually Christ's work in the heavenly sanctuary— we've been speaking about this, but there has actually since, since these, since this time that we've been speaking about, there has been a change in the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. We need to understand that. But it's very hard for us to understand that if we don't understand these earlier truths that were discovered. So that's why this season is so important. historical foundations of present truth, giving us the foundation of the special truths that relate to our time. So let's just have a quick overview. Let's see if I can remember it. I have got some notes to help me. So Crown Him with Many Crowns, we saw that that hymn particularly relates to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It's got many images describing that, many sort of word pictures. in that hymn describing the crucifixion of Christ, particularly in the second verse, crowning the Lord of love. Behold His hands and side, and so forth. And so this, this reminds us of the altar of sacrifice that was in the courtyard of the sanctuary. And we also looked at, although we did these in a bit different order, but we also did look at Rejoice, the Lord is King. And that amazing hymn shows us that Christ is our High Priest in Heaven. And He's working amongst these, these different pieces of furniture that we've described, that we've described. And so, yeah, so He's, He's our High Priest up in Heaven. As it says in that hymn, when He had purged our stains, He took His seat above. And, you know, Jesus accomplished many things by His death, represented by the altar of sacrifice. And one of the most significant is recorded in Revelation 1:18, which says— well, let's just have a quick look at Revelation 1:18, which says, Jesus Himself speaking, I am he that liveth, and was dead, and, behold, am alive forevermore. Amen. I have the keys of hell and of death. So Jesus conquered the grave. By His death and by rising to life again, Jesus conquered the grave. And so that's also brought to view in this song, Rejoice, the Lord Is King, because it says, the keys of death and grave are to our Jesus given. So that hymn, Rejoice, the Lord Is King, such an amazing hymn by Charles Wesley. And it points to the fact that Jesus is our, is our King and He is our High Priest. He is interceding for us. in Heaven. And the work that Jesus is actually doing for us in the Heavenly Sanctuary is actually present truth. You know, we have spoken about present truth and the importance of present truth. And so, these were important and vital truths that the people of the days of Wycliffe, Luther, Tyndale, Wesley, Baxter, and these other reformers that we have looked at. These were truths that, that they rediscovered. They didn't understand fully everything about the sanctuary, but they came to understand these truths in a practical sense, even if they didn't fully understand about the sanctuary, though many of them wrote whole books about the sanctuary. It's a shame that we don't have time to look at them. I don't know, maybe we can do more programs about them. And so, we saw that we had Break Thou the Bread of Life, which is about the Word of God and how the Word of God is You know, the Bible is our spiritual food. And that's represented by that table of showbread in the heavenly sanctuary. And there's 2 altars, actually. We've spoken already about the altar of sacrifice. But there's also the altar of incense that represents prayer. And we saw that prayer was absolutely vital to the success of the Reformation. Luther spent hours every day in prayer. And, you know, Zwingli and other reformers. Speaker B 00:10:09 - 00:10:10 Yeah. Speaker A 00:10:10 - 00:11:05 They all had felt that heartfelt prayer was the secret, was a vital aspect of their spiritual experience. So, and that was in the hymn, Sitting at the Feet of Jesus. And then we also looked at Love Divine, All Loves Excelling. And this really shows us how the love of Christ leads us to be the light of the world, which is represented by that 7-branched candlestick. Fantastic. Okay, so those are the different songs and just a quick overview of how those songs reflect on and relate to the sanctuary truths. And we also did see in our program, the last episode, which was about My Jesus, I Love Thee, being the light of the world does not mean forcing our spiritual beliefs on others. But being the light of the world is about— Speaker B 00:11:05 - 00:11:05 Sharing. Speaker A 00:11:05 - 00:14:14 Sharing the joy that we have found in Christ, sharing that joy with others. And that's how we are the light of the world. But it also gives others the opportunity to make their own choice. And so there's, there's freedom of conscience. And our worship of God is not just a round of ceremonies, but it springs from a heart of love and devotion to Christ. Yeah. So those are the amazing truths that we've looked at. And these were truths that were rediscovered during the Reformation, which, yeah, through its influence, the persecution of those 1,260 years, it was a terrible, terrible time of persecution. But through the influence of the Reformation, that time was actually shortened. And so God's Word was preserved, and we can praise God about that. And so, this is what Paul is actually saying. If we think back to our verse in— verses in 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, and verses 2 and 3. So, Paul was actually saying that as these 1,260 years, which was the amount of time given to this persecuting power, as that time came to an end, God's people were to look for and to expect the soon return of Christ. It, as we've said so many times, it has been the hope. It has been the inspiration of God's people all through the ages. But it is to occur in the time