Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:03:55 — 70.9MB)
Subscribe: RSS
We have discussed over the years that the prophets and some of the New Testament authors explain that the Fall Feasts (Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles/Eighth Day) are symbolic of future events. Obviously we recognize how the Spring Feasts (Passover, First Fruits, Shavuot) and most of the Fall Feasts are well documented with historical and spiritual events both in the TaNaK and New Testament.
It is clear that much of the symbolism for these Appointed Times of the LORD found in our Bibles use of objects or agriculture as a basis for instruction. Therefore, when we are looking at passages or concepts that use tools (objects, agriculture or other easy to grasp ideas) it is helpful to look for these same tools used elsewhere in a similar fashion to better understand purpose and gain insight to the original instruction. Trumpets are a great well used tool to gain insight into the Feast of Trumpets.
The first instruction for Trumpets given without explanation:
Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ‘You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.’ “
Lev. 23:23-25
Later, the Torah gives more details for the trumpets and use (Num. 10:1-10).
Let’s read some examples of how trumpets are re-used in other passages. Trumpets are mostly used for war and anointing of kings:
- Joshua 6 the fall of Jericho.
- Judges 6-7 on Gideon’s war.
- 2Samuel 15 and 1Kings 1 on anointing kings, and multiple instances of calling up the armies, directing armies during battles and warnings of invasions.
Therefore with these examples we can extrapolate that Yehovah’s appointed time of Feast of Trumpets is going to center around these similar events, i.e. Invading Armies, Directing Battles, Calling the Armies, and Anointing a King.
Joel 2:1-17 gives a good example of the trumpet symbol used in many of the most common fashion, but used on behalf of Yehovah instead of men.
This passage is extremely useful in that Joel 2:10 appears connected to other passages that help explain the context of the trumpets and their use. Joel shows that the Sun, Moon and stars failing is a direct result from the army and their destructive power.
Matt. 24:4-51: Messiah warns about the Day of the LORD
Joel’s explanation allows us further insight to other connected passages about the Sun, Moon and stars in Matt. 24:29 and Rev. 6:12.
Most notable about Matt. 24:29 is the timing and context when compared to Joel 2:10. We see here that in Matt 24:29, the Sun, Moon and stars darkening occurs following the tribulation, but before the coming of Messiah and the resurrection trumpet sounding. Since Joel tells us the army causes the Sun, Moon and stars to fail, then we can conclude that the LORD’s army attacks and destroys Jerusalem before the resurrection trumpet sounds. This means that the tribulation is an event (or events) that lead up to a trumpet sounding.
Revelation 6 gives further insight to these events:
I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Rev. 6:12-17
This passage in Revelation is most helpful in determining the context of the events surrounding Joel 2 and Matthew 24. Here we can see an abundance of connections between Matthew 24 and the Revelation 6 sixth seal. Now we have strong evidence that shows the LORD’s army described in Joel 2 is the source of the darkened Sun, Moon and stars recorded in Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 that occurs before any of the trumpets sound. Thus the trumpet recorded in Joel is not one of the Seven trumpets, but rather a trumpet of warning for Jerusalem of the LORD’s army.
With these three passages, it symbolically connects “the LORD’s army” in Joel is the “earthquake” in Revelation 6. We also have the useful symbol of Sun, Moon and stars from the Torah’s description as being symbols for Abraham’s descendants and specifically Jacob and the 12 tribes. Therefore it is a trivial task to see that the Sixth Seal is most likely the LORD’s army attacking Jerusalem (Israel) and some (up to a third) of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are killed in the process. This occurred BEFORE any trumpets sound.
Now that we have a “point in time” located in Joel, Matt, and Rev, we can see the warning from Messiah in Matt. 24:32-51 mostly directs us to look for the Seals being broken as our indication that the “figs are ripe.”
Trumpets in Revelation
Having said all that, this is the Feast of Trumpets, not the “Feast of Broken Seals.”
The purpose of the Seal discussion was to demonstrate that objects described in Revelation may not be what they appear to be. An earthquake might be an army, stars might be descendants of Abraham, and as for grass. Let’s take a look.
