Roger Lewis - The House of Asaph - Family of Faith and Masters of Music - Class 6 - The Secret of the House of Asaph

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1. 0:00

   Our second speaker this morning, brothers and sisters, is our Brother Rodger Lewis of the Christchurch Ecclesia in New Zealand. The theme for Brother Louis’s classes this week is the House of Asaph, Family of Faith and Masters of Music. Today’s class is entitled The Secret of the House of Asaph Brother Louis. Thank you again brother Chairman, and my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. 0:34

   Well, as they say, all stories have an end. And so this morning we also come to the end of the story concerning the House of Asaph and their remarkable contribution to the spiritual fibre and strength of the nation of Israel for such a long period of time in their history. You’ll remember that our previous study left the sons of Asaph on that barren hill of Mariah, singing with all their heart over a few stones that had been laid in that place.

3. 1:09

   And although there was no temple there, just the beginnings of a new order of things, they still sang with the same fervour as their family had sung so long before at the dedication of Solomon’s magnificent temple in the earlier days. They knew their courses, they knew their words, they knew their instruments, they knew their songs.

4. 1:36

   The year was BC 535, and this was some 85 years after Josiah’s great Passover, but 460 years after David had first given to the family the great Psalm that they would sing all the days of their life in the first of Chronicles and chapter 16. And you’ll remember, therefore, that in that study we learned to appreciate the virtue of constancy that this family stood for, that they truly believed that because of the truths they sang were eternal things, that there was no change ever needed to them. And so they used the same instruments to sing the same words to the same tune from the same hymn book for over 500 years.

5. 2:31

   Well, brothers and sisters, this morning we come to the next stage of the story of this family. And that stage is found for us in Nehemiah chapter 12. In the book of Nehemiah. You’ll recall that in the days of Nehemiah, he successfully built the walls all around the city of Jerusalem that the city might be protected.

6. 2:54

   And we’re told that at the time of the accomplishment of that building that there was a great celebration upon the walls themselves. And this is what we’re told in Nehemiah chapter 12 and verse 27, it says. And, and at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites out of all their places to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings and singing, with cymbals, with psalteries and with halves. So you see, only the sacred instruments were used. They’ve never been changed, had they? Brothers and sisters, these are the same things that were ordained as the instruments of God from the very days of David. There’s no other instruments have ever been added to the matters of worship in Israel’s history from the time of David to this time, Now in the days of Nehemiah, the singers are still there, but the instruments are unchanged. And verse 28 says, And the sons of the singers gather themselves together both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of Natopathy, and also from the House of Gulgal, and out of the fields of Gieba and Esmaleth. For, and we oughtn’t to be surprised at this, for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem. Well, we wouldn’t be surprised that that would be brothers and sisters, that of all the place in the land where the singers would want to live and where they would want to build their villages.

7. 4:34

   They wanted to be clustered around Jerusalem, the centre of God’s presence in Israel, the place where the ark would be kept. That was always the heart and soul of this particular family. So out of the villages they now come that they might celebrate the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. And, and we’re told this in the 35th verse. It says in certain of the priest’s sons with trumpets, namely Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Semei, the son of Matani, the son of Milkei, the son of Zecher the son of Asaph and his brethren Shemaya and Azrael and Millili and Gilali and Mai and Nathaniel and Judah and Hamani with the musical instruments of David the man of God and Ezra described. So here is a descendant of David, sorry, descendant of Asaph, now found again leading the matters of worship even in the days of Nehemiah.

8. 5:35

   And with him and with his brethren are those musical instruments. And you see how they’re described in this verse, the musical instruments of David the man of God. And, and I think we can probably reasonably assume that the force of this expression is that they are the very same instruments that the House of Asaph had preserved these very instruments all during the Babylonian captivity. And it’s those ancient instruments that have now been brought back to be used in the songs of worship here at the dedication of the wall.

9. 6:09

   The very ones that David himself had made, by the way, I think they were made under divine inspiration. I think that just as David received the pattern of all the things that would go into the temple service, that amongst the patterns that David received by by by inspiration was the pattern of the instruments themselves.

