God's Trumpets

In Isaiah 58.1, Isaiah 58 and verse 1, God told Isaiah, He said, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Cry aloud. Your margin may show that that basically means with the throat. Sometimes we speak off of the lips, we speak up front, and sometimes we speak from the throat. In other words, what God is emphasizing is deep with force and power, for it's really felt. That's what the meaning there is. Have you ever noticed how when an animal is warning you, it growls, especially a dog, very low and deep in its throat, and you know to take it seriously. Spare not, He tells Isaiah. Don't hold back. Don't mince words. Don't spare feelings. Don't beat around the bush. Tell it like it is. Lay it on the line. Say what's got to be said. We can take those phrases and detail them out more like that in the vernacular. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Make yourself heard. Get attention. Sound the alarm. Sound a warning. That's all connected to the trumpet. Pierce through all the clutter. Give a clarion call to awake and show my people their transgression. And the house of Jacob, their sins.

My people, the house of Jacob, Israel. Now, why such an emphasis on that with Isaiah? Why such an emphasis in this prophetic message of Isaiah? I mean, for him to do it, yes, but also a prophetic message and also a reflection and insight into how God works. Why? Well, for one thing, you get an answer in Amos 3 verse 7. Amos 3 and verse 7. Surely, Amos 3 and 7, surely the Lord God, God will do nothing, but He reveals His secret unto His servants, the prophets. What you're told in Amos 3 and 7, you are shown there is a pattern. There is a procedure by which God works. It is an operational method with Him that does not change. And Amos 3 and 7 speaks to this and acknowledges this. When God Himself is going to do something, He doesn't leave it closed and secret. He brings it out into the open for those affected, who are going to be affected by what He does to see. And He does it through His chosen servants. He does it through His trumpets. You'd like a title? Two words. God's Trumpets. God's Trumpets. He doesn't leave it unknown. He doesn't leave it unknown. Through them, His servants, He makes it known. See, the Noatian Flood didn't just happen. The Noatian Flood was God's doing. All that water, the way it all occurred, and the earth being flooded, that was not just happenstance or the way things just worked together. No, that was God specifically drowning the world. It was God who brought the Noatian Flood. That was His doing. And He had two servants that He sent to warn the world. The first one was Enoch, and the second one was Noah. They had that job. See, Enoch and Noah were great-grandfather and great-grandson. First, Enoch, regarding their wickedness, he preached, and it's in the Bible, if you know where to look, he preached regarding their wickedness and their coming judgment. And then great-grandson Noah, that their judgment would be in the form of a universal flood. Enoch started the warning, and Noah finished it. It's that simple. Enoch started it, Noah finished it. What God was going to do and why He was going to do it was no secret by the time that He did it. They didn't believe it. They jeered, they mocked, they made fun of Noah and his family. They didn't believe it. But obviously, conviction came when they're trying to tread water. You can only do it so long, and there's no dry place to go to. God was going to break Egypt. It wasn't going to be just because, again, a bunch of things came together. God was going to break Egypt. God himself, through the ten plagues, was going to reduce Egypt to ruins. And when Israel was broken free from them, when Israel walked out of there, what they saw around them as they left Egypt looked like a total war zone. No, He was going to reduce Egypt to ruins, and in the process, He was going to free His people. And before He unleashed the first plague, He sent His two witnesses. You know their names, Moses and Aaron. And all during the continuous ongoing pouring out of them, those plagues, He kept sending Moses. He kept sending Aaron. And again, when God Himself is about to do, when God Himself is about to take action and insert His hand, what God is about to do, He does not allow it to be closed or hidden or secret. He has servants on the scene, servants at hand on hand, servants that make plain what is coming, servants that make plain what is going on. He has His trumpets, and they leave nothing to doubt or speculation.

God's trumpets, Malachi 4 and verse 5. Do we read this really closely?

Malachi 4 and verse 5. Behold, look, pay attention. I, God is saying, I, God, He is saying, I will send you, Elijah, the prophet.

You want to know what that chronology is? It's got it right in the verse. When will He send this? Elijah tells you right there in the verse. He says, I will send you, Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

I will send you. God's direct hand is involved. This is an active exercise and application of Amos 3.7, what we read in Amos 3.7. And this is the last sending before the age of man is closed by the return of Jesus Christ.

This sending of this Elijah ushers in the return of Christ and the closing of the age.

