Judgment of the Living

Part II

– It Begins at the Feast of Trumpets –

 

“Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him;
for the hour of his judgment is come” (Revelation 14:7).

 

Introduction

 

At the onset of Pentecost – or Feast of Weeks – the firstfruits of the wheat harvest were celebrated, the barley firstfruits having been celebrated 50 days before. These became symbolic of the two apocalyptic groups at earth’s end – the 144,000 and the great multitude – the final “harvest.” The harvest typology of Revelation 14 is, in turn, divided into two other groups:

1. Grain – assumed to be both barley and the wheat (14:15) – the righteous

2. Grapes (14:18) – the wicked

Regarding that grain harvest, Jesus is commanded: “The time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe” (14:15). For the vintage it notes: “for her grapes are fully ripe” (14:18). This all occurs typologically when every person has made his eternal decision. Nothing can be changed.

• The crops are ready for harvest.

• It is associated with the time when the “Son of man” is on a white cloud (14:14) – His second coming – with a sharp sickle (the “harvesting tool”).

• This parallels another picture of when the sheep and goats are separated (Matthew 25:31-32) – everyone is ready to be divided into one of two camps.

• Sheep = grain
  Goats = grapes

These are great symbols, revealing that when God draws to a close earth’s final scenes, judicial sentencing and separation (judgment) occur. A “great multitude in heaven” (Revelation 19:1) then cries for joy that God has finished this legal task: “for his judgments are true and just” (Revelation 19:3).

• Paul characterized the second advent as a time “when God’s righteous judgments will be revealed” (Romans 2:5).

• “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom” (II Timothy 4:1-2).

Before the sickle begins harvesting, the differences between the grain and the grapes – the sheep and the goats – must be made. A search for every bit of grain must be made – even in unlikely places such as the highways and byways.

• This task comes to an end during the fall Feast of Trumpets.

  • This period of the Feast of Trumpets is when man’s final chance to repent and prepare for the wedding occurs.

  • It is depicted as a sacred time when judicial decisions of the living move forward.

Feast of Trumpets – Last Day Understanding

 

One of the end-time periods begins at this feast (which always begins on a Sabbath):

• “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet” (Revelation 1:10).

• “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne” (Revelation 4:1-2).

• The great themes of Revelation begin in the setting of judgment. This language is distinctly judicial, revealing that the “measuring” of God’s church, ministry and worshipers is underway!

  •  A continuing link with those verses above is:

  • “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein” (Revelation 11:1).

•  All this is a new phase of what began in Daniel 7:9-10.

Then, as the end draws to a close, as the last Sabbatical year approaches (another article), the final or fourth Feast of Trumpets call comes:

• God’s witnesses then have a loud voice – it reaches a point where it is called a “strong voice” (Revelation 18:2). “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1).

• This all began when: “I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth” (Revelation 11:3).

  •  All attachments to the world (religious and business) are to be severed.

  • “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (Revelation 18:4).

• “In one hour is she made desolate” (18:19b).

This is a time of severance and total dependence.

• “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:34).

• “The Lord has shown me repeatedly, that it is contrary to the Bible to make any provision for our temporal wants in the time of trouble. I saw that if the saints had food laid up by them, or in the fields, in the time of trouble, when sword, famine and pestilence are in the land, it would be taken from them by violent hands, and strangers would reap their fields. Then will be the time for us to trust wholly in God, and he will sustain us. I saw that our bread and water would be sure at that time, and we should not lack or suffer hunger; for God was able to spread a table for us in the wilderness. And if necessary, he would send ravens to feed us as he did to feed Elijah, or rain manna from heaven, as he did for the Israelites.”[1]

This is man’s last chance before the curtain of opportunity eternally closes.

• “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6).

• “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15)

• “(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)” (II Corinthians 6:2).

This summarizes graphically what we just reviewed:

When Trumpets ends, this is the court’s decree: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:11).

• To those unprepared:
  
  “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20).

There are many summary calls in Scripture. The Feast of Trumpets is the last.

Old Testament Reflections

 

“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24).

• The first day of the seventh month of special holy convocations was Tishri 1.

• It was the beginning of a lunar cycle or lunar month.

• Tishri 1 was at a new moon.

There was something special at this new moon. It was to be a Sabbath rest.

