Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #32 of Revelation chapter 18 and we are going to read Revelation 18:22-23:

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; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

I will stop reading there.  As we continue to go verse by verse, this chapter describes the judgment of God upon the kingdom of Satan, the nations of this world, and all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth (in the churches or outside the churches) are under the wrath of God and they are currently experiencing the judgment of God.  Here, the judgment of God is being described in parabolic language.  He speaks of the day of His wrath and, yet, He is talking about harpers and musicians and piper and trumpeters being “heard no more at all in thee.” 

This is where the method of Bible study that the churches employ is faulty and cannot help them, because they look at the literal words and they will come up with an idea that it is a terrible time, so there would not be music playing, or things along those lines.  But, rather, we should look in the Bible as God commands us to do, comparing Scripture with Scripture, to define these things.  What does God mean by “the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters” being heard no more at all in Babylon?  What do those things represent?  When we check out the Bible we find some things concerning harpers and harps that help us with a Biblical definition in 1Chronicles, chapter 25.  

By the way, this is what God often does.  We can find a word like “harpers” and we can find 20 or 30 places it is used in the Bible, but 28 or 29 of them may be of little or no help.  But often there will be a verse that provides great assistance in providing a Biblical definition. 

It says in 1Chronicles 25:1:

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, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was:

Then it goes on to mention the names of men.  But then it says at the end of verse 2 it says: “which prophesied according to the order of the king.”  Then it mentions more names and it says at the end of verse 3: “who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise JEHOVAH.”

Three times the word “prophesied” is used and it is used in relationship to harps and to other musical instruments like psalteries and cymbals, just as we see in our verse in Revelation, chapter 18.  So, that is the Biblical definition.  To play the “harp,” as David did before King Saul or to play other musical instruments portrays “prophesying the Word of God.”  That is why Saul would be appeased for a time when he heard the “harp.”  In a way, the prophesying of the Word of God was quieting his soul.  This is the picture God is using concerning “harpers.”  Remember what it said back in Revelation, chapter 15, concerning those that had gotten the victory over the beast?  It said in Revelation 15:2-3:

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, 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…

Musical instruments in the Bible (the harps, the psalteries, the cymbals and the singing voices) all picture the declaration and prophesying of the Word of God.  Then God goes on to say in Revelation 18:22:

And the voice of harpers, and musicians…

It is interesting that we do not find the word “musicians” (plural) anywhere else in the Bible, but we do find the singular tense “musician.”  It is used 55 times in the inscriptions to 55 different Psalms.  In these Psalms, it is inscribed, “To the chief musician.”  Since music pictures the bringing of the Gospel, then those that play the music (harpers, for example) are God’s elect; they are the ones that bring the Gospel forth and share it with the world.  They are “musicians,” but the chief musician is God Himself.  He is over all, so when we read about “the voice of harpers, and musicians,” they are synonymous.  It is referring to those that carry the message of the Bible.  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 18:22:

… and of pipers, and trumpeters…

And this maintains the same idea.  If we go to 1Corinthians, chapter 14, we find both of these words (or very similar words) used in 1Corinthians 14:6-9:

Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.

In this chapter, God moved the Apostle Paul to compare words “plainly spoken” which are said to be “prophesied” and words that are received in the form of tongues that no one can understand until one interprets it and then it becomes equal to prophesying.  When one interprets it, it is prophesying because it is plainly spoken.  Here, God is using the example of musical instruments.  It is the same thing when it refers to “pipes” or “harps.”  They have to have a certain “distinction in the sounds” and you cannot just make a racket, as I would do because I have no musical talent in playing a literal instrument, but God gives some people that kind of talent and they are able to play the instrument clearly and distinctly and follow the tune and it sounds wonderful.  That is how it is with the Gospel.  It must be “plainly spoken” and plainly declared, following God’s methodology.  So the “piping” is tied to plainly speaking the Word of God, or prophesying. 

The same is true of the “trumpet.”  Many of us are very familiar with this verse: “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?”  Remember the time leading up to May 21, 2011?  The Lord opened up an enormous amount of information to lock in the date of Judgment Day and then He emphasized the Scripture in the Book of Ezekiel where it said that if the watchman sees the sword coming upon the land, he must blow the trumpet and warn the people.  We had to share the truths of the Bible with others as we were seeing these things open up in the Bible.  We had a duty and obligation as watchmen to sound the trumpet in a very certain way; God made sure of that.  Because of the absolute proclamation of May 21, 2011 as Judgment Day, it trumpeted a “certain sound” across the face of the earth so mankind would understand that they had up until that day to prepare for the battle; and the only proper preparation was salvation.  They were warned to go to God and beseech Him mightily and cry to God for mercy, if perhaps He might grant them mercy, if they were one of His elect.  That is what it means to give a “certain sound” on the trumpet. 

