Shincheonji lesson 49: figurative song
Lesson 49 · Introductory
Main verses used
Links open the NET Bible.
What SCJ teaches
This section comes from class notes that an attendee wrote down during SCJ’s 9-month Bible study seminar, posted with the full Closer Look study. They are not SCJ’s printed curriculum, so the wording is the note-taker’s.
The meanings on the board
The board reads “Song = The word of sermons, aka the word that is taught when one stands in front of others to teach | Psalms 119:54,” “New Song = The Gospel of the Fulfillment of Prophecy,” and “To sing = To preach.” The hope is “Be those who know New Song and learn it from the only place it can be learned!”
Tiredness and the test
The review mentions a coming test and the next level of the course, “Bible logic,” starting the following month: “Please master the test questions now so that when the test comes, it’s easy.” The teacher then speaks to students who are worn out a few months in: “We tend to get tired. Our bodies tend to get sleepy.” He reads Matthew 26, where the disciples slept in Gethsemane, and compares Jesus’ “one hour” to the length of a lesson. Then: “If the journey is getting more difficult, that means that Satan is fighting us harder.” Again: “Things are getting harder. It’s not an accident. That means we’re on the right track.”
What a song is
Revelation 15 and 14 speak of the song of Moses, the song of the Lamb, and a new song that “No one could learn the song except the 144,000.” The notes count four songs in Revelation, three on God’s side and one that is “not a good song.” A song must be learned before it is sung, and it has a theme. From Psalm 119:54 and 119:172, God’s decrees are the theme, so the song is “the word of sermons.” When someone teaches the word, “it is as if that person is singing to them.”
In Deuteronomy 31, God told Moses to write a song and teach it to Israel. The notes stress the order: “It was from God to Moses, and subsequently to the Israelites.” From Numbers 12, where Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, the notes conclude that “to lift up arms or be angry at Moses really means that you are lifting up arms or you’re angry against God.” Since Moses’ song spoke of the future, “The song that God is telling Moses to sing to the people is actually a prophecy.”
The new song
Isaiah 42:9-10 links “the former things have taken place” with “Sing to the Lord a new song.” So the new song is the report of what has been fulfilled. At the first coming, Isaiah 9 promised a light in Galilee. Priests could only guess its meaning, but Jesus fulfilled it and explained “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets” (Luke 24:27). That new song “became the Song of the Lamb.” The teacher says some students have been “moved to tears” in class, and “That’s how the word should feel.”
At the second coming, the new song is sung on Mount Zion by the 144,000, and people who hear it must “come out and gather at the place where that song is being sung – the only place where it can be taught.” Students are asked: “Am I at a place that delivers the new song?” A pastor who knew this and did not teach it would be guilty of “deep malpractice,” and “That person should step down from their position.” The notes go on: “If we’re hearing this for the first time now, what does that mean about the place where I have been?” They also reassure: “You are not here by accident.”
From Hebrews 3-4, Israel heard the good news but did not combine it with faith. “Revealed means explained after it has been fulfilled,” so “we should listen and then act swiftly, listen and then flee, listen and then take action.” Satan’s song, in Revelation 18:22-24, is false words. The lesson ends: “This is not a life, not a game, but life and death, truly.”
In SCJ’s own books
Each passage was checked against the scanned page image; page numbers are as printed.
The Explanation of Parables (Shincheonji), page 78, gives the true meaning of the song as “Prophecy” and of the new song as “Gospel of the fulfillment of the prophecies.” The page continues: “Prophecies are passed down in generations like a song, and when the prophecies fulfill, people must learn the gospel of their fulfillment.” Page 79 lists “God’s song (truth) → Heaven” and “Satan’s song (false teaching) → Hell,” notes “There is no new song of Satan,” and says the new song at the second coming is “the gospel of the fulfillment of Revelation (revealed word), testified through the one who overcomes.” Its conclusion says:
“The new song today’s believers must hear is only learned in the Twelve Tribes on Mt. Zion. Therefore, one must be harvested to Mt. Zion and be sealed with the new song the one who overcomes testifies (revealed word) to become God’s kingdom and priests and be saved.”
How the lesson notes compare with the books
- New song = gospel of fulfillment; song of Moses = Old Testament; song of the Lamb = New Testament. Same teaching (notes; Parables pp. 78-79).
