The Seventh Trumpet

So a couple of weeks ago, I gave a sermon in both Austin and San Antonio about the Day of the Lord. Because the Day of the Lord is associated with the Feast of Trumpets. And how God's judgment seems harsh, but it's actually mercy and love. The Day of the Lord is actually God stopping the destruction of the earth. Not God losing his temper, catching him by surprise and saying, Wow, this is out of control! I need to intervene. No, it's God saying, okay, enough is enough. Now let's do it right. Okay, and we ended in Revelation 11. Today we're going to pick it up there in Revelation 11, verse 15, where we left off. But before we do, I just want to give you some background to today's sermon, this morning's sermon. I've gone over the Feast of Trumpets sermons that I've given in the last decade.

And I've covered quite a bit the Day of the Lord, the resurrection of the saints, our reward, what we're going to be doing when Jesus Christ returns.

Today I want to cover something related but different. And that is, what can the Feast of Trumpets do for you today?

What does it do for us now? In other words, what is the benefit that God intended, or at least one of the benefits that God intended, when we keep the Feast of Trumpets?

Let's look at that today. The title of the sermon is The Seventh Trumpet, The Moment the World Changed Hands.

And my laptop has decided to log into the Wi-Fi, so we're going to wait for it. Okay. The Seventh Trumpet is a decisive turning point, as we heard in the sermon, in God's plan. There is a personal lesson. There's that Wi-Fi again. Thank you. I don't need that. Let's dismiss that. Okay.

Let me just turn my Wi-Fi off here so it doesn't do that through the whole sermon.

Wi-Fi off. Thank you.

Okay, back to it.

Decisive turning point, right? There is a personal lesson that God's people should not judge God's promises by our present circumstances. And I'll explain what that means. God has declared an outcome, and the Seventh Trumpet will demonstrate that his purpose will happen exactly when he determines it. So today, let's look at the answer to this question. What does the Seventh Trumpet teach us about the certainty of God's purpose? So two Sabbaths ago, we looked at why the Day of the Lord happens and why God finally intervenes. Mankind eventually reaches a point where we actually threaten our own survival, and God intervenes because that course can't continue. God intervenes out of love. God stops those who are destroying the earth. It's us who's destroying it. So today, let's pick up where we left off Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15. Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. This is a turning point. Jesus Christ's sacrifice was a turning point. His return is a turning point. The world immediately before this trumpet and the world immediately after this trumpet are not the same world. What's interesting about it is not everything when Jesus Christ returns is instantly solved. I mean, think about it. We're going to keep the Day of Atonement in just a week or so, which means Satan will be bound after Jesus Christ returns. It's not like everything is instantly solved, but everything is decisively changed at the return of Jesus Christ. Okay, so at the seventh trumpet, three critical things happen. So let's define a few things about the seventh trumpet before we draw a personal lesson from today. Three things happen. One, there is a transfer of authority from man to God on this earth. Secondly, the resistance of nations comes to an immediate end. I mean, Jesus comes back and he wipes out two fighting armies who both turn on him and he says, nay nay, time to take a nap and we'll resurrect you later.

Third, the saints are resurrected to help Christ restore the earth.

I've given sermons on this, so I won't cover that too much. I'm so looking forward to that. What a reunion. When you stay in the church for a long, long time, you lose a lot of friends. They die, they wait for the resurrection. Their challenges are over, yours are still continuing, but you know, you miss them.

And you think, oh, I can't wait. I remember your favorite song and when you're resurrected, we're going to play that song and we're going to sing that song together. Let's get around to campfire and we're going to sing that song. You know, the saints will be resurrected. Okay, let's read the whole passage. We just read verse 15. Let's go back to verse 15. Let's go to verse 18 and read the context of this verse. Then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven.

This is Revelation 11 verse 15, saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, we give you thanks, O God, Lord God Almighty, the one who is and was and is to come, because you have taken your great power and reign.

So they give credit to the Father as being intricately involved in the return of Jesus Christ. There are some and it's becoming popular. It's really popular in the evangelical movement, but I hear it weaving into the Church of God.

So let's just address it real quickly. There's a separation of God and Jesus and we want to just focus on Jesus. And Jesus Christ forbade us from doing that. He said, if you have me, you have the Father.