10. 6:30

    So once they’ve been made by David, this house treasured them for all time. And now here they are again being played on the wall. You know, it would really pluck at your heartstrings, wouldn’t it, brothers and sisters, to be standing on that wall on that day with that family and to hear those instruments being sung again, being played again.

11. 6:51

    We’re told that in verse 40, the two companies of them that stood gave thanks in the House of God. And verse 42 says the singers sang loud. And so they always had brothers and sisters, because they sang from the bottom of their hearts, this family. And verse 45 says. And both the singers and the porters kept the ward of their God and the ward of purification, according to the commandment of David and of Solomon his son.

12. 7:21

    For in the days of David and Asaph of old, there was a chief of the singers, and there were songs of praise and Thanksgiving unto God. And you see, I think what verse 46 is telling us is that just as there was a chief musician in the days of David, who was of course, ASAP himself, so now even in the days of Nehemiah, just as there was in the days of old, there was still a chief of the singers and songs of Oh, and by the way, did you notice the two keywords there in verse 46?

13. 7:56

    Again, songs of praise and Thanksgiving, those two keywords from the first of Chronicles chapter 16. So here they are. You see, there’s no change to the spirit of this house. Marvelous. They had always sung before the ark of God, and here they are still singing with the same fervour in the days of Nehemiah.

14. 8:19

    And you want to know what’s really interesting about this verse? In Nehemiah chapter 12, there is no ark. Brothers and sisters, the Ark of God is gone, there is no priest with Urim and Thummim, there is no Shekinah glory. And do you think that that changed the fervency of this house in terms of their songs?

15. 8:57

    Not one bit. You see, they had long since transcended the idea of the physical arc, and they drew close to God in song, even though the token of His presence now was no longer there, They still sang the same songs, and they still came into the presence of the Father when they sang those songs, even though the ark of His presence has now disappeared for good. From the record of Israel, do you know that this episode in Nehemiah chapter 12 occurs in BC 445? That’s 90 years after Ezra chapter 3 and the laying of the foundation of the Temple.

16. 9:49

    This is about another 3 generations of this family after the days of Ezra 3 when they sang to to to celebrate the laying of those stones on Mount Moriah. Will this family never ever give up?

17. 10:05

    They were truly brothers and sisters, weren’t they, in in every respect, as we have seen, a family of faith. They were there in the days of David when he first set the ark in Zion and commanded this family that they should sing to celebrate the real significance of that ark in the presence of Israel. They were there at the time of the great celebration, the great dedication of the temple in the days of Solomon. And you remember that so wondrous was the singing of the House of Asaph on that occasion, that it was the songs of the singers that drew down the glory of the divine presence, so that the glory of God fill the house.

18. 10:45

    They were there in the days of Jehoshaphat marching at the head of the army, and singing was such fervor that Almighty God acted on their behalf. And a wondrous victory was won that day on behalf of the nation, so that their enemies were destroyed. Yet not a man in Israel was lost. They were there at the time of the revival of Jehoyada, when he sat Joas, the boy king upon the throne of David, and launched a special reformation in Israel, in Judah. And at that time the sons of Asaph, the leaders of the singers, were present to witness that coronation and to sing their praises.

19. 11:21

    They were there when Hezekiah launched his revival in the nation, and when in the space of just two weeks, he he brought them all together and asked them to sing perfectly in that great celebration of the Second of Chronicles, chapter 29. They were there when Josiah reformed the nation and asked the Levites to bring the ark back and to put it into the Temple, into the House of of God from whence they had spirited away. Spirited away.

20. 11:48

    They were there in the time of Ezra, at the laying of the foundation of a new temple, as they stood upon the barren hill of Zion and sang their songs to God. They’re here in the days of Nehemiah as the wall is built again. Is there ever a family like this? They were truly a family of faith in every sense of the word.

21. 12:11

    There is no family, brothers and sisters. I believe that compares with the fervency and the dedication of this particular family in Israel. And not only were they a family of faith, but as we’ve seen in the course of these studies, they were truly masters of music in Israel, not simply because of their musical excellence, but because of the five key things that they held as the benchmark of their singing and from which they never deviated.