- What a song is. Difference in emphasis. The board says a song is “the word of sermons.” The book says it is “prophecy” (Parables p. 78). The notes also call Moses’ song “a prophecy,” so the two overlap.
- Where the new song is learned. Difference in how explicit they are. The notes say “the only place it can be learned” and Mount Zion. The book says “only learned in the Twelve Tribes on Mt. Zion” (Parables p. 79).
What the Bible says
- In Revelation 5, the new song praises the Lamb for his death and redemption. They were singing a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation. (Revelation 5:9, NET)
- The song of Moses and the Lamb praises God’s deeds and ways. They sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: “Great and astounding are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful! Just and true are your ways, King over the nations! (Revelation 15:3, NET)
- In the Psalms, a new song is a song of praise for what God has done. He gave me reason to sing a new song, praising our God. May many see what God has done, so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40:3, NET)
- The call to sing a new song goes to all the earth. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. (Psalm 96:1, NET)
- Paul tells all believers to teach one another in song. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16, NET)
- Jesus’ words to Peter on the water are recorded in Matthew. But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:30-31, NET)
- Miriam and Aaron’s actual words are recorded in Numbers. They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard it. (Numbers 12:2, NET)
Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible
This lesson defines a song as “the word of sermons,” singing as preaching, and the new song with “New Song = The Gospel of the Fulfillment of Prophecy.” Its stated hope is to “learn it from the only place it can be learned!” It tells tired students, “If the journey is getting more difficult, that means that Satan is fighting us harder,” and “That means we’re on the right track.” It uses Numbers 12 to say that being angry at Moses is really being angry at God, and asks students, “If we’re hearing this for the first time now, what does that mean about the place where I have been?” It says a pastor who didn’t teach this “should step down,” and urges students to “listen and then flee.” SCJ’s The Explanation of Parables (p. 79) concludes: “The new song today’s believers must hear is only learned in the Twelve Tribes on Mt. Zion.” Revelation gives us the actual words of its songs, and they’re about the Lamb.
1. Tiredness: Jesus’ words in Gethsemane are compassion
The lesson compares Jesus asking the disciples to watch “one hour” with the length of a lesson, and says growing difficulty means “Satan is fighting us harder” and “That means we’re on the right track.”
- In Gethsemane, Jesus said, “Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). He recognized their weakness with compassion. He was facing the cross, not running a class.
- The claim that harder means the right track can never be proven wrong. If things get easier, that’s God’s blessing; if harder, that’s Satan’s opposition. Either way the course is confirmed. (See Lesson 35 and Lesson 42; their new sections aren’t live yet, so the links go to the lesson pages.)
- Jesus describes his way differently: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest … my yoke is easy to bear” (Matthew 11:28-30).
2. Revelation gives the words of the new song
The board says, “New Song = The Gospel of the Fulfillment of Prophecy.”
Revelation tells us what the new song says:
“They were singing a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation’” (Revelation 5:9)
- The new song is praise to the Lamb for his death and his redemption of people from every nation.
- In the Psalms, a new song is a fresh response of praise for what God has done: “He gave me reason to sing a new song, praising our God” (Psalm 40:3). “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he performs amazing deeds” (Psalm 98:1).
3. The song of Moses and the Lamb: The lyrics are given
The notes say “the song of Moses would be the words of the Old Testament” and “So, the Song of the Lamb equals the New Testament.”
Revelation quotes the song:
“Great and astounding are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful! Just and true are your ways, King over the nations! Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name, because you alone are holy? All nations will come and worship before you” (15:3-4)
- It’s a song of praise for God’s saving acts, echoing Moses’ song after the Red Sea crossing (Exodus 15). It isn’t a label for the two Testaments.
4. Revelation 14:3: The 144,000 sing before the throne
The lesson’s hope points to “the only place it can be learned,” and SCJ’s book says the new song is “only learned in the Twelve Tribes on Mt. Zion.”
- “they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one was able to learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth” (14:3).
- They sing “before the throne.” It’s a heavenly scene of the redeemed. The verse says who could learn the song, not that there’s a place on earth where it’s taught. (See Lesson 44; its new section isn’t live yet, so the link goes to the lesson page.)
5. “Sing to the Lord, all the earth”
- “Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth” (Psalm 96:1).
- Isaiah 42:10, which the lesson cites: “Sing to the Lord a brand new song! Praise him from the horizon of the earth.” The call goes to the whole world.