You do not separate the two. You don't do the Father only. You don't do Jesus only. He said that He can do nothing without the Father. So remember, this is the great return of Jesus Christ, right? Who's sending Him on whose authority? He doesn't come on His own authority. This is the family of God and God is very attentive, very present, always involved. He's a fantastic Father and He's always here, involved in the process. So they give credit to the Father, right?

The one who is and was and is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned. The nations were angry and your wrath has come. And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth, giving the blame on us. We left the Garden of Eden. We're the ones who don't get along with each other.

Ukraine and Russia, the United States and Iran, Iran and Israel. We don't get along with each other. African nations, they're coming in. Muslim groups are coming in and killing Christian groups. And then it reverses. It goes vice versa. In Africa, and we have brethren over there. One of my friends is a pastor in Nigeria. And Al-Qaeda come in and they they kidnap people all the time. Right out of the city.

They come into the outskirts of the city and they take people. And that is what God is talking about here. In verse 18, those who destroy the earth, we are destroying the earth. Everybody thinks they're right. Everybody thinks they're right. They have the right to do whatever they want because they're in the right. Three developments are happening in the same setting. As though it's one fluid moment at the seventh trump. God is able to do many complicated things at one time.

The government of the world changes. Verse 15 says, the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. You see, there's both the Father and Jesus. There's no separation in that the apostles who wrote the New Testament did not separate the two as though you can have a relationship with one but not have a relationship with the other. It doesn't work that way. All right, so their authority is now transferred to the earth. Mankind no longer determines the final direction of the earth.

That's first. But the nations are still angry. It says in verse 18, the nations raged. Can you believe that? They're not happy. I can actually believe it. People don't like to be told what to do. Right? Jesus Christ returns, sets up the kingdom in Jerusalem, and the nations aren't happy about it or angry.

But he crushes the rebellion and he destroys those who destroy the earth. Now there is no power to resist. That doesn't happen until after, and we'll talk about that in the eighth day, maybe. Depends on where you go to the feast. The same verse speaks about it's a time for God's servants to be rewarded, and that's the third thing.

Okay? So, new administration is set up, resistance is put down, and saints are rewarded. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51 and 52, just by way of review of the reward.

This day is a very encouraging day, and this isn't even the point of the sermon. This is just the background to the point of the sermon. 1 Corinthians 15, 51, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. In other words, we won't all die before the seventh trumpet. But we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, we're talking about the same event here. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Let's go over to a companion passage to that and read. 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verses 16 and 17. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God.

I wonder which Greek word correlates with the Hebrew word there, which Hebrew trumpet this is. Probably the silver one, right? Probably the announcing one, I would say. Just a guess. 2 And the dead in Christ would rise first. Then we who are alive and remain to be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Christ is going to descend, the trumpet is going to sound, and the dead in Christ will rise. And here's the main point I'm driving at this morning. This is a decisive moment.

The seventh trumpet, the future of the world, becomes decisively set on a new course, and that course will never change. When Jesus Christ comes and that seventh trumpet's blast happens, the outcome is certain. After that point, it's always been certain. But the world will understand. It's certain at that point. All of their armies, all of their military might, all of the things that they trust and have pride in, will be instantly crushed. Like it will take the breath out of their pride. Christ has taken authority. The nations who resisted are put down, so they can no longer determine the outcome of human history. And we're raised to join Jesus Christ. The circumstances aren't all solved yet. The millennium at the beginning of the millennium, it's not like the earth isn't still destroyed and destroyed. The earth isn't still destroyed and almost a wasteland. The day of the Lord has just happened. And it was preceded by the great tribulation, a time of trouble the world has never seen before. And we have seen a lot of trouble. And Jesus Christ returns, and the earth is essentially on fire. So the circumstances are not all resolved. There's a lot of work left to do. But the outcome is resolved. That's what this day represents. Certainty.

Nothing will alter the course of this world after the seventh trumpet. There's a point in the future where when everybody is resurrected, there will be a rebellion. There will be a white throne judgment. But we'll cover that at the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day or last great day, most likely. But there's another thing to consider. The seventh trumpet is a fulfillment of something that was predicted a long time ago. And this is leading to my point this morning. All of this was already predicted before you and I were born in this room. We were born into, late into the process. We're not even in the middle of the process anymore. The seventh trumpet brings what God promised a long time ago to fulfillment. Let's go to Revelation chapter 10 to get the setting for this point.