Like I said, you have a chronology laid out there. This is the last sending of the servants of God in this age.

These are the last prophets of this age, and this is the final prophetic work. This is the last call and warning to the age. It's the last big job. I will send you Elijah, the prophet.

Okay. Elijah, the prophet. Let's look briefly at Elijah, the actual prophet of God.

He is the name of God that came on God's behalf.

And we already know, don't we, that Elijah's name means God is God. That's what his name means. What's your name? God is God. You have an interesting name, sir. Your name means God is God. It's interesting.

El and Yah, God is God. See, Elijah was given a job. Elijah was given the job to point the people at that time back to God, to point them to God, to call a knee to that. And one of the best known accounts of the Bible is Elijah's confrontation with the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. And of course, you find that in 1 Kings 18. And of course, the outcome of that is recorded in 1 Kings 18.39. It's an interesting account. And it says there, it says, And when all the people saw it, that showdown with the 450 false prophets, the prophets of Baal, when all the people saw it, when the fire came down from heaven and licked up the dust and all, the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They fell prostrate on their faces and said over and over, The Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God. You know, He is God. Elijah, God is God. His name identified His job. His name signified His calling. His name signified His prophetic responsibility.

Notice the prophetic calling of the Elijah to come. Again, Malachi 4 here. And this time, verse 6. Notice the prophetic calling of the Elijah to come. Has He come yet? No.

The Day of the Lord hasn't come either yet. And the age hasn't come yet. Notice the prophetic calling of the Elijah to come.

Verse 6. And He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest they come and smite the earth with a curse. It's talking about relationships. It's pointing the way with the key and core issue being pointing back to God. A relationship with Him. Again, the name means God is God. See, the final Elijah has this final, final Elijah work.

Something I hope we all understand is the prophetic name Elijah has come to symbolize. It's come to notate. It has come to identify or stand for a prophetic office. It's somewhat like Mr. President. See, it doesn't matter who the President of the United States is. You don't have to introduce Him by His actual name.

You can say, ladies and gentlemen, now I present the President. Or He can be addressed as Mr. President. There's an office there. And prophetically, there's a prophetic office, the office of Elijah.

Notice, here's part of that proof and is sufficient proof in Matthew 17. Matthew 17, verses 10 through 13. Matthew 17, verses 10 through 13. And His disciples ask Him, verse 10, saying, Well, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must first come? And Jesus answered and said to them, Elijah truly shall first come.

They've just seen a vision of Christ's transfiguration before them. A vision, transfiguration in the Kingdom with, again, a vision of Moses and Elijah standing there with Him. And they know it's talking about the Feast of Tabernacles. They want to make booths. They know it's about the Kingdom of God. They understand that.

And so, let's say, well, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must first come? And Jesus answered and said to them, Elijah truly shall first come. That's Malachi 4, 5, and 6. Shall first come before Christ comes back and sets up His Kingdom. That hasn't happened yet. He acknowledges that and restores all things. But I say to you, and we can say also, that Elijah has come already. There is an Elijah that has come. Not the final one, but there is one that has come already. And they knew Him not, but have done to Him whatsoever they wanted. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. But then the disciples understood that He's spoken to them of John the Baptist. John the Baptist, His name was John. They called him the Baptist. His name wasn't Elijah. But He came in the Spirit and power of Elijah in that sense. He held that office, that title. Notice Luke 1, verses 13 through 17. Luke 1, verses 13 through 17. This has to do with John the Baptist's birth, Elizabeth's pregnancy. Verse 13, chapter 1 of Luke. But the angel, and this would be Gabriel, but the angel, Gabriel, said unto him, Fear not, Zechariahs, for your prayer is heard. And your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

And you shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord. There is none greater than he that is born a woman than John the Baptist, Christ would later say. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall neither drink wine nor strong drink. He was an Azurite. Not Nazarene, Nazurite.

They had to be under a certain vow. And he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

And that's part of the job of the final Elijah to come that we read about in Malachi 4, verses 5 and 6. Especially verse 6. Verse 17 here, And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared, a people prepared for the Lord.

John the Baptist, who was in the office of Elijah, that prophetic office, he paved the way for the first coming of Christ. The final Elijah will pave the way for the second coming of Christ. Let's go back to the original Elijah, 2 Kings 1. 2 Kings 1 and verses 9 and 10. Now, the king wants to take Elijah. He's not too fond of Elijah.