• Shabbaton – a Sabbath observance

• This is riveted by the words “holy convocation.”

• It wasn’t necessarily on the seventh day.

A new moon, a sabbath, a time of rest, when there is to be no work (Numbers 29:1).

• It was to begin a period of introspection, meditation, commitment

• Final judicial case decisions lay just ahead at Atonement.

• There were “ten days” – an “adequate period,” a “complete set” of days to make a commitment.

Centuries before, a ram “came to the rescue” of Isaac (see associated table – right). There were parallels between Isaac and Christ. Yet, it was the ram – the Lamb of God – that typified deliverance.

• “Through type and promise God ‘preached before the gospel unto Abraham.’ Galatians 3:8. And the patriarch's faith was fixed upon the Redeemer to come. Said Christ to the Jews. ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he should see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.’ John 8:56, R.V., margin. The ram offered in the place of Isaac represented the Son of God, who was to be sacrificed in our stead. When man was doomed to death by transgression of the law of God, the Father, looking upon His Son, said to the sinner, ‘Live: I have found a ransom.’"[2]

• Later, the horn of a ram became symbolic for deliverance, blown to call a sacred time (though other animal horns could be used, except that of a calf/cow) – the “blowing of a trumpet.”

• It became known as the Shofar Horn, and when used, the “blowing of the Shofar.”

According to professional musician and Shofar blowing instructor David Lloyd Perkins, the longer the Shofar, the easier it is to play and produce harmonics.

 

“On a short ram’s horn I can get three harmonic tones,” says Perkins, “but on a long kudu Shofar I can produce between nine and 12 harmonics.”[3] Later, it became known as a musical instrument.

 

When it was blown, it was an urgent call to change course, escape, prepare. Here at the Feast of Trumpets, it becomes a final call to repentance.

• The ancient Bible expositor Maimonides (1135-1204) said of this trumpet call:

• “Rouse ye, rouse ye from your slumber; awake, awake from your sleep, you who mind vanity, for slumber most heavy has fallen upon you. Take it to heart, before whom you are to give an account in the judgment.”[4]

Many Bible scholars understand that this first of the fall feasts has eschatological significance.

• It means a final call to repent before “He comes.”

• It would be the last chance to be a citizen of the Messianic Kingdom.

• Thus – the trumpet call, a “trumpet-like voice” on the Sabbath, is the setting of the whole book of Revelation; and its many “loud cries” of timing remain significant.

In an end-time setting, it is the “last call” to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Matthew 22:8-9).

• “The solemn, sacred message of warning must be proclaimed in the most difficult fields and in the most sinful cities, in every place where the light of the great threefold gospel message has not yet dawned. Everyone is to hear the last call to the marriage supper of the Lamb. From town to town, from city to city, from country to country, the message of present truth is to be proclaimed, not with outward display, but in the power of the Spirit. As the divine principles that our Saviour came to this world to set forth in word and life, are presented in the simplicity of the gospel, the power of the message will make itself felt. In this age, a new life, coming from the Source of all life, is to take possession of every laborer. O, how little do we comprehend the breadth of our mission! We need a faith that is earnest and determined, and a courage that is unshaken. Our time for work is short, and we are to labor with unflagging zeal.”[5]

• “All are to hear the last message of warning. The prophecies in the book of Revelation, chapters 12 to 18, are being fulfilled. In the eighteenth chapter is recorded the very last call to the churches.”[6]

• “This is mercy's last call. Next will come the vengeance of an offended God.”[7]

This is so solemn – so serious – that the period of ten days between Trumpets and Atonement are called the “Days of Awe,” sometimes called the “Days of Repentance.”

 

Turning from Evil

 

The Bible often says that “God repented.” This is simply a metaphor for His mercy. He will give man another chance.

• “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).

• Repentance is a task for sinful man.

  • We have the history of pagan Nineveh repenting and averting its doom (Jonah 3:10).

  • Peter pled with his hearers, “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38).

  • John the Baptist cried for repentance (Matthew 3:2).

  • Jesus did also (Matthew 4:17).

Repentance is turning away from evil – sin.

• It is not a cosmetic gesture.

• It is a decision – a change – a genuine commitment.

• “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (II Corinthians 7:10).