22. 12:40

    Because they constantly celebrated the supremacy of God, they made sure that all their music had the had the appropriate solemnity of worship. They constantly maintained the preeminence of principle in all that they sang. They stood for the excellence of endeavour in all of their their music. And they established the virtue of constancy in Israel like no other family, as they sang the same hymns with unswerving devotion. And those five key principles that they established, if we could only use those as the benchmark for our songs of worship to the Father, then I believe, brothers and sisters, that whatever music we might choose, as long as it messes up to these five key principles, then we will have a basis for acceptable worship and song to the Father even in our own day and generation.

23. 13:39

    How thankful we can be to this family that even though we have never received one single note of what they sang, we know their spirit, we know their mind, we know their attitude. Now their appointment in the days of David was approximately 995 BC. By the time we get to Nehemiah chapter 12, we’ve come to 445 BC and therefore we’ve traced this one family from the first of Chronicles 16 to Nehemiah chapter 12, and we’ve covered 550 years of continuous history with just one family. Do you know that in the year 14181 AD in Spain, the Inquisition was renewed under a villainous man known as Torquemada around about that same time? In fact, in the year 14185 in England was the great Battle of Bosworth and Henry the 7th defeated Richard the third Richard Plantagenet and as a result of that battle he founded the House of Tudor that would become famous in English history.

24. 15:15

    Just before that, in the year 14183 in France, the the reign of Louis the 11th had come to an end, and Charles the 8th ascended the throne and began his his Italian wars.

25. 15:30

    In 14148 AD in Denmark, Christian the First was elected and he became the Dukes, the Duke of both Schleswig and Holstein, and thereby united 2 of the greatest Danish Dutchies together. In the year 1440 AD in Germany, Frederick the Third became Regent and he was the man who would lay the foundations for the power of the Habsburg family. You’re probably thinking now why are we listening to history around about 14150 AD?

26. 16:14

    The answer is, of course, well, that’s how far back in our time we would have to go to begin the House of Asaph and take it through to our time. Now, from 14150 AD, this family was faithful through to our time. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine any family that could have been faithful for that long, for that many years, for that many centuries? Well, this one was, you know, in the Book of Maccabees, there’s an interesting reference to the days of Judas Maccabees, and that refers to one of the great battles that he fought on on behalf of Israel.

27. 16:54

    Of course, we know that that the Book of Maccabees are apocryphal books, and although we don’t take them as part of the inspired record of Scripture, there’s nothing to say that they are in any way inadequate as historical records, just as we would take Josephus as an historical record. Well, in the Book of Maccabees we have the story of one of the great battles, and I just draw your attention to some interesting words in this particular record.

28. 17:20

    Might look at the bottom piece first. It says on the five and 20th day of the ninth month, they rose up the times in the morning and offered sacrifice according to the law upon the new altar, and they burnt, burnt offerings which they’d made according to the time and according to the day wherein the heathen had defiled that in the same.

29. 17:41

    Was it dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals? Then all the people fell upon their faces, worshipping and praising the God of heaven who had given them good success. And we’re told that in the days of Judas Maccabees there was an outpouring of praise to the Father. And the particular instruments that were used were, why, harps and lutes, which are psalteries and cymbals.

30. 18:11

    And they’re the very, they are the very instruments that were known from the days of David as belonging to that system of things that the House of Asaph stood for. And in this same reference in the book of Maccabees, we’re told this, it says, then Judas returned to spoil the tents wherein they got much riches, and they went home, and they sang a song of Thanksgiving. And this is what they sang.

31. 18:37

    They praised the Lord of heaven because he is good, because his mercy endureth forever. Now I wonder who might have led that song of singing brothers and sisters, in the days of Judas Maccabeus? What we do know, of course, is that those words are the ancient family Psalm of the House of Asaph. Now, I don’t know, brothers and sisters, we can’t say with absolute certainty.

32. 19:11

    What we do know is that on that day, someone sang that song in Israel with the right instruments. What’s interesting is that that is BC 160.

33. 19:26

    That’s 285 years after Nehemiah chapter 12. We just don’t know exactly how long this family may have gone on for. But what we do know is that this family had obviously discovered certain principles for their life and for their family life that was so unique and so special as to cause them to to maintain their spirit of faith before God for such a remarkable period of time.

