What Do You Mean "Trumpets"?

Good afternoon, everyone! Did you have a good lunch? Hopefully you did. Now you're stuffed.

No, no, you're not stuffed. You've got just enough to really pay attention for the rest of the afternoon, right? I know it's always a little bit of a worry about timing. Am I going to have enough time that I can eat? What time is it? Do we need to get going?

A little bit of a worry that way. Reminded me of a story I heard about a fella. Was always bugging everybody, asking him, what time is it? What time is it? And his friends would say, why don't you just look at your phone? He'd say, oh, my phone, time is broken, it doesn't work, and so just tell me what time it is. After a while, they got just totally frustrated with that and just tired of him asking all the time, what time it was. And finally one of his friends said, you know, what do you do in the middle of the night?

If you want to know what time it is, you're all alone. What do you do then? And the guy said, well, I just open up my bedroom window and I pull out my shofar and I blast it as loud as I can. The guy says, you what? He said, I open my window and blast my shofar as loud as I can. He said, well, how does that help? The guy said, well, within a few seconds someone yells out, are you crazy? It's 2.45 in the morning! He figures out what time it is, right? Well, a Feast of Trumpets is about timing in many ways, isn't it? In fact, if you think about the Feast of Trumpets, it's a little bit of a different type of a holy day. I suppose you could say it's an anomaly. It's something that maybe is a little irregular among the holy days. Because if you think back to when it was instituted, back in Leviticus 23, God gave instructions for all His holy days, beginning with the Sabbath. And in Leviticus 23, 23, He gives instructions about this day, the day of trumpets, today. Let's read that, what He says about the Feast of Trumpets and when it was instituted.

And let's notice a couple of interesting things about the Feast of Trumpets. Leviticus 23, 23, it says, The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, In the first day of the month shall you have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, and a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein, but you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, On the tenth day of the seventh month. And then He goes down into atonement then.

So, as we look at what He says about trumpets, what are we to do? He says, Don't work. It's supposed to be like a Sabbath, but there's not any feasting or fasting. There's no pilgrimage.

There's feasting, but not fasting. There's an assembly we get together, but it doesn't really specify much of anything in particular, does it? And yet, there is something different that's mentioned here that separates it from the other holy days. What's the unusual thing about trumpets? It says, it's a memorial of blowing of trumpets. It's a memorial of blowing of trumpets. Well, what is it a memorial of? What would the people, as God gave this instruction to Moses, what would they think? What would come to their mind? What comes to your mind when you read those words? That today is supposed to be a memorial of blowing of trumpets. Okay, what's a memorial? Maybe we start there for just a minute. What is a memorial? What's something that we celebrate? We commemorate? We honor something. We observe it. Now, as this instruction was given for the first time, it's a little unusual for them what would they commemorate? What would be at the heart of their thinking when it came to that instruction that God gave? It's kind of interesting, if you actually looked up that phrase in the Hebrew, it doesn't even have the word trumpets in it. It says, it's a memorial of blowing or blasting. So, we started out the afternoon just right with the blasting of the trumpet on the loudspeaker. It was a memorial of blasting or blowing.

So what exactly a memorial of? I think one thing that would have come to their minds when they thought of memorializing a blasting probably would have been that fresh in their minds, especially their ancestors' minds, in Exodus 19-16. When Israel came out of Egypt, God gave him his commandments. Was there a blasting that went on at that time?

I think so. Look at Exodus 19-16 because in this memorial, God makes Himself known. Did the people really understand God? Did they know God? Did they know what He was all about?

They didn't. He had to even begin by showing that He was God, by showing them what they the Sabbath was, by showing them all kinds of things as He led them through the wilderness.

Here in Exodus 19-16, God is giving them His commandments. It says, it came to pass, on the third day in the morning there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and the sound of the trumpet very loud. And that is the shofar, that ram's horn that was blasting out. And it says it was so loud, it was almost like this morning for a moment.

That first time that loudspeaker came on, anybody goes, whoa, what was that? It says here, they were trembling. But this wasn't just for an instant. This was an ongoing blasting that was happening. Verse 17, Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now it was completely in smoke, Mount Sinai, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. What was happening here? God was meeting with His people.

God was making Himself and His law known to them. And I think that's an important point when it comes to what is the memorial of blowing of trumpets. It's coming to understand who God is. God makes Himself known on the Feast of Trumpets. He did that at the Exodus here at Mount Sinai, and He's going to do it again in the future when Christ returns.

He will make Himself known. Look at the whole mountain it says in verse 18 is quaking. It's like the smoke of a furnace going up. Verse 19, when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder. Look what happened. Moses spoke and God answered him by voice. Or that word can mean sound. You know, was God sounding forth like a giant shofar? I mean, it must have been a phenomenal sound, like the blast of a ram's horn. But not just any old ram's horn. This would have been a colossal sound. Just an amazing, you know, it would have been a shofar on steroids, I suppose, or something like that. It would have been unbelievably loud. And so this first meeting that God has with His people is announced by the sound of a gigantic shofar, this blasting noise that typified His voice. And so here God is in the blowing of trumpets. I wonder if that would have come to their minds when they were given the instructions at that trumpet when God gave Leviticus 23, 23. I'll bet it was. I'll bet they harkened back to that. They remembered those events. Now most of those people at this time would have been little children. It would have been emblazoned in their minds what had happened when the law was given. And so they probably would have thought of that instantly when they heard the trumpets, the Feast of Trumpets, would be a memorial of the blowing of trumpets. It wasn't much different many years later if we fast forward to the time of David. Over in Psalm 29, verse 1, David writes about this in one of the songs that he wrote. And notice what he says. Harkening back to this, commemorating this huge event that is typified with God making Himself known. Look at Psalm 29, verse 1. It says, Give to the Lord, you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory, do his name, worship the Lord in beauty and holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. Remember we read about God's voice there at Mount Sinai.

