CMI Because You Asked. .

CMI Because You Asked. . .

I am asked by many people; “is the ‘last trump’ of 1 Corinthians 15:52 the ‘seventh trumpet’ of the book of Revelation?” Rather than write an extensive paper on the subject I offer the following excerpt from The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy by Mal Couch, as a good summary of the answer to the question. R. Congdon

TRUMPET OF GOD

In the Bible, trumpets were used for various purposes, including the worship of God. Psalm 47:5 speaks of God ascending with a shout and with “the sound of a trumpet.” The King of Israel and the King of all the earth reigns over the nations and “sits on His holy throne.” The trumpet is clearly an instrument of praise to the Lord.

Zechariah 9:11-16 seems to be an awesome prediction about the coming Maccabean era

(in the second century B.C.), when the sons of Zion would defeat the sons of Greece. This included the defeat of the cruel madman who was reigning over Jerusalem, Antiochus Epiphanes. Zechariah predicted that the Lord would fire His arrows at the Greeks like lighting, and “the Lord God will blow the trumpet” and defend His people (9:14-15

NASB). “And the Lord their God will save them in that day” (9:16).

When the Lord Jesus comes again as the Son of Man, the promised Messiah, He will sound “a great trumpet,” and His angels will gather together the elect from one end of the earth to the other. When the King comes “in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne” with the nations presented at His feet for judgment (Matthew 24:31; 25:31-31). The context shows that this coming to Jerusalem with the sound of “a great trumpet” has to do with the millennial reign, after the Tribulation. The King, comes to earth “on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory” (24:30).

Jesus said these words to His disciples in His Olivet Discourse. The Jewish people were very familiar with what the Lord was speaking about; the trumpet would announce the Davidic reign on earth. The apostle Paul also mentions an earlier event, that involves another trumpet. Before the Tribulation, “the trumpet of God” will call home the believers of this dispensation, those “who have fallen asleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). These who are asleep are the “dead in Christ” (4:16). In addition to these, those who “are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord” (4:15) will be summoned upward with “a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.” This event is both the resurrection of the “sleeping” church saints (those who have died in Christ) and the rapture of those living “to meet the Lord in the air” (4:17).

The “shout” (Greek, keleuo, “summon”) is a classical and military term meaning to “give a command” and is used for the purpose of gathering groups together. Christ is coming for His church with absolute and certain authority! “The archangel” is the highest angel, Michael (Jude 9). No article appears before the name in Greek, and it could be read “with [preposition en] the voice of an archangel,” leaving some to speculate that there could be other archangels.

As with “archangel,” there is no article before “trumpet.” It could read “with [preposition en] a trumpet [belonging to] God.” This trumpet belonging to God is also the “last” (Greek, eschatos) trumpet, which will close the church age (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). As in 1 Thessalonians 4, this “trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). In verses 51-52 the apostle Paul reveals that the rapture is something not previously revealed; it is a mystery in which “we will not all sleep, but we all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”

Some interpreters attempt to tie the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:52) and the trumpet of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16) to the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15-19. But the key to biblical interpretation is not simply the comparison of like words, such as trumpet , but more importantly, the context of various passages of Scripture. [highlighted by Rob Congdon] The seventh trumpet of Revelation 11 announces the soon-to-come eternal earthly reign of the Lord’s Christ (verse 15). The seventh trumpet sounds forth in the midst of the Tribulation and has nothing to do with the rapture of the church. It announces the Lord coming down to rule, not the catching away of the church and the resurrected saints with Him to glory. With the announcement that Christ will soon reign, the nations are enraged (Revelation 11:18). The seventh trumpet heralds more wrath upon the earth, accompanied with peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm (11:19).

Therefore, the trumpet of God sound before the Tribulation and calls the church up to meet the Lord in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) – a joyous “harvest” occasion when God calls His workers home. On the other hand, the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15 sounds during the Tribulation and is a war trumpet that announces a final military victory of Christ and more judgment on the rebellious earth.

Mal Couch

The above excerpt is from: LaHaye, Tim and Hindson, Ed – general editors. The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy. (Eugene OR: Harvest House, 2004), 395-396.

I would add the following note to this subject. There are many references to “trumpets” in the Bible and care must be exercised in your study of them and their relationship to other passages. Often the Feast of Trumpets is related to the rapture or catching up of the church based purely upon the use of trumpets in both. Any Biblical and thorough study of the feasts, demonstrates that the rapture must occur before the prophetic event of Israel at the Feast of Trumpets. I have covered this extensively in my book on the feasts.

I would also note, that the Bible specifically refers to trumpets involving Moses, Joshua, Ehud, Gideon, David, Zadok, Solomon, Ezra, the rapture, the seven trumpet judgments, and Israel’s re-gathering (Num. 10:2; Jos. 6:4; Jud. 3:12-30; 7; 2 Sam. 6:15; 1 Kg. 1:39; 2 Chron. 5:13; Ezra 3:10; 1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16; Rev. 8:2; and Matt. 4:31). Each is a distinct reference and must be considered in its context.

Robert Congdon Congdon Ministries International PO Box 1785 Greer, SC 29652 www.CongdonMinistries.org [email protected]

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