34. 20:02

    So I suppose really that the burden of our study this morning then is to say, well. Having looked at them for the last few days, what was the secret? So how did they do this? Because if we could just unlock the secret of this family, then we might discover a secret that we could translate into buildings.

35. 20:22

    Such tremendous families for the truth today. So what was it that this family knew that others didn’t know, or that we’ve never understood? Well, here’s the secret, then, of the House of Asaph. Let’s take it a step at a time.

36. 20:43

    I think the first thing was that this family was thoroughly imbued with the Spirit of God manifestation. They really understood that principle. That’s what the first of Chronicles 16 had taught them. This is the central issue of the truth. This is the core purpose of any ecclesia, of any family, of any individual. Remember the So that test for our prayers. Whatever we pray for is it couched in accordance with the idea that it might be so that the Father’s purpose may be advanced in whatever we have prayed for. Now you know what’s interesting about the doctrine of God manifestation.

37. 21:26

    How do we teach this doctrine to our children? And the answer is that we don’t teach it by what we say, we teach it by what we do. Our children, unfortunately, for better or for worse, will copy what we do, not what we say.

38. 21:55

    And if we want our children to be passionately convinced as to the truth and the wonder and the beauty of God manifestation as the central issue of of the truth itself, then they will learn that from our lives, brothers and sisters. So that’s our responsibility as parents is to teach this in what we do. I think the second thing about this family was that they were deeply conscious of the majesty of the divine presence. All their lives they’d lived in the sense of being with God, and in God’s presence.

39. 22:31

    They’d learned to ascend into the presence of God wherever they were. You see, I think that this family had learned the principles of focus and concentration and that our singing needs to to to capture that same spirit. And you can tell, brothers and sisters, when a hymn is being sung in the ecclesia where the people are really focused on the words, whether they’re concentrating on what they are singing to the Father as an offering of praise and Thanksgiving.

40. 22:59

    Well, this family had learnt how to do that. When they sang, they were so focused that they felt as if they’d come into the presence of God himself. It’s something we need to work at, it’s something we need to develop. We need to unlock the power of our hymns by discovering their scriptural background.

41. 23:18

    And I think that one of the very best things that Eccleses can do is to spend time in that area. One of the things that we’ve done in our meeting from time to time is that after Bible class we will deal with a hymn that is new as far as the Eccleses concerned, which we’ve never sung.

42. 23:34

    And there will be plenty of opportunity for this, if, God willing, the new hymn book is launched in due course, according to the schedule that it’s currently running on. There will be lots of hymns to learn, but I think that a very good way of learning those hymns is to have a brother who first will set aside 10 minutes of time to thrill the ecclesia with the scriptural background to that hymn that makes it come alive. And then you learn it.

43. 24:04

    And I think by that means we revive the power of our hymns, including by the way, many splendid old ones that maybe we’ve never really investigated to the depths of what we should do. You see, this family understood this principle. They were deeply committed to the standard of excellence of endeavour. They practiced under the watchful eye of Father Asaph.

44. 24:25

    And remember this, brothers and sisters, that that the spirit of endeavour isn’t just the singing our hymns of praise. It’s the whole attitude of of how we live our life and the truth. It relates to everything we do in ecclesial life and in family life that whatever we do, we should do to the very best of our ability.

45. 24:43

    Now the Father knows our varying levels of ability. The Father knows that some of us will bring forth thirtyfold, and some 60 and some 100. We need not worry about the fact that our abilities may vary. What the Father does want from us, though, is that spirits, that spirit of excellence, of endeavour, to at least the capability that we have in the truth. Well, this family knew that they practiced that spirit of endeavour every day.

46. 25:10

    Only the very best was good enough for them. As their offering of praise to the Father, this family was involved in the principle of thanks and praise to God every single day of their lives. They were, they were involved in this, as the Scriptures tell us. In fact, I’ve got another overhead here that just sort of says that there was a whole series of passages here that tell us this daily involvement of the House of Asaph. In the first of Chronicles 16 and verse 37, it says so he left there Asaph and his brethren to minister before the ark continually as every day’s work required. And again in Nehemiah Chapter 11, verses 22 and 23, we’re told of the sons of Asaph.