Elijah has been trouble for the king, obviously, for Ahab and Jezebel and all. He's not, as far as they're concerned, he's no friend of theirs. But in verses 9 and 10 here, of chapter 1 of 2 Kings, then the king sent him a captain of 50, with his 50.

Oh, that's enough to take the guy and bring him in. And he went up to him, and behold, he, Elijah, sat on the top of a hill. And he spoke, the captain spoke to him and said, You man of God, the king has said, come down. I'm here with the authority of the king, and you've got to obey.

There's attitude here going on. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of the 50, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down out of the skies, out of heaven, out of the skies, and consume you and your 50. This is real. This happened. Just picture it. Fifty soldiers and their captain, and demanding them to come down, and say, okay, let fire. If I be a man of God, let fire come down, and consume you and your 50.

And there came down fire from heaven, and they're gone. They're just immediately consumed. Okay. Verse 11, What's a king do? He loses 50 and a captain, sends another 50 and his captain. Again also, he sent to him another captain of 50, with his 50. Now, you would think that that captain and his 50, as they saw the scorched ground, where the other 50 and captain had been, they'd put...

they'd connect the dots. And as they're looking at that scorched ground, and they're looking up the hill there, where Elijah is sitting, you'd think they just on human carnal basic reasoning, they would kind of figure out what might happen to them.

And he answered and said, and he said, oh man of God. And you have to wonder if they're just saying it sarcastically, oh man of God. Thus, as the king said, this is the king you're dealing with. And as he has said, calm down quickly! Get down here! And Elijah answered and said to them, if I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50. And the fire of God... there it comes again!

And there are no more. They're consumed. It's interesting. Now the king has lost 100 with their two captains. And so a third captain and his 50 with a different attitude. Verse 13, and he sent again a captain of the third 50 with his 50. And I guess now there's two areas that are scorched earth. And he sees both of them. And the third captain of the 50 went up and he came and he fell on his knees. And he besought him. He beseeched him. And he said to him, O man of God, from his knees, he said, O man of God, I pray you, let my life and the life of these 50-year servants be precious in your sight.

Don't call any more fire down, please. Sparas and the angel of the Lord, which probably was Gabriel, said to Elijah, Go down with him. Don't be afraid of him. He arose and went down with him to the king. Now you think about it, the spirit and power of Elijah. Fire is called down from heaven twice here and at Mount Carmel. The final Elijah will walk in the fullness of the spirit and the power of Elijah, of that office. And that fireplace arose too. Malachi 4 and verse 5, remember we read this, Behold, I will send you, Elijah the prophet, before the coming great and dreadful day of the Lord.

The dreadful day of the Lord of his wrath has not come yet. And the final Elijah has not come yet. But God will see to it that he is on the scene before that day comes. See, when it says, Behold, I will send you, Elijah the prophet, before God tells us the time frame. It is specifically before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Why? Why that time frame? Why before the great and dreadful day of the Lord? Because the great and dreadful day of the Lord is God's direct intervention into the affairs of this planet. Just like the flood, he sent the flood. Just like God sent the fire to Sodom and Gomorrah.

These are direct interventions. It's God's direct intervention into the affairs of this planet. The day of the Lord, the day of God's wrath, is when God begins to punish and correct the nations. It involves God's direct doings, and thus it demands the application of Amos 3.7, that God himself had inspired to be put in there as to his operational behavior. The day of the Lord is God's wrath upon wavering and sinning mankind. Let's go to the book of Joel, and we're going to tie all of this together. The book of Joel.

Joel 2.

Joel 2.1-2 says, Blow you the trumpet, there's the trumpet again, in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord comes, for it is nigh at hand.

What trumpets pictures is not a day of joy. It is not a day of happiness. Doesn't picture that. Now, it's a happy moment for us at the seventh trump, when we're changed to spirit beings. That's wondrously happy and joyous for us. But that is only part of what trumpets plural is about. It's a day of darkness and of gloominess. It's a day of clouds, of thick darkness. As the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people and strong, there's not been ever the like. Neither shall there be any more accurate, even to the years of many generations. In verse 11. And the Lord shall utter His voice before His army, for His camp is very great, for He is strong that executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can stand it? Who can abide it? Zephaniah chapter 1. Zephaniah chapter 1. Zephaniah chapter 1 verses 4 through 16. Chapter 1 verses 14. 14 through 16. The great day of the Lord is near. It is near, repeats it for emphasis. And hastens greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord, the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath. It's a day of trouble and distress. It's a day of wasteness and desolation. It's a day of darkness and gloominess. A day of clouds and thick darkness. It's not a happy time.