Revelation chapter 10. And I'm moving a little fast because I don't want to drone on and have us miss lunch. I want us to go to lunch. So I'm going a little fast. I know. Revelation 10 verse 5. And the angel who I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel. Okay, this is the same event, the seventh trumpet. When he is about to sound, what happens at the seventh trumpet? Listen to the end of verse 7. The mystery of God would be finished as he declared to his servants the prophets. In other words, this is the culmination of what all of those prophets are about.

Some time ago, it was years ago now, we have gone through in Bible studies every single minor prophet. We went through every single one. And I'm considering going back through them again. Every single one again. We might do Isaiah and Jeremiah first. Isaiah is huge.

And then go through them. I don't know. We'll see. And I'm open to suggestion. Maybe we'll go to Daniel and do Daniel, but we're going to do some more prophecy because we haven't done it in a while and it's good to review it. But the point here is, look, the seventh trumpet is the culmination of all of what those prophets said. Everything they said points to this event. Before the seventh angel sounds, God tells us this moment, this major event in human history, the return of Jesus Christ, which quells the resistance to God on the earth and establishes his government and resurrects the saints, connects with what he's already revealed through his prophets. And that means that God is prepared. That's the point. And I'll make that point stronger at the end. Let's go to Acts chapter 3 and verse 19. Peter is speaking here. It is the day of Pentecost in this particular moment, but this relates to the Feast of Trumpets. Peter is giving a sermon to a crowd. This is the beginning of the Church of God. This is where he told them to repent, be baptized, and thousands of them were baptized on one day. Acts 3 verse 19. Repent, therefore, be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. We're in the Church, looking forward to the day that today pictures. We're not in the Church because when you get baptized, all your troubles will go away, and this life will be wonderful. No promise in the Bible ever said that. This life is challenging. Whether you're baptized or not, it is easier to go through this life, baptized with the power of God's Holy Spirit, helping you overcome yourself, and that gets you through whatever circumstances happen. But time and chance happen to all. Whether you're baptized or not, this is a grumpy world. And their time of refreshing is coming. Verse 20. And he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the time of restoration of all things. That's what the seventh trumpet is. Which God has spoken by the mouth of all of his holy prophets since the world began. So that's Moses. That's even Enoch before the flood. Since time began, God has been pointing to what we're celebrating today. He predicted all of these things. He has a plan. And the point is, he's in control. God is in control. Today, with all the tumult in the world, is not outside of God's reach. He's not somehow losing control on your life. He's in control. Let's read just one of many of the prophecies in the Old Testament that point to this day. We're not going to go through a bunch of them. Let's just read one. And you can infer all the others from this one. Daniel chapter 2 verse 44.

Daniel chapter 2 verse 44.

And in these days, and in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And that's just one of the many prophecies from the very beginning of time that God predicted this. So God said long before that his kingdom would ultimately replace humans' mistakes and human kingdom and human authority that's just making a mess of everything. So here's the point. Christ's return, the seventh trumpet, is not an emergency reaction to a world that unexpectedly got out of control. God is not saying, oh no, the world's on fire, I've got to do something, I need to come up with a plan and do something quick.

The outcome was known.

When Adam and Eve took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and every single human being on planet earth has followed that example, God knew the outcome.

God knew the world would be this way. God knew we would make the mistakes we make. He knew the addictions we would get into. He knew all the troubles that we would get ourselves into. He knew all the health problems that would happen. And he's not out of control. He knows what's going on, and he's got a plan. And that is comforting. That is so comforting. Somebody out there knows what's going on and has a plan.

The purpose was established, and God's already told his servants where history is going. But God works step by step. He has a plan. He carries it out in an orderly way. That doesn't always match our timing. That doesn't always match our expectations. Revelation 10, verse 7, doesn't mean that every aspect of God's plan is finished at the 7th trumpet, even. Events still remain to happen. We have more Holy Days that will picture that in the future. The 7th trumpet sounds in a decisive stage in what God has announced to the prophets has arrived. And God works in his own way, in his own process, step by step, as he chooses. And we need to trust that. The 7th trumpet shows that God's promise may wait for the appointed time.

They may not come when we expect it, but they do not fail ever, ever. God never gets it wrong.

And so God's not just replacing the authority, by the way. He's also changing all the rules under our current corrupt standards, and those will all go away. All the unfair things that happen to us in this life, and there's some very unfair things that happen, very unjust things happen to us, will all go away on what today pictures. Notice something really important that John notices immediately after the 7th trumpet, and this is a key to the Feast of Trumpets. Let's go back to Revelation chapter 11. We ended in verse 18. Let's read verse 19.

