Trumpets and the Day of the Lord

Doesn't matter if we've been here at the Feast of Trumpets for 50 years, or this might be the first Feast of Trumpets that some attend. Anybody here attending for the first time? I know of. Okay, well, most are veterans.

And we know the most important meaning of this Feast is the coming of Christ. Yet, there is a broader meaning and application of this coming throughout the Bible. In fact, trumpets, what we call the Feast of Trumpets, represent the Day of the Lord in all of its fullness and dimensions. For it can have, this term, the Day of the Lord, a narrow meaning, just that day when Christ returns. Or it can be a period of time that broadens to the whole period of the three and a half years before Christ comes. Or it can extend past Christ's coming and the establishment of the kingdom of God all through that period of time, and even include the coming of God the Father to that new earth and new heavens.

So it just depends upon the narrow or the broad definition that you can have of this term. And we are going to see this in the Bible because the Feast of Trumpets represents that Day of the Lord when He is coming. In the New Testament, many times, it mentions it as the Day of Jesus Christ and the coming of Jesus Christ. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 because, again, in a way, this isn't new. The same ingredients that we have had in the Bible, but if we put it all together in certain ways, it brings out more understanding. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 8, it says...

Let's start in verse 7, it says, Who will also confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ? So the Day of the Lord and the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ is another way of expressing the same term. So to better understand this term, the Day of the Lord, we are going to study this and also how it applies in our own personal life. As you can see, it's just very broad and very applicable to our own lives. So there are three main points to learn today about the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of the Lord. And we're going to be covering these three lessons.

The first is that just like the other feast days, the meaning of trumpets and the Day of the Lord is more veiled in the Old Testament and is more fully developed in the New Testament. It just happens to be the way God set things up. In the Old Testament, He does bring out the foundation of this truth. But then in the New Testament, the building is placed on top of it. You understand a lot more what it's all about. For instance, the first feast day is Passover, and we have the Old Testament Passover, which had to do with Israelites and dipping the blood of the Lamb that had been sacrificed.

They had to put the blood on their doorposts, and they're in the dental of the door, upper part, because the angel of the Lord was going to come over them, and that protected them, the blood of that Lamb. But we know in the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of the Lord, of God, who gives His blood, and it is through His blood that, just like the house of someone is part of their belongings and what it is, well, we have Christ's blood that protects us from the wrath of God.

And protects us from being struck, and we are forgiven. So we understand there's a physical Lamb in the Old Testament, and there's this spiritual Lamb of God, which has to do with Jesus Christ. It's the same way with the Feast of Trumpets. In the Old Testament, we only get a glimpse of the foundation of this truth, and then in the New Testament, we have the building that is erected on top of it. So that's the first point that we want to cover. And I'm going to stop there because the second point we're going to cover in a moment.

But the first point is going back to the Old Testament. And where do you think the meaning of the Day of Trumpets starts in the Old Testament? Anybody have an idea?

Somebody said Genesis. That's correct. Yes. Genesis 3.15 is a good place to go, because that is the first prophecy that this Christ would eventually come and defeat Satan. So let's go to Genesis 3.15.

This is called the protoevangelium, which means the first gospel. And the message is first brought out in this verse. God says, and I will put enmity, talking to the woman, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his feet. So you see their heel. So there are three parts to this prophecy. The first one, it says, I will put enmity between you and the woman. In other words, the woman's seed, which means the offsprings that would come from her. In other words, mankind would have to fight and struggle against Satan's forces, what Satan would produce, those that would follow him. So there would be always this fight between God's people and the people of Satan in the world. And that's been a struggle from the very beginning. Apparently the first two children that Adam and Eve had, Cain and Abel. You have the division of these two offsprings that would eventually develop. The righteous group of Abel and the unrighteous group of Cain. That's why the Bible talks about the way of Cain. Woe to the way of Cain because it divides people up. And we were basically, unless you grew up in the church, we were part of the way of Cain. We repented, we changed allegiances. So now we are from the way of Abel, righteous Abel. The second thing, it says, between your seed and her seed. Notice here that it is highlighted, her seed is capital S. So it's not talking about just any of the woman's offsprings, but there would be one that was special. And that's Jesus Christ. The Messiah would come. And of course, Satan has his offspring. John 8, 44. Let's go there for the scripture where Christ talked to those who were his foes, who were trying to kill him. John 8, verse 44, he says, You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, talking about how he incited Cain to kill his brother, Abel, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. So that's a good description of what Satan has fomented and deceived this world into following his different lifestyles. And then the third part of that prophecy says, He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his feet. Well, Romans 16, 20 explains exactly how this prophecy is fulfilled. We don't have to guess. We don't have to speculate. We just have to read Romans 16, verse 20. It says, And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And he's talking about the coming of Jesus Christ and how he is going to crush Satan and put him in that prison for a thousand years and then later on just take care of him for good.