And then Revelation 6. Revelation 6 verses 16 and 17. We read those scriptures in Joel. We read those scriptures in Zephaniah. And then we read what it says here in Revelation 6 verses 16 and 17.

The wrath of Jesus Christ. For the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? See, if you back up here to verse 12. In verse 12, He says, And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, the sixth seal. And lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. The sixth seal. And the sixth seal are what is called the heavenly signs. Verses 12 through 14. In verse 12, And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, like I said, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

And the stars of heaven fell upon the earth, even as the fig tree cast her untimely figs when she had shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it had rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. That is the sixth seal, the heavenly signs. And if you know Revelation and know the number of seals, there are seven.

The great and dreadful day of the Lord, as it says down here in verses 16 and 17, the great and dreadful day of the Lord is about to be unleashed. Verse 15, And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every fundsman, and every free man hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains, Rocks, fall on us, hide us from the face of Him, that sits on the throne from the wrath of the Lamb, from the wrath of the returning Jesus.

For the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? Six seals are complete, and the seventh is about to be opened, and the seventh seal is simply the day of the Lord. The seventh seal is the day of the Lord. It is the day of His wrath. See, look at chapter 8 and verse 1.

And it's not complicated. It's quite simple to lay them out. We won't probe what each one means, obviously. But, you know, chapter 8, verse 1, when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And notice verse 2, And I saw the seven angels which stood before a guide. All of a sudden, there are seven angels standing before a guide, and God is giving them something.

And what He's giving them is seven trumpets. Seven angels being given seven trumpets. In other words, each angel has a trumpet handed to him. There are seven of them, and there are seven trumpets, and each angel gets a trumpet. These are the seven trumpets. And the seventh seal, which is the seven trumpets, they make up the day of the Lord. So if you talk about seven trumpets, and again, we recall that we almost always must remind ourselves, this is not the Feast of Trumpets. This is the Feast of Trumpets, plural. The seven trumpets comprise or make up the day of the Lord.

The seven trumpets and the day of the Lord are synonymous. They're one and the same. And when we talk about the day of the Lord, we're talking about His wrath upon mankind. And it's right there, plainly stated in the Bible. Each one of these seven trumpets involves God's anger in the form of punishment, in the form of correction. The seventh trumpet includes and signifies the return, the actual return of Jesus Christ, which results in your resurrection, my resurrection.

Matter falls away. We're changed. We become spirit beings at that point. We're forever beyond sin. We're forever beyond temptation. We're forever beyond weariness and tiredness and sickness and disease. We're forever beyond personal spiritual warfare. So we glory in that, and that's wonderful, and that's great, because how I look forward to that day. But that is the only wonderful, happy part of the Feast of Trumpets in terms of what's unleashed by the seven trumpets.

And we can joy and glory in our resurrection at that time, and we should. We should. What a blessing. Usured into eternity. See, notice Revelation 11 and verse 15. There were seven angels. They're given seven trumpets. Each angel gets a trumpet. They sound them in sequence. The first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth get down to the final one, the seventh one.

And so Revelation 11 and verse 15 says, And the seventh angel sounded. He sounds the trumpet. The seventh angel. It's his turn. He sounds the trumpet, the seventh trumpet. And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. It signals the resurrection. It signals the return of Jesus Christ. They coincide at the same time. You know, this is why...no need to turn there, but this is why it says in the resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians, in verse 52, It's why it says, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, I preached another funeral on Sunday over in Alabama.

Someone who was not a member of the church. But you know, when I preach, and anytime that I use this scripture anywhere, and I didn't use this particular scripture in the message because she wasn't a member of the church. She's not going to come up in the first resurrection. She will come up later in the general resurrection. But when I'm at a funeral and I preach and I use this particular scripture, and it says, At the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

It says, At the last trump, most of the people hearing the message, the funeral message, have no idea that that's the seventh trump. They probably don't even catch the last. Well, if there's a last, there's a or does it come before it? And most of the folks that read this or hear it, they don't know there's seven trumpets. And therefore, if there's seven trumpets, the last one has to be the seventh one, which signals Christ's return and the resurrection.