of the end. And so exciting for us to be living in that time. Now let's have a look at what are God's people to do as they see this time drawing near? So as the people of God saw this time of 1798, the end of this persecuting power drawing near, what were they to do? And what are we still, you know, here on earth? What are we to do as we see the Day of Christ approaching? Luke chapter 21 and verse 28 says, Jesus Himself speaking. Luke 21:28. When these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. And so God's people are to rejoice. And living back in those days, you know, facing a terrible time of persecution, they could rejoice knowing that their redemption was not far away. And so this point is encapsulated in the opening verse of our hymn for this episode. And so let's see what it has to say about God's people, who, according to the command of Jesus, were to be watching for His return. And this song also speaks about other signs of Christ's return. So let's just go through the words of this hymn, first of all. And you'll notice that there's a lot of repeated words, or there's, there's some repeated words in this song. Speaker B 00:14:14 - 00:14:14 Yeah. Speaker A 00:14:14 - 00:20:43 A lot of repetition. Okay, so here we go. Jesus is coming again. Lift up the trumpet and loud let it ring. Jesus is coming again. Cheer up, ye pilgrims, be joyful and sing. Jesus is coming again. Coming again, coming again. Jesus is coming again. Echo it, hilltops. Proclaim it, ye plains. Jesus is coming again. Coming in glory, the Lamb that was slain. Jesus is coming again. Heavings of earth, tell the vast wandering throng. Jesus is coming again. Tempests and whirlwinds, the anthem prolong. Jesus is coming again. Nations are angry. By this we do know. Jesus is coming again. Knowledge increases. Men run to and fro. Jesus is coming again. Coming again. Coming again. Jesus is coming again. So this song has a lot of repetition of that key phrase, Jesus is coming again. And this is actually a great song. I've used this song many, many times in Children's Sabbath Schools, even very young children, because, you know, young children love the idea that Jesus is coming again. That's something that they can understand, and it's something they look forward to. They look forward to heaven. And this is because this song has a lot of repetition, something that the children can catch on to really, really quickly. This is a great song to use with very young children. But, you know, we don't have to be children to enjoy this song and for it to have a vital message for us. So as we've said, so let's, let's break down the verses of this song. So as we've said, verse 1 describes the joy of God's people as this long-awaited event draws near. So yeah, um, second line, cheer up, ye pilgrims, be joyful and sing. Yes, and I do want to point out as well, let's notice, um, a verse about the first line of this song, which says, lift up the trumpet. So let's notice Joel chapter 2 and verse 1. Joel chapter 2 and verse 1, this says, blow ye— And I hope to, so hopefully before too much longer, I'll be able to do more recordings for future seasons. Because even though we're, you know, there's a final episode for the season, but we're not at the end of the story yet. So we need to have more songs and more episodes to explore the key Bible truths that relate to our time. So we'll have more to say about the trumpet in those upcoming ones. But for the time being, this is the verse on which this first line of the song is based. Joel 2:1 says, Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, For it is nigh at hand. That's where this idea of lifting up the trumpet at the second coming of Jesus comes from. Okay, so, and the second line, as we've said, it describes the joy of God's people as this long-awaited event draws near. And now, so, but it's not only people that are to rejoice in the second coming of Christ and that the Bible speaks about as rejoicing in the second coming of Christ. And in fact, so verse two of this song brings out something else that rejoices in this. Echo it, hilltops! Proclaim it, ye plains! And and actually there's another verse in this song which is not in this hymnal. Let me see if I can remember it. I did read it this morning. Sound it, old ocean, in each mighty wave. Jesus is coming again. Break on the sands of the shores that ye lave. Jesus is coming again. So we've got the hilltops, we've got the plains, and we've got the ocean all proclaiming the second coming of Christ. Now the Bible describes in the Book of Psalms— there's other verses as well that we could look at, but we're going to look at Psalm 96 and verses 11 to 13. Psalm 96, verses 11 to 13. So we'll just pull that one up. There it is. Psalm 96, verses 11 to 13 describe the things in nature before the second coming of Christ. So verse 11 says, let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad. Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof. That's the old ocean. Let the field be joyful and all that is therein. Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord, for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with His truth. And so we see here, nature is rejoicing. It says, let the heavens rejoice. So our song talks about nature proclaiming it. The Bible speaks about nature actually rejoicing in it. Now, why? Is nature rejoicing in the Second Coming? Well, we have looked at this verse before. Romans, Chapter 8, which speaks about how the whole creation groans. It actually travails together in pain. Isaiah speaks about the earth waxing old like a garment. So, you know, the earth is getting, is getting worn out because of sin. And, you know, we're just, you know, look, this is not a promotion of like solar panels or anything like that. But, you know, we are not living the way that God intended for us to do. And it's really sad what things are happening to our world. And if we, you know, the more we live in harmony with God's Eden plan, the more that we can do actually, even despite the fact that the earth is waxing old like a garment, we can still do so much to care for the earth and to restore it to— Speaker B 00:20:43 - 00:20:44 Yeah. Speaker A 00:20:44 - 00:25:00 the original beauty that God intended for it to have. So the whole creation, you know, the whole earth is just mourning under the burden and under the weight of sin. And so with the Second Coming, the earth itself is just rejoicing at the thought of being, you know, freed from this curse of sin. And so, yeah, so nature is rejoicing. But let's go on to the question of, you know, how does nature rejoice and how does nature proclaim the soon return of Christ? Now, this is actually captured in the 3rd verse of this song. And so we've been noting that, you know, we noted those verses in 2 Thessalonians 2:2-3, which speaks about the coming of Christ occurring after this terrible time of persecution. So it was after 1798 that we had to look for the second coming of Christ, you know, this side of it. And so as that, as 1798, you know, that's like last episode, we were speaking about John and Charles Wesley living in the 1700s. So, you know, that, yeah, John Wesley was living almost to 1798. And so these are the time that we've been speaking about, the time that the people that we've been speaking about were living. And so as 1798 drew near, the time itself was actually an indication of return, of the nearness of Christ's return. But Jesus also— we don't have time to look at this in detail, but I'm just going to mention it. You know, Matthew chapter 24, Mark 13, Luke chapter 21. Jesus said there would be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars. He also said there would be signs upon the earth. And so some of these are captured In verse 3 of our song. So verse 3 says, heavings of earth, tell the vast wandering throng. So, you know, heavings of earth, that's clearly a really skillful use of language, and it's describing an earthquake. And it's done in a rhythm that fits the other stanzas of the poem. And so that points us to what happened in 1755 on the 1st of November, the Lisbon earthquake. And this was a specific earthquake that's prophesied in Revelation, that was spoken about in the words of Jesus, that was to occur at this specific time to indicate that the coming of Christ was not far away. So that was the first of the signs. And so that's, that's mentioned here in our song. So when I think of this, and, you know, there have been many earthquakes since then, there's increasing earthquakes, but that was a really, really key earthquake. Heavings of earth tell the vast wandering throng. Now, there was also, uh, May— I think it was 19— um, 1780, there was the Dark Day, and then that night the moon had the appearance of blood. And You know, there wasn't a verse about this in the song, and I felt that there should be. So I have done the best that I can and written a short new verse for this song to encapsulate these truths. And this is it: Darkness encloses the earth like a shroud. Jesus is coming again. Blood red, the moon can be seen through the cloud. Jesus Is coming again. And yeah, so, so to me, that's what that verse— that's what verse 3 reminds me of. And now I've got that extra verse. And so maybe that verse can help to remind you about the dark day and the blood-red moon. And then the last verse, nations are angry. By this we do know that Jesus is coming again. That's in Revelation. And knowledge increases, men run to and fro. That's in the book of Daniel. Those are also signs of Jesus' soon return. So we are now going to listen to Fountain View singing this song, Jesus Is Coming Again. Speaker B 00:25:02 - 00:27:35 Lift up the trumpet and loud let it ring. Jesus is coming again. Cheer up, ye pilgrims, be joyful and sing. Jesus is coming again. Coming again. Sing again, again, Jesus is coming again. Echo it, hilltops, proclaim it, chief lanes. Jesus is coming again. Coming in glory, the Lamb that was slain. Jesus is coming again. Coming again and again. Jesus is coming again. Heavens of earth, tell the vast wandering throng. Jesus is coming again. Tempests and whirlwinds, the anthem prolong. Jesus is coming again, coming again, coming again. Jesus is coming again. Nations are angry, by this we do know, Jesus is coming again. Knowledge increases, men run to and fro, Jesus is coming again. Speaker A 00:27:35 - 00:27:39 Coming again. Speaker B 00:27:39 - 00:28:09 Coming again, coming again. Soon he'll come, the sky grows bright. Coming again and coming again. Jesus is coming again. Coming again, coming again. Jesus is coming again. Coming again. Speaker A 00:29:13 - 00:29:28 Wow, what an amazing promise! Let's thank God now for this glorious promise. Thank you so much, dear God, for the hope of the second coming of Christ, and we are privileged to live in that day. Please may we be ready for it, I pray. Speaker B 00:29:28 - 00:29:28 Amen. Speaker A 00:29:28 - 00:30:09 In Jesus' name, amen. So thank you so much for joining me today on Heavenly Harmonies. Um, I would absolutely love for you to join me again next time as we begin a new season, The Everlasting Gospel in Earth's Judgment Hour. And so we're going to be looking at the rediscovery of truth in the Great Awakening of the early 1800s. And of course, we will be discovering those truths through song. And yeah, we really need to understand these These vital messages, and I can't wait to explore them with you. But until then, may your soul be filled with heavenly harmonies that will hold you near to the heart of God.