So in the Old Testament, the day of God's intervention happens because of the culmination of sin. When God sees that things get so bad that he has to intervene. And guess what? In Noah's day, the day of the Lord came to mankind because God intervened and completely blotted out humanity except for one family. So they learned what the day of the Lord meant. It means God's intervention upon this earth.

And it's not only God's intervention and punishment. He also rescues his people. Just as you can look at all of society that was wiped out, yeah, but what about this family? See, they were following God's way. They were protected. So the day of the Lord doesn't have to be a day of punishment. It can be a day of deliverance. So we see that in the Old Testament. Let's go. There are so many scriptures, so I'll just resume all of these into a few. In Isaiah 2, it talks about that day of the Lord coming.

Isaiah 2, verse 12. And again, there are so many, just in the book of Isaiah, that I don't have the time to go over each reference. I'm just going to go over three references. Isaiah 2, verse 12.

It says, Verse 17.

And so, again, God's intervention.

Notice in Isaiah 13, verse 9.

Isaiah 13, verse 9.

So God's not going to put up with this forever.

He will intervene when he deems it is the right time.

In chapter 34, verse 8. Chapter 34, verse 8.

It says, So here it talks about God avenging all the people, the victims that have suffered through time. He is going to repay. He will take care of the haughty and the powerful and the mighty.

They will not be able to do anything. And it talks about the year of recompense for the cause of Zion. Here's another description. The day of the Lord can be the year when God intervenes during that period of the great tribulation, three and a half years. That final year is also a definition, again, in the narrow sense of the day of the Lord. After the great tribulation takes over, and then finally, that last year, God says, enough. And that's when he enters the scene. Because there's a lot of things going on for those two and a half years with Satan and the deception, with the beast and the false prophet, all that's going on. And then God says, enough.

In Jeremiah 30, verse 7, another one of the prophets, they all talk about this day because it's the most important day in the Bible. The day when Christ returns, when God intervenes.

In Jeremiah 30, verse 7, it says, For that day is great, so that none is like it, and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. For it shall have no more, shall no more exlave them, but they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up from. That's not going to happen during this period of time, but it will happen when Christ returns. David will be one of the ones resurrected, and God's people. David is one of those future rulers in God's kingdom.

But it says here that it is the time of Jacob's trouble, which is talking about that particular tribe and the extensions, the 12 tribes, what's going on even today. They have not been lost from history. In Zephaniah, that's a book we hardly ever read about, but again, it talks about the day of the Lord. Zephaniah, chapter 2, verse 3, it says, Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld his justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden or protected in the day of the Lord's anger. So again, talk about his people. So there's a way of avoiding or escaping the wrath of God when that day comes.

And then the last scripture, Zechariah 14. Again, we see another good description of what the day of the Lord is all about. Zechariah 14, verse 1, This is during the Great Tribulation period.

So talking about when Christ comes, he said he rose from the Mount of Olives, and the two angels there said he's coming down as he left. So we know the precise geographical location of Christ's coming.

And then it says in verse 9, So he's coming. And we're not going to have all this confusion of religions as such. He is going to be worshipped by all mankind. Although, as we can read a little later, there are going to be people that are going to resist him. It says in verse 17, That's one of the worst punishments that people can have, because everything dries up, and you know that dying of thirst is one of the worst ways to die. You literally just desiccate. You just shrivel up, because you don't have any juices anymore in your system. No more liquids. It says, verse 18, So actually here, the Feast of Trumpets is the beginning of the fall feasts. It says, continue with the Feast of, well, the Day of Atonement and then the Feast of Tabernacles, that we're all getting so excited about keeping. In verse 19, it says, this shall be the punishment. The term here means sin, of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. It comes from the Hebrew word katath, which means sin and its punishment. As we have in the God's Word version, it says, this shall be the punishment for Egypt's sin and for the sin of all the nations that won't celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. So here you see that before God it's a sin not to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. It's not a suggestion. It's not some idea that, well, evangelicals don't have to worry about it or others. No, it says that when Christ comes back, He's not going to invent that. He is going to enforce it. Because we can't enforce it today. But it will be enforced. And so we see here in the Old Testament the element of judgment, punishment for sin, and also to rescue God's people. They're going to be protected. They're going to be shielded from the effects of the Day of the Lord upon the earth.