It's just not common knowledge to them. They just hear, okay, the trumpet sound, and there'll be a resurrection. And again, though this is a wonderful, this is absolutely wonderful personal news to us, that is the return of Christ and our resurrection, yes. It is still an outpouring of God's anger on wayward and unrepentant man. If you notice, moving on in Revelation here, chapter 15, verse 1, the seventh angel sounds. The resurrection takes place. And when the seventh trumpet is blown, which signals the resurrection, it also signals something else.

And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues. When that seventh angel sounds and initiates the resurrection, the return of Christ, it also initiates the finality of God's wrath, having the seven last plagues, for in them, the seven last plagues is filled up the wrath of God.

See, the seventh trumpet and the seven last plagues are synonymous. Contained in these final seven last plagues is what Christianity commonly refers to. Contained in it is what Christianity commonly refers to as the Battle of Armageddon, the final showdown in the Valley of Jezreel. Let me give you a mind picture. Now, there's going to be a fellowship meal after services. Let's assume there's seven pies back there.

I want you to picture this. Seven pies are lined up in a line, seven pies. My wife's grinning at me. Seven pies are lined up. Those seven pies are the seven seals. Each pie is a seal. So you go up to that line of pies, you take off the first pie, the first seal, take it off of the counter, because there's a succession going on, then you take off the second pie, the second seal, then you take off the third pie, the third seal, and the fourth pie, the fourth seal, and the fifth pie, and you get down to the sixth pie, which is the heavenly signs, and you take it off.

You've only got one seal left up on the counter. That's the seventh seal. That's the only pie left up on the counter. The only one left, it remains. Your seventh pie, the only one sitting on the counter, that's the seventh seal. You take a knife, you take that pie, you cut it into seven pieces. That pie is cut into seven pieces. Those are seven trumpets. Each piece of that pie is a trumpet, and there's seven pieces. So you take out the first piece, then the second piece, and then the third piece, and then the fourth piece, and then the fifth piece, and the sixth.

You've sounded six trumpets. There's one piece of the pie left in the pan. That's your seventh trumpet. Now, you lift it out, and just... Or actually, you can leave it in the pan. That's your seventh trumpet. It's the only piece of the pie left. Now you take a knife to that remaining piece, that seventh piece, that's the only one left in the pan, and you just slice it into seven pieces. Those are your seven last plagues. That piece of pie, that seventh trumpet, is synonymous with the seven last plagues. And then there, each slice is, so to speak, taken out until there's nothing left in the pan.

You know, often in prophecy, a prophetic day is a year. The day of the Lord, the day of God's wrath, will last for approximately one year. The seven trumpets will occur, will be blown over basically a year's time. This period of, evidently, one year will be the final year of man's age. It will also correspond to and parallel with, and also run alongside of, the last year of the Great Tribulation. It's kind of like this horse is running down this track, and it's three and a half furloughs or whatever that the horse is running. And he runs two and a half by himself, and then another horse joins him at that point, and they run parallel, the final furlough.

The day of the Lord will correspond to, parallel with, run alongside of, the last year of the Great Tribulation. And at the time that the day of the Lord begins, and it will not begin before this, but at the time that the day of the Lord begins, the Great Tribulation will have been going for two and a half years.

And at that two and a half year point, that's when the day of the Lord will begin to run parallel with the Great Tribulation. Because the Great Tribulation has to do with Satan's wrath and man and what they've done and caused the day of the Lord, is God stepping in with His punishments.

And again, remember, God said, what did He say? He said He would send Elijah before the great and dreadful day. He said before that great and dreadful day, He would and He will send the final Elijah.

Notice with me, and if you want to keep your hand in Revelation, fine, because I'll go back and forth some, but look at Zechariah 4. Zechariah 4, verses 1 and 2. Zechariah 4, verses 1 and 2.

Zechariah 5, verses 1 and 2.

Revelation 14, speaking of Christ, it says, And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one likened to the Son of Man, clothed with the garment down to the foot, and gritted about the loins of the golden girdle. In the midst of the seven candlesticks, okay, verse 20. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden, golden candlesticks, the seven stars of the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches. Candlestick is a church. True church. True woman. True church. It's ecclesia. That's what it is. Again, keep your finger in Revelation. Back in Zechariah 4, verses 3 and 11.