Revelation 11 verse 19. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven. Immediately after the 7th trumpet, why does John turn and look? Because he's standing, remember where John is. You got to get all the way back in Revelation chapter 4. John goes to the throne room of God, and he's watching all of these events from there. In a vision, he doesn't say he physically went there. He says God took him there in a vision. He's still there in Revelation chapter 11, giving all of these things that he's seeing. So when he sees the 7th trumpet, he turns and he sees the temple open. Why does that matter? Why would he even mention that in the 7th trumpet? It is so important.

And there were lightnings and noises and thunders and earthquakes and hail. Immediately after the 7th trumpet, God sees the temple open, and what does he see? The Ark of His Covenant. Such a critical clue. The Ark is associated with God's presence and His covenant. It also contains the tablets of the law. It contains all the rules that man will live by. You can see the examples in Exodus 25 and Deuteronomy chapter 10 that talk about what goes in the Ark of the Covenant. Okay? We won't do that right now. Christ's authority takes over the kingdoms, yes. But John's attention immediately turns to the temple and the covenant.

What does that mean? In the last sermon that I gave two weeks ago, I read Isaiah chapter 2, verses 2 through 4. And it says that the nations will eventually come to God and learn His ways.

And that's what this temple vision means. The main point is we, the temple, is a place where people come to God to learn. So the seventh trumpet is associated with God's way. Not just God's authority, but it's also God's teaching. God literally healing the earth.

So it's not just changing who rules. It starts the restoration of the government, yes, to what is what they rule by. God and Jesus Christ rule by God's way.

So the people will begin to be governed by a fair way of life. It starts to become a dependable earth, a safe earth. All this begins with the seventh trumpet. It's a decisive beginning, but not a completion event. It's a beginning event, kind of like your baptism. When you're baptized, it's not a destination. That's why we don't call people up to the stage and say, come, believe in Jesus. We say, no, take your time. Have faith. Know who you are. Repent.

Then you will get baptized and realize the absolute commitment you are making. And then you've just begun your life as a Christian.

So up to this point in the sermon, here's what we've seen. At the seventh trumpet, the authority over the world passes decisively to Jesus Christ. Okay? The nations are angry about it. They resist, but they can no longer determine the outcome of human history. And the saints are resurrected to join Christ to begin restoring the earth with him. And God begins replacing man's way with his own government exactly as he promised through his prophets. So the seventh trumpet establishes a direction that everything follows. Not every part of God's plan is finished. I keep saying that because it's important. It's not finished at that moment, but the outcome is no longer in doubt. Okay, you got that? Not every problem on the earth is solved at the seventh trumpet, but the solution has begun. And the outcome is certain. It's very important for the lesson that we can take from this day. The Feast of Trumpets. We're not at the seventh trumpet yet. We still have a life to live, and there's something in this life that keeping the Feast of Trumpets really helps us with. We learn by observing what this day means, not to judge God's promises that he has made, the personal promises that he's made to your life by life's unfinished circumstances.

You don't judge God's promises by what you're going through.

You look at the Feast of Trumpets and you go, the outcome is certain.

I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what this trial is going to end with, but I know where my life will end. And the outcome is certain. And you can take that burden off of your shoulders, and you can relax a little bit, and you can say, these circumstances aren't okay. What everybody, whatever they're doing to you, is not okay. But I'm okay. I'm okay.

God announced these events through his prophets before they happened. At the seventh trumpet, Christ takes authority. The nations are still angry. Opposition still exists. Satan hasn't been removed yet. But God's promises have not failed just because everything's not completed yet. They are actually a certainty.

And that's the principle that matters enormously in our lives.

Where are we in our life? Are we finished with everything that we have to do for God's kingdom? No. No. We are not. Our experience is somewhere in the middle of the story, rather than the end of it. Some are closer to the ending others. It depends on our age and health and all that. Some are actually closer to the beginning of their own story.

We had a beautiful children's choir today, didn't we? Some are right at the beginning of their story.

We pray to God to overcome a challenge, a bad habit, and we keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and we find ourselves in bad circumstances.

And you know what? It's not until later in life we look back and see God was working with us the whole time. Results are not always immediate. In fact, they're almost never immediate. Because God's not programming little robots. He's raising and developing and molding sons and daughters. And that takes work. Anybody who's ever had a toddler knows that.