The story of the Prodigal Son is a beautiful illustration of true repentance (Luke 15:21):

• He left a sinful life

• Headed to his Father

• Willing to be a servant – just to be with Him

This change in mind/spirit/attitude/deeds is a command, the “final imperative,” which will be given during the Loud Cry.

• “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30).

There are urgent parameters around this time.

1. God can forgive us only in accordance with our spirit to forgive others (Matthew 6:12).

2. He places a time limit on His grace:
   
   “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (II Peter 3:9-10). Chance for total submission is time limited.

A time follows when the unrepentant will perish. Peter’s message implies an important timing issue that ties to the Trumpets!

• The “Day of the Lord” follows a final period of repentance.

• This is exactly what Zephaniah taught!“
  
  Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zephaniah 2:1-3 – NIV).

The Day of Atonement comes after the defined period of blowing of the Shofar.

• Tishri 1-9 was the time allotted.

• This final probationary period is emphasized again by Zephaniah:
  
  "The great day of the LORD is near – near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the LORD will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there.
  
  “That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers. I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD's wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth” (Zephaniah 1:14-18 – NIV).

The Grand Finale of the Days of Awe

 

For the individual, the Days of Awe will be a final time for supplication and prayer – the last chance to get ready for the “man with the sickle”:

• “The gospel dispensation is the last period of probation that will ever be granted to men. Those who live under this dispensation of test and trial and yet are not led to repent and obey will perish with the disloyal. There is no second trial. The gospel that is to be preached to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples presents the truth in clear lines, showing that obedience is the condition of gaining eternal life. Christ imparts His righteousness to those who consent to let Him take away their sins. We are indebted to Christ for the grace which makes us complete in Him (MS 40, 1900).”[8]

• “It is the duty of the people of God to have their lamps trimmed and burning, to be as men that wait for the Bridegroom, when He shall return from the wedding. You have not a moment to lose in neglect of the great salvation that has been provided for you. The time of the probation of souls is coming to an end. From day to day the destiny of men is being sealed, and even from this congregation we know not how soon many shall close their eyes in death and be habited for the tomb. We should now consider that our life is swiftly passing away, that we are not safe one moment unless our life is hid with Christ in God.”[9]

• “But before the Lord punishes men for their iniquity, He sends them a message of warning. Before He visits them with His judgments, He gives them a chance to repent. He remembered the sins of the Noatic world, but He did not punish them without warning them. For one hundred and twenty years this warning was sounding in their ears; but they did not repent. The last year of their probation found them more stubborn and defiant than ever. ‘And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.’ ‘And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come up before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’ The inhabitants of Sodom, also, perished by fire, which was rained upon them from heaven, because they turned from God, and corrupting themselves, filled the earth with their polluted wisdom.”[10]

That brings us to a pivotal Trumpet issue. It will also be our last chance to warn the world.

• “Our duty is not to be looking forward to some special time for some special work to be done for us, but to go forward in our work of warning the world; for we are to be witnesses of Christ to the uttermost parts of the world.”[11]

• The final evangelizing is called the Loud Cry by some.

• Shofar warning = Loud Cry warning

The Loud Cry

 

In Israel, each new moon was announced by short blasts of a trumpet (shofar).

• But at the new moon of the seventh month – the Feast of Trumpets

• It began with a sacred day and was announced by long blasts of the ram’s horn

• It became symbolic of God’s last call.

In fact, that first day of Tishri was so filled with the “cry of the shofar,” it was called a “Time of Blowing.”

• It is a time for God’s people to give the last warning to the world. Again:

• “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1).

• “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:6-8).

In fact, God will be giving many warnings at this time. We are “witnesses” to explain to the world what they all mean!

• “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: “When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.” ‘Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me’” (Ezekiel 33:1-7 – NIV).

We are very soon to be asked to be His watchmen. Do you know what you will say?

 

“This is mercy's last call. Next will come the vengeance of an offended God.”[12] (What Peter had noted.)