In verse 3, Zechariah 4. And two olive trees buy it by the golden candlestick, the church, the ecclesia. Two olive trees buy it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side thereof. And then, verse 11. Then answered I and said to him, What are these two olive trees? Upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof. Okay, keep your finger in Zechariah. Flip back to Revelation. This time, Revelation 11. Revelation 11 and verse 4. These are the two olive trees. The Bible identifies them. We don't have to. These are the two olive trees. And the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. These are the two olive trees.

Back in Zechariah. Verse 14. Chapter 4, verse 14. Then he said, These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth, standing before the God of the entire earth. These are the two witnesses prophesied long ago. Revelation 11, verse 3. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy preach a 1,203 scored days clothed in sackcloth.

In other words, 1,260 days, a prophetic month is 30 days, 3 and a half years. This is the final Elijah to come. The two witnesses will fulfill the role of the Elijah to come. John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah. There was a man in our day, highly respected and honored, who also walked in the spirit and the power of that office. But he wasn't the final one to come. He's dead. He did a great work. And the work goes on. And the day of the Lord hasn't come. And the final Elijah hasn't come. But the final Elijah will come.

Evidently, and I think obviously, one will be or take the lead and the other one will assist. And here in Revelation 11 and verse 3 again, 1,260 days. And when they start their preaching, the day of the Lord hasn't come. They'll preach for two and a half years before the day of the Lord comes. And by the time the day of the Lord comes, they will have been preaching for two and a half years about God's kingdom, God's truth, about repentance, and about the day of the Lord that, folks, is coming. And no one can shut them up.

Chapter 11, verse 5, no one can shut them up. Man of God, come down here. Get yourself down here. Don't you know who I'm working for? Get down here. If any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth. You want to see the cameras catch that? That a military unit is taken to take them, to seize them?

And fire comes forth and just consumes whoever in the eyes of the world sees that with our technology?

Fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. Anyone that tries to hurt them will be going just like that in a consuming fire. I would certainly like to be alive and aware for that time. And maybe it will come in my lifetime, maybe it won't, but it's coming. That's the beauty of it. It's coming. It's not dependent on whether I'm alive or not. It's dependent upon the integrity of God and His plan, which is sure.

His integrity is sure and His plan is sure. For two and a half years before the day of the Lord begins, their message will contain a warning of its coming. Just like before the flood came, Noah warned, warned, warned, and the building of the Ark was a warning. Warning, warning, warning. Remember, the goal of their work is stated in Malachi 4 verse 6.

The goal of their work is to turn people back to God. In Joel 2, verse 12, notice during this day of the Lord, I said I was going to tie a number of things together. Notice during this day of the Lord, this admonishment in verse 12 of Joel 2, therefore also now says the Lord, turn you even to Me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning. This is going to be a major part of their message, and it will be pointed. It will be directed at the world and God's people. God's people, Israel, the Eclassia, Israel, physical, and also Israel, spiritual, spiritual Israel, the Eclassia.

Remember Isaiah 58.1? Did you catch it when we read it earlier? And show My people, My people their transgression and the house of Jacob, Israel, their sins. The house of Jacob, Israel, before the day of the Lord. They will have been in great tribulation for two and a half years by the time the day of the Lord comes. And again, what about the term My people?

Can that include the Eclassia? Can that include some of the Eclassia? Well, Zephaniah 2, again, Zephaniah, and verse 3, Seek you the Lord, all you make of the earth, which have wrought His judgment. Now, I want you to notice how this is worded. Seek you the Lord, all you make of the earth, which have wrought His judgment.

Are we involved in meekness and God's judgment? Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Why? What does it say? It says, It may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. The day of the Lord's anger is only about a year, and it's during the same last year of the great tribulation that you may be hid in the day of His anger. But you may not be hid before that. But you may be hid and not have to experience the plagues and all that He will pour out upon the world.

See, there is eclaecia that will be hid, not only during His anger, but also from the horrors of the great tribulation. Let me read again what is a very encouraging promise in Revelation 3.10. We should never lose sight of this or take it lightly. In Revelation 3 and verse 10, He says to the eclaecia here, He says, "'Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of tribulation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.' There will be eclaecia that is hid during the great tribulation, and there is eclaecia that won't be hid during the great tribulation.

Chapter 3 verse 16, "'So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth.' Verses 18 and 19, "'I counsel you to buy of Me gold, character, try it in the fire, that you may be rich, and white raiment, that you may be clothed.' This is eclaecia He's talking to.