The second lesson we want to learn today is that the Day of the Lord has an additional meaning added in the New Testament because it becomes the Day of Christ. Let's look in Philippians chapter 1. See, the Lord is not defined so clearly in the Old Testament, but it is defined very sharply and accurately in the New Testament. Look at Philippians chapter 1. Again, there are many scriptures in this regard, but I already read the one in 1 Corinthians 1-8. But here's Philippians 1-6. It says, Just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of this grace. Verse 6, I should have read that before, it says, The same as you would call it, the Day of the Lord, of His coming. So now it is equated with Jesus Christ Himself, because He's the one God the Father is going to send to carry it out. Notice in verse 10, it says, So now it's defined much more specifically, the Day of Christ. When He is sent, He takes over, takes the reins. Nobody else is going to rule here. He's going to be in charge. Not going to have all of this feeding frenzy and all of these fights in the nations. The United Nations is not united since its very start. It's the disunited nations. If you ever hear the speeches, many of them will contradict each other. One will throw dirt on this country and the other one will throw dirt on the other country and threaten war.

It hasn't stopped wars, unfortunately. Chapter 2, verse 16, here in Philippians, It says, So that's when the resurrection takes place in the Day of Christ. That He can watch the saints rise up, that He did not work in vain all those years, teaching and guiding and helping, that people would be resurrected at that time. When? In the Day of Christ. It's interesting what International Standard Bible Encyclopedia mentions in this regard. It says, On the Day of the Lord, while the entire conception, which means the entire concept or theme in the Old Testament, is mostly dark and foreboding, the New Testament idea of the Day of the Lord is pervaded with elements of hope, joy, and victory.

The very conception, again, these are old terms or concept of Him, as the, quote, Son of Man points to this day. John, chapter 5, verse 27, it mentions here, and talking about God, and He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. So again, the Son of Man is talking about who is going to judge, who is going to intervene, who's going to carry it out for God the Father. It goes on to say, It is true in the New Testament there is a dark background to the bright picture, so it's not all peaches and roses, for it still remains a, quote, day of wrath. To the unbeliever, the New Testament depicts it as a day of terror. To the believer as a day of joy, for on that day Christ will raise the dead, especially His own, the saints, those who believed in Him. So again, understanding the day of the Lord from the Old Testament to the New Testament, it takes a characteristic because now you have a church that has God's Spirit, and they can see the spiritual elements, and that there's joy, because sure, the world is going to have a hard time with it, because they don't want Christ to come. They want things to continue on. But we're looking forward to that time when there won't be wars, there won't be hate, there won't be exploitation and greed, all of these things. So the final lesson, the third, remember the second here, the day of the Lord, there's an important element added to it in the New Testament. It becomes the day of Christ. The third point, the day of the Lord can sometimes cover the entire intervention of God on the world. 2 Peter 3, verses 6-13 is an example. This is talking about the day of the Lord, but at the very end of God's intervention, not at the very beginning, but at the very end, because God has intervened, but it has many stages. And here it's covering one of the final stages of the day of the Lord. As we understand it, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 6, you might have been puzzled reading this about the day of the Lord. 2 Peter 3, 6-13, it says, talking about the world before, for which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. So Peter is saying, people that think God has intervened in the past, well, they forget. He already brought a flood because of the sinners just multiplying to the point where he had to eradicate it and save the righteous. We were just, that were just one family. So he goes on to say, and perdition of ungodly men. So are they all going to die when Christ comes back? No. Because that's the beginning stage. But here it's talking about the end stage of all of these ungodly men. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is at a thousand years, and one thousand years is one day. God's not impatient. He's carrying out his plan. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So God would love everybody to be in the church, to have repented, to have received God's Spirit, to be looking forward to that coming of Jesus Christ. Verse 10, it says, Now again, this is the last or the latter stages of the day of the Lord, because he's talking about when is wicked men, just like in the flood, they were destroyed. When is this going to happen? When are they going to be destroyed?

It says, verse 11, We don't want to end up with those people when they get burned up, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord. Notice here, it's not being terrorized by it, but looking forward and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, which righteousness dwells. And so here, it talks about when the day of the Lord actually extends to the coming of that new earth and new heaven and God the Father coming back, where righteousness will reign after all the evil people have been what we call the incorrigibly wicked. They had an opportunity, they didn't repent, and they will be burnt up.