47. 26:01

    The singers were over the business of the House of God, for it was the King’s commandment concerning them that a certain portion should be for the singers due every day. And if we were to ask, Well, why was it that that the portion should be due every day? It was because, because this family had responsibilities every day to to sing before the father. In the first of Chronicles 9 and verse 33, it says, And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free, for they were employed in that work, that is, the work of singing day and night. And the first of Chronicles 23 verses 27 to 30 says, For by the last words of David, the Levites were numbered from 20 years old and above because their office was to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord.

48. 27:00

    And likewise it Even so every morning and every night did this family sing their praise to Almighty God on behalf of the nation? Certainly. And yet of course, it was an expression of their own conviction concerning those matters of praise to the Father. So they were involved in the principle of thanks and praise every day of their life. Now that’s a good thing to think about, isn’t it? You know, we say that we ought to to give daily prayer, daily prayer a focus in our lives and, and as families we endeavour to have daily readings.

49. 27:37

    So, so maybe a good idea at the time of our daily readings is to have a daily hymn together. Imagine every family of the ecclesia at night time having a hymn with their family as they did the daily readings, so that every day they have learned the spirit of singing to God, of singing praise to the Father, so much so that it’s become a daily habit in life.

50. 27:58

    Well, that’s what this family did. And I’m sure that that was part of a secret to this family’s faithfulness is that every day they sang those songs, every day they understood those principles.

51. 28:13

    You see, this family were influenced by godly music to the heights of spiritual exaltation. See, not only did this family sing the songs of praise every day, brothers and sisters, but this family didn’t know any other music.

52. 28:38

    They knew nothing else but the songs of the Lord. You know, we should never, ever underestimate the power of music. So I say to parents, parents, if you want to keep your children in the truth, guard their tastes in music. Some of you may have heard this. I’ve mentioned it to a couple of families, but in the House of Lewis, every child age of 13 has received ACD player in their bedroom. They received that as a result of the love and the kindness and the overflowing generosity of their father. There’s only one catch.

53. 29:40

    Father chooses all the C DS in the home and naughty else is allowed. And we did that, brothers and sisters, because we wanted, first of all, to establish our children’s taste in music from the very earliest stage, to give them that which we considered to be according to the standard of excellence. Now, by the way, there’s a whole range of secular music, and I perfectly appreciate that tastes differ. You might be surprised at the range of music you would hear even in the House of Lewis, but the point is that we want to be able to control that process.

54. 30:18

    And of greatest importance of all is this, that what we didn’t want was any music or any singing or any songs in our house that might subvert or undermine or be detrimental to the godly atmosphere of our home. Because we want our home to be a sanctuary for spiritual things. And we won’t have any music in our house that in any way will cut across that principle. And we also want the music of our home to be compatible with the music of the truth.

55. 30:46

    We never wanted our children to learn music and to develop a taste for music or the sort of music that would cause them to have a distaste for the hymns of Sunday morning. That whatever music we have in the home that is as thoroughly compatible with the music we sing to the Father, so that they find both are harmonious together and they never develop a distaste or a dislike of the hymns that we sing.

56. 31:14

    So if you don’t know what your children are listening to, then you better find out because music is one of the greatest powers for either spiritual good or for spiritual evil.

57. 31:34

    You know, in some places, in fact, probably in quite a few places, I’ve had it happen myself, not in this country, but in another place. I I was taken after the memorial meeting to to be taken to a brother and sister’s place for the afternoon meal. And I was driven there by a young brother. You see, after the meeting, we hopped into the cab. No sooner had the ignition turned on and one was assailed by a monstrous beat and even more monstrous lyrics which pounded us to death all the route to this family’s place where we were going to have lunch. And the young brother was oblivious, in fact, of what had happened.

58. 32:17

    But what I can tell you is this, in less than 5 minutes, any spiritual benefit from that meeting was utterly wiped out. I wonder how many cars drive away from ecclesial meetings with that sort of music playing. You know, they’ve done some studies which have showed, I think with reasonable mathematical certainty, that the music that you develop a taste for during the years 15 to 25 will continue to have the greatest emotional effect on you for the rest of your life.

