February 13 - The Seventh Seal - Trumpets

February 13 – The Seventh Seal – Trumpets
Revelation 8:6

“Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.”

God decreed that trumpets would herald many of the activities of the Israelites in the Old Testament. Numbers 10:2 says, “Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.” The rest of the chapter describes how the trumpets are used to call together the entire community or just the leaders, how the camps move out and about, who is to be in charge of blowing the trumpet, etc. He goes on to tell Moses that this is to be a lasting ordinance for you and generations to come. The trumpet blast is to be sounded to announce battle against and enemy and will bring the Lord to their rescue. It is to be sounded at festivals – times of rejoicing and at times the community is brought together to remember God.

These are metal trumpets, not just the ram’s horns. They look much like the trumpets used in heraldry with a flared end. Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 14:8, “If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?”

So, there are four very specific things that God tells Moses to do with these trumpets: call the community together, send the camps out, announce battle, announce festivals.

The trumpet also announces the Day of the Lord. Isaiah 27:13 says that on that day a great trumpet will sound. Joel 2:1 tells us to “Blow the trumpet in Zion” on that day and Zephaniah 1:16 says that it will be a day of trumpet and battle cry.

In Zechariah 9:14, we discover that “The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south.”

Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:31 that “… he (God) will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, form one end of the heavens to the other.”

The references to the use of trumpets by God to announce His presence and bring His people to attention are numerous.

1 Corinthians 15:52-53, “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 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.” (1 Thess. 4:16)

Much as I love the sound of a great trumpeter, when these angels come forth to sound their trumpets, not only is it a call to battle, we will finally be at the End of Days.