The Bible Knowledge Dictionary, or Bible Knowledge Commentary, says the day of the Lord can, quote, include the Tribulation, talk about the Great Tribulation Period, the Millennium, the Great White Throne Judgment, and the Destruction, talking about here of the atmosphere of the present heavens, and again adding here the surface of the earth, because when the Flood came, it destroyed. Life destroyed everything in it, but it didn't destroy the earth as such. So the fire is also going to purge and purify, but it's not going to destroy the earth as a planet, because that's where the New Jerusalem is going to land, in a renewed earth. The term, new here, is better translated, renewed or renovated. The term, naos in Greek, means something that has been renovated, but it's not something out of nothing that arises. They have another term for that. And when is it that people get burnt up, and that we are going to be right there when that fiery conglar-furation takes place, when that fiery destruction takes place, as spirit beings, it doesn't phase us, it doesn't damage us. Fire can't do anything. Notice in Malachi chapter 4, Malachi chapter 4, talking about the destruction of the wicked.

It says, For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yea, all those who do wickedly, will be stubble. That means just what's left when everything is burnt. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch.

But to you who fear His name, the Son of Righteousness shall arise, because He's going to appear as a bright, shining being with healing in His wings, that was mentioned in the first message, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. And the term has to do with these young calves, and when they're let out, boy, they've got so much energy, and you're going to be hopping and dancing and enjoying. This is what's going to happen when we become spirit beings. We're going to be so happy. I know John's going to be happy when he can leap and do double flips and be able to do everything that we can't do nowadays as we age.

And he says, you shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet. In other words, they've been burnt up on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts. So it certainly sounds like the reference to the earth being purified after they're thrown in this lake of fire, and that lake of fire eventually extends to the entire earth. And we're going to be there, and we're going to see the ashes of all of these incorrigibly wicked. And they will be like if they never existed before.

In Revelation 1, verses 10 and 11, we see the day of the Lord again in its most amplified definition.

Let's go to Revelation 1, verse 10.

It says, I was in the Spirit talking about that God intervened, and he was able to see visions by this on the Lord's day. And I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And by the way, that's described in verse 4. It says, John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth. So this is what Christ is going to do. And this Lord's day, God tells him, write what I am revealing to you about this day of the Lord. It's the same term, Lord's day, day of the Lord. Just a little difference in grammar. It becomes an adjective instead of a noun, but it's the same terminology. And then he mentions verse 19, write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this. And so he was to write, and what ended up being the book of Revelation, which is the day of the Lord in all its extensions. And chapter 19 talks about Christ's return. But chapter 21 talks about God the Father's return after everything's been purified. And so there is this extension from chapters 4 through 22.

It's the period of time when God intervenes and establishes in its entirety the kingdom of God.

So trumpets should have tremendous meaning for all of us. It inaugurates the fall Holy Days and the start of God's intervention. That's what it symbolizes. It starts with trumpets with symbolism and meaning, and then it goes to atonement, pheasal tabernacles, and the last great day. Now let's go to Acts chapter 3 verse 19. Here's the day of the Lord described again. Very succinctly, Acts chapter 3 verse 19. Peter says, The day of the Lord. The establishment of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God upon this earth.

Let's go to 1 Thessalonians real quickly. Chapter 4. We're beginning to end the message.

1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13. This is kind of more of the practical, personal application. It says, In other words, those who were converted and died, who are presently unconscious, they're going to be awakened. And when are they going to be awakened? What are they going to see? They're going to be in the day of the Lord. That's the next conscious second after a person dies. You're going to be in the day of the Lord with Jesus Christ coming down. And we're going to be involved in all the things that happen, the good things that happen. It goes on to say, For this we say to you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep, for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. So here again relating the trumpets with the coming of Jesus Christ. And as the day of the Lord and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall 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. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

So isn't it wonderful and comforting to know that we can be waking up in the time of the day of the Lord if we have been faithful, if we died with God's Spirit, and faithfully following God, because we can stray, we can lose this wonderful inheritance.

Can you imagine not being in that first resurrection?

Losing that opportunity to be on the ground floor when Christ comes back and being resurrected and being able to be part of that team that renews the face of the earth, that no longer are we going to have politics and fighting. It's all going to be with Christ in charge and His people being servant, rulers on this earth. That's what excites me. I guess that's what keeps me going. I love following God in His way, but I want to be on that ground floor. That's when you can be in on the action. I don't want to wake up and find out that, no, I didn't make it. Just like whatever person ends up in the second resurrection. Look at all the stuff that has already happened, that you could never be in on the ground floor of God's kingdom. So I think that's a goal, to be in the kingdom of God from its start, from that day of the Lord. We don't want to miss it. We want to be there. And so that's the message of this day, the Feast of Trumpets, and the Day of the Lord. Let's be there, brethren.