59. 32:59

    You will never escape the pull of that music if you play it. Course, you don’t have to play it later on, but if you do, you’ll immediately feel the pulling of your emotions towards that music. Whatever you develop a taste for in those years of life will affect you the greatest. Now, that’s not to say that you can’t develop new tastes, not to say that you can’t develop new musical tastes, because I believe that you can with courage and with commitment.

60. 33:27

    But we need to appreciate, therefore, the power of what we’re doing with and for our children, that those are the vital years. If they develop a taste for the right things, then they will have that taste for the rest of their life. This family never knew any other sort of music and the songs of Zion, and I’m absolutely sure that it was one of the secrets to their family.

61. 33:52

    They were diligent in inculcating these principles into the next generation. Now come and have a look at Psalm 78. Now Psalm 78 is one of the psalms of the House of Asaph, and there’s a keyword in this Psalm that we ought to just have a look at.

62. 34:15

    In the 78th Psalm, it says in verse one, give ear, O my people to my law, incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will have the dark sayings of old which we’ve heard and known and our fathers have told us, oh, now you see that word told us in verse 3 of Psalm 78. That word means to inscribe, to mark, to record, to recount, and to celebrate.

63. 34:47

    It’s a very wonderful word in the Hebrew to inscribe, to mark, to record, to, to recount, and to celebrate. And so now this is a Psalm of Asaph, mind you. So you see what these, what the sons of Asaph that composed the Psalm said is that the things that we’ve heard and known were recounted to us, inscribed upon our hearts and minds, marked within us by our fathers. They told us these things.

64. 35:17

    Now look at those four. And we will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh. Oh, now you see the word showing in verse 4. That’s the very same word translated, told us in verse 3. It’s the same word. So they heard it from their fathers, and they in turn will pass it on to the generation to come.

65. 35:45

    And then verse 6 says that the generation to come might know them, even the children which shall be born who should arise and declare them to their children. That’s the third generation. And you see that word declare in verse 6. Why? That’s the same word translated, told in verse 3 and showing in verse 4. So you see, this is what this family did is every generation of this family sat down and they inscribed on the heart of their children the principles that their family stood for. They said these are the core values of our family. We praise the Father, we live in God’s presence, we believe, believe in the supremacy of God, we sing concerning Him. We stand for the principle of excellence. We never deviate from eternal truths. And they inscribed that upon the hearts of their children. And those children grew up and inscribed it on the hearts of their children.

66. 36:38

    And those children grew up and they inscribed it on the hearts of their children. And that’s what this family did through their several generations. They were diligent. They never missed a beat, brothers and sisters, in writing those principles onto the hearts of the generation to come. Not in this family. They did that as a, as a, as a standard of the family that they would inculcate those principles.

67. 37:04

    And they were faithful in maintaining their standards with unswerving devotion, as we have seen in these particular studies. They never deviated, did they? Tremendous constancy and tremendous consistency, this family in the things that they stood for. If we could only have that same spirit, brothers and sisters, I’m I’m sure that we would start to capture the secret of this family. And certainly as far as music is concerned, we face that challenge.

68. 37:35

    I believe throughout all of the ecclesial world that there has been a little bit of a shift towards new music from other sources, and much of that music is not consistent with our faith and not consistent with our heritage. We need to treasure the music which has bound our brotherhood together for a long period of time.

69. 37:57

    We need to understand it and we need to treasure it because you’d never catch catch the House of Asaph singing anything that wasn’t absolutely consistent with the spirit of of their particular family. Now come and have a look at Psalm 68. In Psalm 68, we’re told that in the age to come, well, this is what it says, verse 24.

70. 38:36

    They have seen thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King to the sanctuary. The singers went before the players on instruments, followed after. Among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. Bless ye God in the congregations, even Yahweh from the fountain of Israel. So in the age to come, says Psalm 68, there’s going to be singers again, and instruments and choirs. Of course, we’re not told in Psalm 68 whether the singers here are mortal singers or immortal singers. But I think in Psalm 87 we’re told that at least there will be immortal singers.

71. 39:26

    Because if you come and have a look at the 87th Psalm, we’re told this in Psalm 87 and verse one. His foundation is in the holy mountains for Yahweh loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of the O city of God. Oh, by the way, did you notice that that’s the line for him most glorious things are spoken Jerusalem are the did you know that that came from Psalm 87 to verse three.

