“strange work” of the seven trumpets

 

Foreword

    

Trumpets can be heard for long distances. When God’s Trumpets sound, it is assured that their messages will be heard by everyone. In the Old Testament the penetrating sound of trumpets came:

• As a warning to repent

• At the onset of judgment against the rebellious

• As a signal that war against Israel’s enemies had started

• When deliverance was pending

• When a king was enthroned

• When calling an assembly of Israel

In the New Testament they are primarily sounded in association with the coming of Christ (Matthew 24:30-31, I Corinthians 15:52, I Thessalonians 4:16).[1] In Revelation the Seven Trumpets begin a time of terrible judgment on the wicked. The first five announce a small window of opportunity to repent before probation closes and Jesus returns.

There are fascinating parallels between the first five Trumpets and several Egyptian plagues. There is also a similarity to events when Jericho fell. For six days the trumpets warned of their doom. Figuratively, for six days the inhabitants still had time to repent. On the seventh day doom came.

The sound of trumpets is a warning or alarm of pending judgment.

The Jericho story and the Egyptian plague experience signaled victory for God’s plans. His sovereign power triumphed. His character and authority were vindicated. The prayers of the martyred saints who cried out “How long?” (Revelation 6:9-11) are answered by God in what occurs in the first four Trumpets and consummated in the seventh.

After scanning all Biblical trumpet settings, the Seven Trumpet prophecy unfolds perhaps the most amazing story of:

• The onset of God’s wrath in judgment against those hardened in sin

• The era of final appeals to an unrepentant world

• The urgency that surrounds that period

• When God’s mercy towards sin ends

• How Jesus gathers His people together

• The final work of the saints

• The vital importance of Daniel’s end-time prophecies

A few amazing Old Testament verses metaphorically look forward to this time:

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13).

“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand … Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly” (Joel 2:1, 15).

To the impenitent, the Trumpets activate their impending doom. To those not yet committed to God, they, like the Feast of Trumpets, urgently appeal to each individual to purify one’s heart.

The Seven Last Plagues (Vials) and the Seven Trumpets have similarities (see table below).

The Trumpet plagues are executed with mercy, the Vial Plagues without. When the Trumpet plagues start, it signals a dramatic change in God’s dealing with mankind. This is what Isaiah called His “strange work,” His “strange act” (Isaiah 28:21). It initiates the last great crisis of the pre-advent period.

“Do you believe that the Lord is coming, and that the last great crisis is about to break upon the world?

“There will soon be a sudden change in God’s dealings. The world in its perversity is being visited by casualties,–by floods, storms, fires, earthquakes, famines, wars, and bloodshed. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power … But His forbearance will not always continue. Who is prepared for the sudden change that will take place in God’s dealing with sinful men?”[2]

“The angel that stood at my side … declared that the Lord has appointed a time when He will visit transgressors in wrath for persistent disregard of His law.”[3]

“When God’s restraining hand is removed, the destroyer begins his work. Then in our cities the greatest calamities will come.”[4]

This study will launch us into one of the most solemn eras of earth’s history. For 6000 years the war between good and evil has been waged. The time of the Trumpets comes at the very end of time. It’s exciting to know that with each event they inaugurate, the saints are reminded that Jesus’ coming is closer at hand.

John said that when the seventh angel “begins” to sound, “the mystery of God will be finished” (Revelation 10:7). Jesus returns shortly thereafter.

That is why every morsel of information God has given to us is vital to comprehend. For some (one third of the populace), it will be too late. For the rest it will be the final moments to decide where eternity will be spent.

 

Preface

  

As Revelation’s scroll is unrolled, information-filled prophetic scenes are choreographed. Each renders a special message related to the end of time. God staged varying scenes from earth’s final events so their truths could be studied in depth. When each is understood and fit properly to each other a panorama of earth’s final scenes is beautifully unfolded!

Those perspectives include heavenly sanctuary imagery, earthly events, divine commentary, special information studies called interludes and spiritual advice. Together, all tell a precise story of how Satan will fight to the end, with heaven as the final victor.

One of those scenic pieces is the Seven Trumpets. Through these, God wishes us to grasp a very fascinating element of the end of history. What is that? As the conflict between good and evil draws to an end, He desires the universe to witness two things:

 

1. What His justice and mercy reveal
2. What Satan’s justice and hatred do

 

The Trumpet “intelligence report” portrays all that. Trumpets of history sounded to alert people of danger, to call them back to a covenant relationship and to blast an alarm that final judgments were imminent. Revelation’s Trumpets are no different. An ancient Old Testament time of consecration serves as a beautiful model for these Trumpet messages.

The Feast of Trumpets began on the first day of the seventh month of Tishri. Though the first day of each month started with the blowing of trumpets throughout all the land, what began at Tishri was very different.

Tishri was the month in which the Day of Atonement occurred. For Israel that represented the final judgment – life or death. The Trumpets blew daily at the onset of each new day, beginning with Tishri 1, which started at evening. The “tenth” sounding on the evening before the Day of Atonement, called (Leviticus 23:32). During that ceremony, probation closed.

During the apocalyptic Trumpets, the first “woe” or fifth Trumpet will be the last warning that probation is ending. With the sixth, terrible desolation occurs. When the Trumpets begin, a clock starts whose alarm will shortly seal the fate of the world.

 

1.   The first four fulfill mainly the historical reason for trumpets: repentance and judgment.

2. The next two reveal Satan’s character. During the second of these, the final Atonement ceases.

3.   The last announces that God’s kingdom has begun.

 

How do we really know that this is end-time? God gave us a fantastic clue. He even told us long before the Trumpets sound! Revelation 8:2 begins the Trumpet story by simply saying that angels were given Trumpets. That tells us that the event has started. Before God continues, He interrupts the scene by revealing a phenomenal clue. He breaks into the message by a timing commentary. John is given a vision as to when all this will occur. No dates are disclosed. No time period is announced. But the imagery tells it all!

The book already showed Jesus as High Priest, “tending the lamps” – feeding His churches, His people, with the oil of the Holy Spirit. Here we see Him in this commentary insert (vss 3-5) offering incense.

These were two functions of the High Priest in the Holy Place: “And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations” (Exodus 30:7-8).

Throughout the ages of the Christian Church, Christ has been officiating as the High Priest for all in the heavenly sanctuary.

But something is very different in these verses! Jesus has a golden censer in His hand while at the Altar of Incense. That is Day of Atonement imagery. It signals that a final step in dealing with sin is about to occur.

“And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil” (Leviticus 16:12).

He is pictured as ready to go into the Most Holy Place.

On that special day the priest took this censer filled with burning coals, as well as incense, with him into the Most Holy Place. When he came out of the Most Holy Place, the censer was put down and sin and unrepentant sinners were “cast out” of the camp (Leviticus 23:29).

The commentary interval never goes that far. It portrays Jesus as ready to cleanse the sanctuary, His people, from sin. Then He suddenly does something most fascinating and unexpected. He casts the coals from the hand censer to the earth. What does that mean?

• Judgment begins on some (the wicked)

• Sealing begins for some (the righteous)

Both announce that a terribly urgent time has come (time is short). It begins the final call to repentance. God’s judgments have started. How does that unfold? By what occurs with the Trumpets. The first four are divine judgments. Astonishingly, the next two are Satan’s judgments. Then – the Trump when the mystery of God is finished.

What is about to follow is quite graphic! Be prepared. It comes right from the studios of God’s “media center.” He doesn’t want us to miss one word or scene. Let’s begin!