It's eclaecia He was talking to that He said, "'I'll hide you.' It's eclaecia here that He doesn't say, I'll hide you.' He says, "'I'll spew you out.' I'll cast you out." Cast out where? Cast out into the great tribulation. "'That the shame of your nakedness do not appear, and anoint your eyes with eyesab, that you may see, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.

Viseleus, therefore, and repent.'" See, in Revelation 12, and we've looked at this before, but I want to tie it in here because these things all tie together. There is a remnant that's left behind. When God takes His faithful eclaecia to hide them from the great tribulation, there's a remnant that is left behind.

The one that's taken, that's that promise in Revelation 3.10 we read. That last message being spewed out, those are not taken. "'The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.'" See, the eclaecia that has not spared the great tribulation, don't you think about this?

The eclaecia that's not in a place of safety, the eclaecia that has not spared the great tribulation, they will hear the message of the final Elijah for two and a half years. And they will have the opportunity for two and a half years, they will have the opportunity to repent before the seven trumpets are unleashed. Remember, a candlestick is a church, right? Right. Therefore, notice something that I didn't focus on previous, but I will now look at Revelation 11 and verse 4. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks. Two, not one. Two. The two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. Two. See, we can accurately say they are standing for and representing and addressing and speaking to. They're involved with two candlesticks, both Philadelphia and Laodicea. They have to do with both. They are of, they are of, they are a part of, they belong to, and they are of and represent Philadelphia. Because they are totally faithful to God. They're totally faithful to God. And they are also preaching to Laodicea in their message that is going out to all the earth. Because Laodicea is caught in the Great Tribulation, and the two witnesses are also specifically preaching to them. They are God's people. But they've got to, they don't have a repentance that is sufficient for the growth and development and overcoming that's necessary for God's Kingdom. So he's got to work on them. That's why it says, where we read it, that you may be hid during the day of God's wrath. Because you've got two and a half years before his wrath starts, and maybe you'll be hid from that wrath of God. You've got penalties to pay in the Great Tribulation, but God's wrath won't be on you if you repent. It may be, you know, seek weakness, seek this, seek righteousness. Do what you know you're supposed to do, and that the two witnesses are telling you to do, that you've got to do. And you may be hid from God's wrath. Now there's another accurate way of putting it. At the time of the preaching of the two witnesses, you know, it says two candlesticks through churches. All of God's people alive, period, no exceptions, when they're preaching, at the time of their preaching, all of God's people that are alive, every single one of them, will be in either one place or the other. There's only two possibilities. You're either going to be in a place of safety, or you're going to be in the Great Tribulation, and there is no in-between, period. You're either caught, trapped in the Great Tribulation, or you're in a place of safety. And we all know where we want to be, that's for sure. There's no third option. See, the warning message of the two witnesses, the warning message of the final Elijah, the warning message of the coming great and dreadful day of the Lord, the warning message of the seven trumpets about to be unleashed, will also apply to God's ecclesia, who were caught in that time, as much as it does anybody else, and in some respects, even more.

But I will go back to what you and I can properly and wondrously glory in and look forward to and be joyous in. And that's the finish line for us. The Feast of Trumpets also contains the finish line for the repentant and faithful ecclesia, the Laodiceans that are caught in the Great Tribulation, who deeply repent. They'll be in on this finish line also. Those of us in a place of safety will be in on this finish line. The dead in Christ will be in on the finish line. Of course, the finish line is the resurrection. It's that resurrection that takes place at the seventh trumpet when you're changed from matter to a permanent substance called spirit that we can't comprehend fully, but from temporary life to eternal life.

But that doesn't come to the seventh or the last one. And even as it contains the finish line for the faithful ecclesia, that seventh trumpet, that last piece of pie left, and that seventh pie that's sliced up into seven pieces, you're a spirit being when the seven last plagues are poured out.

You are with Christ and the holy angels as those seven last plagues, which wrap up God's wrath upon wayward mankind. We are with Christ at that time. As we gather on this holy day of the Feast of Trumpets, the picture of God's direct intervention in this world's affairs and the sending back of Jesus Christ to take charge, yeah, we are rapidly moving towards the time of the final Elijah. And 2020 showed us just how fast things can be cranked up at any given time. It caught us all off guard as far as the speed of which things could just do what they did. May God hasten the day of trumpets and the wonderful kingdom that they will usher in.