By the way, at this time we are not declaring October 7, 2015 with an “exclamation point.”  But what if we did that?  Are we warning people and going out with great urgency to tell them that the end is coming, so that they can prepare?  What could they prepare?  What could they do at this time that would change their spiritual condition?  The answer is that there is nothing they can do because God has fixed and established every man’s spiritual condition – the righteous will remain righteous still and the filthy will remain filthy still.  Whether we say there is “a strong likelihood” or whether we say it is an absolute truth from the Bible and it is going to happen, it will not impact even one individual’s spiritual condition.  In other words, it is not going to humble and move an unsaved person to go to God that God might grant them salvation.  It is not possible.  We are using wisdom and declaring all the Biblical evidence that God has opened up to us.  We are telling people that this is everything we know and there is a strong likelihood that this will happen and there is just no need to speak in absolute terms.

It says in Revelation 18:22:

And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee…

Again, all these musical instruments and the musicians all point to the Gospel.  We had that task to go into all the world with the Gospel and bring the message to every creature because God was seeking and searching for the lost sheep of the house of Israel – they must be found.  That was always on our minds because God instilled that within us and gave us a tremendous desire to do His will in that area.  The elect had to be found wherever they were in the world.  The Word of God must reach them and when it did, if they were one of God’s elect, God would open their ears to hear: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  That is how God saved.

We need to consider this and read it carefully.  When God says, “And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee,” He is not saying that there will not be some “harping” or that there will not be those that are acting in the role of a musician, a piper or a trumpeter.  He is not saying that there will not be churches or ministries outside of the churches that had been previously faithful that will not be telling people to go to the Lord and seek salvation and cry out for mercy today.  He is not saying that.  We are in the Day of Judgment and the day that Revelation, chapter 18, is describing.  It is not that the Bible cannot be found.  The Bible is present and people are sharing the Bible and still encouraging others to go to God for salvation despite the fact that there is none.  But what God is saying is that the spiritual “trumpeting” and the spiritual “harping” and those things that point to the bringing of the Gospel will be “heard no more at all” in the Babylon or the world.  It will not be “heard” because there is “a famine of hearing.”  Let us go back to Amos, chapter 8.  This verse is speaking of the famine that came upon the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation, but it is also perfectly describing what God did on May 21, 2011.  Let us read Amos 8:11:

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord JEHOVAH that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of JEHOVAH:

We have correctly understood what this verse means.  When God abandoned the churches and Christ’s Spirit came out of the midst and Satan entered in, they still had Bibles and they still had preachers.  They may have had messages preached that were somewhat faithful or even very faithful to what the Bible says and all these elements God had blessed during the church age were there.   God blessed all this at various times during the church age to bring salvation to individuals within the congregations by “opening their ears,” but that is the one “missing ingredient” that the churches lacked during the 23 years of the Great Tribulation from 1988 to 2011.   They did not have the Holy Spirit present to open the ears of anyone within the churches and congregations of the world. 

And that is how we know that there was no salvation taking place there, because God came out of the churches and He gave them up and turned them over to Satan.  The Bible says the “daily” was taken away and the “abomination of desolation” was set up there.  That happened simultaneously.  God’s Spirit came out and Satan’s spirit entered in and it became a “dead” church.  It is impossible for anyone to become saved when the Spirit of God is not there to open anyone’s ears.  It was a “famine of hearing” the Word of God.  They had the Bible and they had the preaching for Sunday, after Sunday, after Sunday.  I do not know how many Sundays are in 23 years, but there a lot of them.  They had Sunday after Sunday and they had weekly Bible studies and they had the outreach of the churches that often involved the Word of God and, yet, there was not a single individual within any corporate church in the world that became saved during that 23 years.  That is a “famine of hearing” and we could say that the word of God “was heard no more at all in her,” just as God is saying in our verse, “And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee.”

Today a ministry can tell people (just like the churches continue to do) to go to God and cry out for mercy: “He is a merciful God and He will save all the way to the end of the world.  As long as we are here, there is salvation.”  They can say those things; they can bring the Bible and teach from the Bible.  They can do all the necessary things and bring all the ingredients to play, but they have no ability to open up the ears of anyone to “hear” those things, because only God the Holy Spirit can make someone hear.  So God is saying, in verse, after verse, after verse, in Revelation 18 that it is going to be “heard no more at all,” as it goes on to say in Revelation 18:22-23:

…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; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee…

It is because it must involve the Holy Spirit and only God can do this particular aspect of the work of opening the ears to hear and that is not happening any longer anywhere in the world.  It does not matter how someone may insist on it and that is what Christ meant when He said that many would knock at the door and say, “Lord, lord, open unto us!”  They are trying to insist and they are trying to have their way.  They are trying to say, “Look, we are the people of God.  We have the Bible and we have the proper way of God.”  They may even testify of the very “narrow way,” and they may say, “You cannot get yourself saved.  God saves through election and it is up to Him.”  But even if they give encouragement that He will save, they are giving false hope and false encouragement.  There is nothing good, loving, kind or proper about giving someone false encouragement and false hope when there is none.  It is not a “balm” and it is not a “medicine” and it is not an “ointment” that will help anyone any longer.  It is really being a physician of no value when one presents a message that has a lie in it.  And the lie today is that the door is still open and God will still save.  They say, “We know this,” but they do not know it because they cannot even explain where we are in relationship to the Great Tribulation period.  They have lost sight of God’s “times and seasons” and the Biblical calendar of history and causes them to wander around in the dark and it will only lead to stumbling.