The Day of Trumpets

When God established His law, He commanded His people to celebrate three festivals each year. The festivals were reminders of what God had done for His people and they also represent what Yahweh will do at His appointed times. For example, the first two festivals were fulfilled by Christ at the First Coming. The next festival will be fulfilled by Christ at His Second Coming. To understand God's  appointed times for the future, let’s examine the the remaining festival.

Trumpets is next in God’s time-table which will be followed by the Day of Atonement and finally the Feast of Tabernacles.  Each signifies aspects of what will take place at Christ's Second Coming  at the end of the age when He sets up His Kingdom on earth.

Jesus taught about this final harvest saying, "The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. … The Son of Man will send out his angels, ..." (Matthew 13:38-39, 41)

Trumpets - Rosh Hashanah

In preparation and warning for the day of Trumpets, the priests would sound trumpets each day leading up to the day of Trumpets. Then at the New Moon, the final trumpet blasts signaled the gathering of Israel for the Fall Festival of Ingathering.

On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets (Numbers 29:1).

At the appointed time of of Trumpets, the Last Trumpet will signal the gathering of the elect from heaven and earth.  Both the Old and New Testaments record information regarding this last trumpet call.  Below, Jesus describes it in conjunction with His return.

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (Matthew 24:29-31).

Paul wrote about the same thing, referring to the trumpet call and the gathering of believers.

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

Years later, Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth a mystery about the last trumpet in connection to the resurrection of the dead and the change in those who will still be alive at His appearing.

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).

Under the Old Covenant, Israel would sound trumpets daily as a warning that the day of Trumpets was at hand, when the final trumpet sounded their long blasts, Israel would gather in sacred assembly. 

In Revelation we see a series of seven trumpets which lead up the last trumpet.  “And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets” (Revelation 8:2).  Then we are told that the mystery will be accomplished when the seventh trumpet sounds.

But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets (Revelation 10:7)

At the seventh and last trumpet, Christ will begin His reign on earth.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great-- and for destroying those who destroy the earth (Revelation11:15-18).

At the last trumpet, Christ will return, gather His followers, establish His Kingdom on earth, judge and reward His saints and punish the unbelieving  world.

Ten days after the day of Trumpets, is the Day of Atonement - judgment and rewards for the saints.

Richard H Perry