- The new things Isaiah announces come with God’s Servant, “a light to the nations,” who will “open blind eyes” (42:6-7). Matthew applies this Servant passage to Jesus (Matthew 12:17-21).
- Paul tells every believer: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another … singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16). The song of God’s people isn’t limited to one place.
6. Numbers 12: Moses, and the prophet like Moses
The lesson uses Numbers 12 to say “to lift up arms or be angry at Moses really means that you are lifting up arms or you’re angry against God,” and stresses the order: “It was from God to Moses, and subsequently to the Israelites.”
- God did defend Moses’ unique role in Numbers 12 (12:6-8). That should be admitted.
- But Moses pointed beyond himself: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me … you must listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15). Peter says that prophet is Jesus (Acts 3:22-23).
- Moses wished “that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29). In the new covenant, he got his wish (Acts 2:17-18).
- Hebrews says Moses was faithful “as a servant,” but “Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house” (Hebrews 3:5-6).
- Applying the idea that opposing Moses means opposing God to a modern messenger makes questioning him the same as rebelling against God.
7. Luke 24: The new song of the first coming was about Jesus
The lesson says Jesus’ explanation of the Scriptures in Luke 24 “became the Song of the Lamb.”
- Jesus explained “the things written about himself in all the scriptures” (24:27): “the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations” (24:46-47).
- That’s the gospel the apostles preached to the whole world. It doesn’t need a second, newer version. (See Lesson 13.)
8. Being “moved to tears”
The teacher says some students have been “moved to tears” in class, and “That’s how the word should feel.”
- God’s word can move people deeply. But emotion isn’t proof that a teaching is true. The Bereans tested even an apostle’s message against Scripture (Acts 17:11).
9. “What does that mean about the place where I have been?”
The lesson asks students what it means that they’re hearing this for the first time, and says a pastor who knew this and didn’t teach it “should step down.”
- The student is hearing it for the first time because it isn’t in the Bible’s own explanations: Revelation’s new song praises the Lamb’s death (5:9), and the Bible doesn’t teach that it’s learned in one place.
- This question shifts the student’s suspicion onto their own pastor and church. (See Lesson 38 and Lesson 45; their new sections aren’t live yet, so the links go to the lesson pages.)
10. Hebrews 3-4: The answer to unbelief is rest, not flight
The lesson uses Hebrews 3-4 to say Israel heard but didn’t combine it with faith, so “we should listen and then act swiftly, listen and then flee.”
- Hebrews’ point is that the wilderness generation didn’t enter God’s rest because of unbelief (3:19). “For we who have believed enter that rest” (4:3).
- “Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works” (4:9-10).
- And: “let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy” (4:16).
- Hebrews calls believers to faith and rest in Christ, not to flee to a place.
11. Babylon’s song
The lesson uses Revelation 18:22-24 for Satan’s song of false words.
What the lesson is really for
This lesson makes SCJ the only place to learn the true song:
- Tiredness and difficulty mean you’re on the right track.
- Opposing God’s messenger is opposing God.
- The new song is the gospel of fulfillment, learned only in one place.
- Your previous church kept this from you, and its pastor should step down.
- Listen and then flee.
The biblical answer: The new song praises the Lamb who was killed and by his blood purchased people from every nation (Revelation 5:9). The song of Moses and the Lamb praises God’s great deeds (15:3-4). All the earth is called to sing a new song (Psalm 96:1), and believers everywhere teach one another in song (Colossians 3:16). The prophet like Moses is Jesus (Acts 3:22). And those who believe enter God’s rest (Hebrews 4:3).
What’s happening behind the lesson
These notes are our reading of the lesson text, using Steven Hassan’s BITE model (behavior, information, thought and emotional control). They describe what the text does, not the teacher’s intent. Hassan notes that not every group uses every item. Source: Steven Hassan, BITE Model, Freedom of Mind.
- Thought: can turn hardship into proof. Tiredness and pressure mean “Satan is fighting us harder,” and “That means we’re on the right track.” Hardship becomes evidence for the course rather than a reason to step back.
- Information: can lower trust in one’s home church (our reading). “What does that mean about the place where I have been?” and a pastor who does not teach this “should step down.” In our reading, the warning points at the student’s own church and pastor.
- Behavior: can press for quick action. “It isn’t playtime anymore. It’s go time,” and “listen and then act swiftly, listen and then flee.”