With Israel back in the land, God has been trying to get the attention of believers. Remember, there are seven sets of trumpeting from that corner of the Temple Mount. And why is it called the last trumpet? Because God has been trying to get the attention of the church.
Ladies and gentlemen, Israel is back in the land. He prepared the land, brought back the people, revived the language, sustained them through wars, prospered them, gave them their capital back, made enemies jealous – all of that. These are trumpets signaling the believers to get ready. “Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep.” And that’s why it says the last trumpet. God has been trying to get your attention. He has been doing things. He was on the move. Let he who has eyes see; let he who has ears hear what the Spirit has to say. The world will not see it. The world will not understand it. The believers must. And I will conclude with this – the last trumpet signals God welcoming us into heaven. And it will be very, very soon.
Bible Bite:
God is Trying to Get the Attention of the Church
Most students of Bible prophecy understand that there is a trumpet that is associated with the Rapture of the church. There are multiple interpretations of exactly when that last trumpet is going to sound. Some see this trumpet sounding on the Feast of Trumpets. Others believe the Rapture trumpet is the last of the seven in the book of Revelation. Many, therefore, believe the trumpet that announces the Rapture of the church is either on Rosh Hashanah or at the midpoint of the Tribulation.
One thing that will help us determine where the Rapture falls in the prophetic timeline is understanding the role of trumpets in the Bible.
1 Corinthians 14:6-8
But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching? Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?
Paul uses the flute, harp, and trumpet as illustrations of the importance of tongues being interpreted, and he makes the point that trumpets are used to signal various things by the tune which is played.
Leviticus 23:23-24
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.’”
Numbers 10:1-2
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps.”
1 Chronicles 15:28
Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps.
We see trumpets in the Old Testament used to signal a commemoration, to call the congregation together, and as part of a celebration. In other words, trumpets were used at different times to signal different things, but the role of trumpets was specific to the occasion.
At Rosh Hashanah, the trumpet used was to announce to the Jews a Sabbath rest and call them to a holy convocation (a public meeting or reading). Unless the church has replaced Israel, the Feast of Trumpets means the same thing today. It’s not a day that signals that the time has come for the church to go home.
There are those who believe that the last of the seven trumpets of Revelation is the prophetic timing of the Rapture. They are saying that only then will the wrath of God begin on the earth after the church is taken out of the way.
Yet, when the seventh angel sounds its trumpet, over 4 billion people will have died on the earth from the direct wrath of God. The antichrist will have risen to power according to Revelation 6:2, mankind will butcher each other under the rider on the red horse, and unprecedented famine will strike the globe. All this will lead to the death of one third of the earth’s population through murder, hunger, and the beasts of the earth.
Before the seventh angel sounds its trumpet, countless saints will be slain by the antichrist, an earthquake will darken the sun and moon, a meteor storm will pound the earth, and every person will hide in the mountains and the rocks calling on the boulders to hide them from the wrath of Him who sits on the throne and the wrath of the Lamb. This is only the sixth seal of seven and it is stated clearly that the wrath of God is already underway long before the seventh trumpet sounds.
Next, 144,000 Jews are sealed and a numberless multitude of saints are recognized as having been killed in the destruction. Then the seventh seal is opened and there is silence in heaven for about half-an-hour. Then the trumpets begin to sound. Hail and fire mingled with blood pummel the earth, burning up a third of the trees and all the green grass. An asteroid strikes the earth killing a third of the sea creatures and destroying a third of the ships. Then a comet strikes the earth making a third of the earth’s fresh water supply radioactive which kills many more people.
After that a third of the sun, moon, and stars are darkened. An angel will then fly through the midheaven, saying, “Woe, woe, woe” to that which is about to happen to the earth. Locusts are then released from the bottomless pit, the king of which is named the Destroyer. They torment mankind to the degree that people wish they were dead. Then four angels release an army of 200 million to kill a third of mankind, and that is when, some say, the church is Raptured at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. But that does not fit what the Bible clearly says about the Lord’s protection of His church.
1 Thessalonians 5:9
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The whole Tribulation is God’s wrath, not just the second half. The second half is God’s undiluted wrath and is even more catastrophic than the seal and trumpet judgments.
1 Corinthians 15:50-53
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Trumpets announce many things in scripture. This particular sounding is the last one of the church age when the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God signal that it is time for the church to go home, because the wrath of God is about to be poured out on the world. We’re not waiting for Rock Hashanah to go home, nor are we waiting for the seventh trumpet during the Tribulation. We are waiting for a day and hour predetermined by God that precedes His wrath on the earth, and that day could be today!
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus
Behold Israel
Amir Tsarfati