Before a single trumpet sounds, we are shown that an angel takes the prayers of the saints, and mixes them with incense in a censer and presented them to God. After the prayers are presented to God, the fire from the censer is thrown to the earth accompanied by “peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
Why do the prayers of the saints provoke this response? This response is eerily similar to what happened at Mt. Sinai when God gave the 10 commandments to Moses.
What were the saints praying about? The saints are praying to God to return the world to Him and to His commandments. The saints, those who have the Holy Spirit indwelling in them, are praying for themselves and for the world to repent from their sins, as defined by the 10 commandments, and to return to God.
The seven trumpets are blown in direct response to the prayers of the saints. The trumpets and the calamities that accompany them are sent out against the land of Israel, while the bowls and the calamities that pour forth from them, are spilled out against the world in general.
Trumpet 1
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.
The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
Revelation 8:1–7 NASB
To dig into the First Trumpet, we need to have more information than what we see here. If we look back we see that this description has some significant similarities to a previous event recorded in Exodus 9:13-33.
“For this time I will send all My plagues on your heart and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. … “Still you exalt yourself against My people by not letting them go. … The one among the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses;
Exodus 9:14, 17, 20
Here we see that hail and fire, which are mixed with blood, are sent by God to destroy life (animals and servants) as well as the grass (barley & flax). Please note the reasons listed for this plague in Ex. 9:14, 17 and the reasonable “fear” response in Ex. 9:20. Here we see the objective of this particular plague is to address the heart and the exalting of Pharaoh over God’s people. So those who feared the LORD (Fear of Yehovah is the beginning of wisdom) responded and preserved their wealth (animals) and servants. Those that did not lost both their wealth and servants. Please note that the wealth included the barley and flax grasses listed in Ex. 9:31.
Therefore the destruction due to a hard heart and exalting over God’s people affected the animals, servants and grass crops that belonged to the Egyptians and Pharaoh. In the context of the first trumpet, we see also that the grass is destroyed from the hail. Also blood (life) is mixed with the hail in Revelation 8 similar to how life was lost by the hail in Exodus 9.
Another element is the trees listed in Revelation 8 (one-third burned up). Now we know from the Messiah and prophets that righteous men are likened to fruit producing trees, while unrighteous produce no fruit and are to be cut-down and burned in the fire. Using these examples and comparing them to Isaiah 39 and 40 where grass is compared to people and wealth was to be taken away. Yehovah comforts the people explaining that though their wealth will be removed and they will be in need, He will supply the required water (wealth) to the grass (people).
It it therefore possible that the symbols used in Trumpet No. 1 (blood, trees, grass) refers to people and wealth being burned up:
The LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:5-8
The plagues were a direct judgement against the Egyptian gods. These particular plagues in Egypt attacked the trees and the grass. This is an attack on the earth itself.
Trumpet 2
The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Rev. 8:8-9
This is simple to examine. The fire mountain is comparable to the Mountain of God in the wilderness, aka Mount Sinai. This is mostly connected to the Torah and instructions from Yehovah. The ships are explained in Ezekiel 27 referring to prosperity, which is also supported in Rev 18:17. In the case of fish and creatures, the Nile turning to blood is the reference.
This appears to be a more literal (non-symbol) death of living water animals. Zephaniah explains that the destruction planned for the Day of the LORD is mostly centered around Israel, Jerusalem and the Mediteraenian sea. In the Nile, the plague was a strike at the power of Egypt, in this example it is a strike at the power of the merchant ships.
This also harkens back directly to the plagues of Egypt. The sea this references is the Mediterranean.
Trumpet 3
The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
Rev. 8:10-11
The rivers and springs of water are symbolic of drinking water, which human beings use and consume. Wormwood is a bitter poisonous plant. Fortunately, wormwood is an established symbol in the Torah (Deut 29:16-21). Wormwood symbolically represents spiritual delusion, specially the spiritual self-delusion that causes us to believe that our sinful way of life is blessed by or condoned by God. It’s thinking good is evil and evil is good. When we say to oursevles that “I am good with God even though I do not follow the Torah or worship Him in the manor He requires.” In other words the theological teaching that the “Laws of God listed in the Torah do not apply to me” or are “done away with.”
For great examples read:
- Jer. 9:12-16: Wormwood is connected to not following God’s laws.
- Jer. 23:9-17: Wormwood connected to teaching and prophesying falsely so that men will not return to God’s laws.