We wait for something we believe is right, but God's timing is different than ours. We see circumstances that seem completely inconsistent with what we're expecting.

And that creates a temptation. And we begin evaluating God's faithfulness by circumstances that are still unfinished. And I just look in the mirror and I say to myself, man, God's not finished yet. Wait!

Then I argue with myself, but I don't want to wait.

God is planning. He is thoughtful. He knows more than we do. He sees farther ahead than we can see. And so, Revelation 11 gives us another way of looking at things. The nations are raging, but Christ is king. The opposition is real, but it doesn't determine the ending. No matter what they do, no matter what Satan tries, they can't change the outcome. The outcome is certain.

Everything has not been put right, but God's purpose is moving exactly where he said it would go. So we need to ask ourselves, am I willing to trust what God has said when I cannot see how he's going to bring it about? Do I have to see how he's going to bring it about in order for me to trust him?

You're not pretending that your circumstances are better than they are. You don't have to do that. You can say to God, I am in pain. I am suffering. I'm frustrated. This is terrible, because it likely is. You don't have to be unrealistic. But then say to yourself and to God, that I trust God. The outcome, the ending, is certain. Christianity is not optimism. Optimism is everything's going to work out okay. Anybody who's lived more than a year in their life knows not everything is going to work out okay. Your toys break, your knee gets skinned, and somebody is always taking your stuff.

It's not telling ourselves that every circumstance will turn out the way we personally want. It's saying, I know God's going to get me to the finish line. And that's what we gain from today. God will accomplish what he has actually promised.

The circumstances that you and I are in are irrelevant.

Of that, we have no doubt.

We may not know exactly how he's going to handle the circumstances. We may not know when he's going to handle the circumstances, but the seventh trumpet reminds us that God never gets surprised, never loses his focus, never stops paying attention, and he never loses control of the outcome. That's so neat.

So, what do we learn? So, what do we learn? Do not make a final judgment about God from a situation that God hasn't finished yet.

You will overcome your carnal nature. You will overcome your bad habits. You will overcome. Be patient. It's a growth process. And you won't see it year over year over year. You'll look back decade after decade and you'll go, oh, I see it. But you won't see it year after year. You'll go to Passover after Passover and you'll hear all kinds of self-examination sermonettes and sermons and you'll go, I'm failing!

And you're not. God's not.

God's not failing. The outcome is certain.

You will overcome your carnal nature. It doesn't happen instantly. Your circumstances might be painful, but the process isn't finished. Something you can look through or look as though it's moving in the wrong direction.

This can't possibly be what God intends.

And it ends up with God what God ultimately promised.

So here's the point. Do not confuse the unfinished part of your story with the outcome. Do not conflate those two things together. The process and the outcome two different things. And we get caught in the here and now and we only see what's going on right around us immediately. And we get stuck in the circumstances that we're in.

And we forget the outcome. God never forgets the outcome. He's always in control.

What Trumpets gives us is certainty.

Let's go one last time to our key scripture. Revelation chapter 11 verse 15.

The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.

Think about how much certainty is contained in that statement. Human governments will not rule forever. Human rebellion will not determine the future.

God's saints are not going to stay in their graves.

And the world is not going to remain the way it is now.

God told his servants the prophets where history was going. And the seventh trumpet, his purpose, reaches that decisive turning point. But perhaps one of the most useful lessons of trumpets is that certainty does not require us to see every completed thing first.

We can look at the meaning of this day and be encouraged and have certainty now. At the seventh trumpet, the nations are still raging. There are still enemies. There's a lot of work to be done when Jesus Christ's feet hit that mountain.

But the outcome is certain because God has taken control.

And that teaches us something about our lives now. You and I are living in an unfinished part of God's work. We don't always know what he's doing, and that's okay.

We're not God.

We certainly do not know when he's going to do it.

But we do know enough to know that God does not lose control of his purpose. So the circumstances in our life that we're going through that are unfinished, don't treat those as though they're God's final answer.

But that's the point I'm trying to get to.

Just because we're going through a hard time, that's not the final answer.

That's the process.

The Feast of Trumpets reminds us that God's promises do not become certain after they finally happen.

They were certain the whole time, way back when God made them. And he made promises to you. He will never leave you, never forsake you. And he never will.

And that's the confidence that the seventh trumpet should give us.