72. 39:56

    If you didn’t, by the way, you should get your pencil out and put that in your hymn book afterwards. But it says in this hymn I’ll make mention verse 4 of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold Felicity, your entire with Ethiopia. This man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her, and the highest himself shall establish her. You see in the Kingdom age they will be brought together, men and women from all parts of the earth, from all nations of the earth, but they’re all counted as descendants of Zion. Verse 5 and verse 6 says Yahweh shall count when he writeth up the people, that this one, everyone who’s who’s granted eternal life was born there in Jerusalem. And then verse 7 suddenly says as well, the singers as the players on instruments shall be there. All my springs or sources of satisfaction are in thee. So in a sound that celebrates the bringing together of the immortal Saints from all parts of the earth, it says there’s going to be singers there and the players on instruments. You see, I like to think brothers and sisters, and I think there’s good scriptural evidence for this, that in the Kingdom age there will be an immortal choir. Sometimes people have often wondered, well, what am I going to do in the Kingdom?

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    Well, here’s a job to sing in the choir under David and under Asaph. We’re told in Ezekiel chapter 40 that there will be chambers for the singers.

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    So I think personally that in the age to come there will be both an immortal choir and there will be a mortal choir of Levites which also shall sing. And if there’s going to be a mortal choir of Levites that should sing, of whom might they be composed, and what family might be brought forth again to sing such songs? But the House of Asaph.

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    Now would you like to see a proof for that? Well, I think we have one, you see, because if you come to the prophecy of Jeremiah, I think that here in Jeremiah we have at least a clue that perhaps in the age to come there will be a reconstituted House of Asaph, who once again will sing their songs in the age to come. The marvelous thought to think that that might be so. Although of course, the immortal choir will be none other than the spiritual descendants of Asaph, and Christ will be the chief conductor under whose, under whose hands we shall sing in that choir in the age to come. In Jeremiah chapter 33, we read these words in verse 7, Jeremiah 33, verse 7, and I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first.

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    Now of course, these words after them, the prophecy of Jeremiah had their first fulfillment in the return from Babylon. But the real fulfillment, the greater fulfillment of Jeremiah will come in the age to come, when finally all Israel shall be gathered out of the nations, and shall be brought back to the land of promise. And verse 9 says, It shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I shall do them, and they shall fear and tremble for the goodness and for the prosperity that I procure unto it.

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    Thus saith Yahweh again, there shall be heard in this place which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast. Even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without man, and without inhabitant and without beast, there shall be heard the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the Bridegroom, and the voice of the Bride. And why?

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    The voice of them that shall say praise Yahweh of armies for Yahweh is good, for His mercy endureth forever, and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the House of the Lord. All that’s the first of Chronicles chapter 16 all over again. The family Psalm of the House of Asaph and Jeremiah 33 says that that song and that Psalm will be heard again in the temple in the Kingdom age when all Israel has gathered back to the land.

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    And who should sing that song, brothers and sisters, about the House of Asaph again? How appropriate it would be that if there were to be any mortal singers, any mortal choir, that it be this house. I like to think that it will be so. So how do we become part of the immortal choir? Well, we’ve got to learn the secret of this family. So.

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    So by the way, you see, people tend to look at this and they say, well, that’s not really such a very big secret. You know, we know about God manifestation, we understand about the spirit of endeavour, we know about singing godly music and about daily praise. We know about teaching our children. What’s so special about this?

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    That it is a secret that belongs to the House of Asaph. Oh no, that’s not the secret, brothers and sisters, that there is not the secret. You ought to know what the secret is. The secret is that this family actually did those things. Other families talked about it,

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    but they never did it. The secret of this family was that they really did it. Brothers and sisters, every one of these things, they really did them.

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    And if we can just capture the spirit of this house by taking up those lessons and living them in our families, then might it be that we might build families that shall last for the truth for hundreds of years. We pray that it might not be so because of the coming of our Lord, but that until we see His return, and for whatever time has been left unto us, let us take up the spirit of this house and learn their secret, so that their story shall not have been told in vain.