- Proverbs 5: Adultery’s end is wormwood (note the worship of other gods is spiritual adultery).
This is spiritual delusion.
Trumpet 4
The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
Rev. 8:12-13
There are alternate explanations for this passage. It is possible that like the sixth seal, these are people or they might refer to seasons or times. However, since day and night are included and it appears to be a time-based event (one-third of the day and one-third of the night). I am inclined to view this as a physical darkening of a region. This I believe is supported by Zeph. 1:14-18, where the area of Israel is gloomy and miserable.
And the discussion in Zechariah 13–14 of the thirds in Israel who face judgment on the Day of the LORD also are relevant to the examination of the thirds under judgment in Revelation.
One interpretation of the Sun, Moon and stars is that if they are symbolic of people, like with the sixth seal, then one-third of the people appear to lose hope or faith.
This brings the eagle to mind. Note that Yehovah used the “eagle’s wings” symbol multiple times to illustrate how He carried Israel out of slavery. This eagle does not carry anyone away, but rather warns the people that live here there is more to come. It is possible that this warning and the one-third lose hope is connected to a disappointment, or a false belief of saving that didn’t occur (think, the rapture).
Another possible interpretation is that the sun, moon and stars in this text represents heaven. Joel 2 and Matthew 24 both elaborate on the events surrounding this trumpet. In the Torah, as revealed in Joseph’s dream, the sun represents Jacob, the moon represents his wife and the stars represent the 12 sons of Jacob. This trumpet is directed against the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Trumpet 5
Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
Rev. 9:1-12
Much of this trumpet appears to be more literal. Clearly the symbols are more literal than symbolic (men are men, killing, torment, number of months, etc.). We know from Ezekiel that the mark on the forehead from God goes to those who mourn and sigh because of the Torah-less men and behaviors that rule the earth. We also know that in Hebrew the “bottomless pit” is a reference to the grave that can never be filled. Since most of the symbols in this trumpet are literal, then the creatures are most likely some physical thing that exists at the time.
However, there is also a spitiual component to the locusts. We read that the locusts and the other insects released from the bottomless pit are sent to hurt humans in different ways.
Locusts normally only eat the plants that humans need for food, but these locusts are sent to only hurt men directly. These locusts are sent to torture those who are not sealed by and protected by God. These locusts are sent to eat up people’s wealth. The wealth of nations are its subjects. A king or a politician without people to rule over are kings and politicians over nothing. The pharaoh in Egypt specifically called the locusts a “death” and asked Moses to send the “death” away from them.
Trumpet 6
Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm. The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.
Rev. 9:13–21
Much like the fifth trumpet, this one also appears to me more literal since men are listed, places, and army sizes. The descriptions of the army may be an attempt to explain what John sees, or it might be how Yehovah sees the weaponry that exists at the time of this trumpet.
The point to bring out is that both the fifth and sixth trumpets indicate that the people being attacked are not followers of Yehovah and the creatures or army know the difference between these groups of people. I do not know how, unless the instruction: “come out of her My people” is applied such that those who follow Yehovah are moved out or in another location.
Despite all the destruction inflicted Israel and the Middle East through these 6 trumpets, the people on earth remain stubborn, refusing to repent, refusing to change their behavior.
The two witnesses here are Moses and Elijah, who are the only two men who are directly connected to Mt. Sinai in an intimate way. Most of the people who heard Moses and Elijah heard them with their ears but did not listen to them with their hearts. Moses tells us what God expects of us, Elijah told us who God is and most people and the sixth trumpet shows us that most people will not listen to either of them.
Trumpet 7
Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ” The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
Rev. 11:15–18
This trumpet should include the so-called “last trump” when the dead in Messiah are raised (1Cor. 15:51–52 and 1Thessalonians 3). Not that the timing is exact, some time during this trumpet resurrection occurs. In my opinion it likely occurs before the bowl judgments in a similar fashion that the two witnesses that are resurrected.
The level of willful ignorance and defiance that the people of the earth will direct towards God in the time of the 7 trumpets is mind-blowing. We should all want to repent and change our behavior for the good. We should also want the entire world to repent and change its behavior for their own good and the good of the world. Pay attention to the events around us, these are our only warnings.