• “The solemn, sacred message of warning must be proclaimed in the most difficult fields and in the most sinful cities, in every place where the light of the great threefold gospel message has not yet dawned. Everyone is to hear the last call to the marriage supper of the Lamb. From town to town, from city to city, from country to country, the message of present truth is to be proclaimed, not with outward display, but in the power of the Spirit. As the divine principles that our Saviour came to this world to set forth in word and life, are presented in the simplicity of the gospel, the power of the message will make itself felt. In this age, a new life, coming from the Source of all life, is to take possession of every laborer. O, how little do we comprehend the breadth of our mission! We need a faith that is earnest and determined, and a courage that is unshaken. Our time for work is short, and we are to labor with unflagging zeal.”[13]

• “The third angel is represented as flying through heaven, proclaiming the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. This message is to prepare a people for the coming of Christ. If men should refrain from proclaiming it, the very stones would cry out. The people must be warned. The words of the prophet are, ‘Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.’ We have a solemn work to do to proclaim this message of warning to the world. Are we engaging in this work? Will men arise in the Judgment and say, ‘You never told me that these things were so’? Will the gates of the city of God be closed against us, or shall we dwell with Jesus through the ceaseless ages of eternity? We want to give to God all that there is of us. It is only to the faithful workers that the Saviour says, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’”[14]

• “A great work will be done in a short time. A message will soon be given by God's appointment that will swell into a loud cry. Then Daniel will stand in his lot, to give his testimony.”[15] (Future to 1906.)

The Shofar and Satan’s Doom

 

In the fall of a year that will come very soon, Satan will have only a brief time left to operate his deceptive schemes.

• He will be given shortly thereafter a final period of progressive freedom when he “gets angry.”

• Will you be one of the saints “ready to take whatever comes”?

That final “little window” will see him in a frenzy never before witnessed.

 

“Satan is now seeking to hold God's people in a state of inactivity, to keep them from acting their part in spreading the truth, that they may at last be weighed in the balance and found wanting.”[16]

 

“Soon the last prayer for sinners will have been offered, the last tear shed, the last warning given, the last entreaty made, and the sweet voice of mercy will be heard no more. This is why Satan is making such mighty efforts to secure men and women in his snare. He has come down with great power, knowing that his time is short. His special work is to secure professed Christians in his ranks, that through them he may allure and destroy souls.”[17]

 

The last day of the Feast of Trumpets will draw probation to a close.

 

“When probation ends, it will come suddenly, unexpectedly – at a time when we are least expecting it. But we can have a clean record in heaven today, and know that God accepts us; and finally, if faithful, we shall be gathered into the kingdom of heaven.”[18]

 

“In the time when God's judgments are falling without mercy, oh, how enviable to the wicked will be the position of those who abide ‘in the secret place of the Most High’ – the pavilion in which the Lord hides all who have loved Him and have obeyed His commandments! The lot of the righteous is indeed an enviable one at such a time to those who are suffering because of their sins. But the door of mercy is closed to the wicked. No more prayers are offered in their behalf after probation ends.–3BC 1150 (1901).”[19]

 

Our Trumpet Challenge

 

“The spirit of anarchy is permeating all nations, and the outbreaks that from time to time excite the horror of the world are but indications of the pent-up fires of passion and lawlessness that, having once escaped control, will fill the earth with woe and desolation.... Before the Flood God sent Noah to warn the world, that the people might be led to repentance, and thus escape the threatened destruction. As the time of Christ's second appearing draws near, the Lord sends His servants with a warning to the world to prepare for that great event. Multitudes have been living in transgression of God's law, and now He in mercy calls them to obey its sacred precepts. All who will put away their sins by repentance toward God and faith in Christ are offered pardon.”[20]

 

“As the world have been living in transgression of the law of God, in mercy he sends a message of warning to arouse their attention and hold before them the law of God as a mirror into which they can look and discover the defects in their moral character. If they will make [this suggests a time when the window to repent is brief] earnest efforts to remedy these defects, by repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, they will be pardoned through the merits of his blood, for this is the only hope of the transgressor of the law of God. But as in the days of Noah, there is with the majority a total disbelief of the testimony God has in mercy sent to warn the world of her coming destruction.”[21]

 

When does this Tumpet Feast occur?

 

In the fall, at a Tishri 1, just before the last three and a half years begin, is the first of four final annual Feasts of Trumpets! This is the onset of the Judgment of the Living (Revelation 11:1). The fourth will be at the end of the Loud Cry just before the final Day of Atonement. This feast message is why, when the first angel’s message sounds during that three-and-a-half-year period, we will be able to say, “the hour of His judgment has come” (the judgment of the living). We will know that precisely – because of these distinct clocks He has given. There should be no guesswork about what now lies just ahead. Study, study, study! Know these things!

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