His voice trumpeting forth. It says, The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. So here at Mount Sinai, it sounded like a trumpet blasting forth, this incredible sound. And that connection David makes is with the presence of God. God coming down at Exodus, at Mount Sinai, to meet with His people. Is God coming down to meet with humanity when Christ returns? Absolutely. Absolutely. And so David says, verse 4, The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. That's pretty powerful, isn't it? Think back to some of the storms we've had lately. We've had some hurricanes.

What does that do? Well, that wind can be so powerful it just knocks the trees over.

If you've ever been in a tornado, or probably watched news reports about tornadoes that have happened, how do they describe a tornado? Well, it came on really quietly, and it just took us all by surprise. They always say, it sounds just like a locomotive blasting. And here comes this gigantic wind that just tears everything apart that's in its path. Well, that's the description of God's voice. Imagine God's voice just laying it all flat. That would be something you'd remember. You would never forget that.

It seems to tie in pretty well with this memorial of the blasting or blowing of trumpets. Down in verse 6, he says he makes them also to skip like a calf. That can mean to shake it. It may not mean just the animals are kind of bouncing around like little animals can. It may mean the ground is so unsteady and shaking that they can't keep their feet. That may be part of the implication there as well. Verse 7, the voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

It shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice for the Lord makes the deer give birth, strips the forest bare. That's a powerful thing. When you're going to be in the presence of God, it is a powerful thing. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God, isn't it? Especially if you're not right with Him. So it seems that one of the things that would have come to their mind back there in Leviticus would be that the memorial of the blasting of trumpets is when God makes Himself known.

You think that would be pretty obvious? Boy, it sure would be. In fact, it really ties in with another aspect of the Feast of Trumpets that probably came to their mind. It sure comes to our mind as well. When you hear that trumpet sound, when that thing is blasting away, as soon as it stops, is everyone talking and making a lot of noise themselves and conversing and fellowshipping? No, you're probably, wow, what was that? You're standing there, quiet, silent, wondering what just happened. You're ready to listen, aren't you? You're ready to listen. This memorial of trumpets, trumpets send the message, don't they? When you hear a blast of the trumpets, it sends a message.

Ancient Israel would certainly have been used to that. After wandering through the desert for 40 years, they heard the shofar hundreds and hundreds of times through their wandering. They would have been used to the understanding that it meant something. There's something in the sound of the trumpet that's giving us a message. We should know what to do when we hear that horn. Now, over in Numbers, chapter 10, verse 1, gives us a little information about how the trumpet sent a message. The memorial of the blowing of trumpets certainly would have brought to mind the fact that when that trumpet sounded, be ready to listen for the message.

Numbers, chapter 10, verse 1, here God is speaking to Moses, and he's giving him some instructions about worship, about some of the ceremonial things. And he says in verse 2, make two silver trumpets for yourself. Numbers, chapter 10, verse 2, you shall make them of the hammered work. You shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. So, whether it was the shofar or whether it was the silver trumpets, they sounded for a purpose.

Look at verse 3, when they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. So, we've already got, how do the camps move around? How do the people move? Well, it's by the sounding of the trumpet. How do we know when to come before God at the tabernacle? By the sounding of the trumpet. He says, if they blow only one, verse 4, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel shall gather to you.

So, that was a distinctive message that was being sent. Down to verse 9, when you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. So, a certain sound meant get ready for war. That's what the message was. He says, you'll be remembered before the Lord your God and you shall be saved from your enemies.

But it didn't stop there. It wasn't the only message that was delivered by the trumpet. Look at verse 10. Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets. And you shall also, it says, over your burnt offerings, over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, and they shall be a memorial for you before your God.

I am the Lord your God. God was speaking, once again, not like Mount Sinai, but he was speaking through these trumpets, telling them certain things, giving them messages, giving them instructions, whether it was war, whether it was an alarm, whether it was marching around Jericho, whether it was where to gather the people, calling the assembly together. All of those different things sent messages. Now, we might say, well, that's pretty ancient. You know, why would they do that? That's kind of an odd thing. But is it really? Anybody ever been in the military?

How about the Navy? All right, we've got some hands up. What does that sound of the trumpet mean?

I heard some groans. It meant you'd better get out of bed right now, right?

Reveille, get up! I think the words go, I hate to get up, I hate to get up, I hate to get up, something like that. Right? Well, you probably like the chow call. There was a special trumpet call for that. Or to the colors when they would raise the flag, right?

That's the colors going up and down, the flag being raised. They had special calls for the officers. And I'll bet if any of you were in the Navy, you know, when the battle call, General Quarters went out, you know, there was usually a big loud buzzer that would go out, you know, and they're saying battle stations, General Quarters. And the trumpet would play as well for that, because it meant something. And of course, at the end of the day, or at funerals, everyone's heard of taps, right? We've all heard of those things. And it sent a message that it was time to listen. It was time to pay attention. That meant something. And so as a memorial, trumpets meant that to Israel. It meant it means that to us as well, doesn't it? That God's sending us a message. Trumpets sends a message. It's going to send a message to this world not too far down the line, isn't it? In fact, if you turn back to Psalm 81, Psalm 81 is one of those songs we sing quite often. Sometimes we'll sing it even on trumpets. I'll bet we'll sing it during the feast as well. Psalm 81, this is the one we call, praise the eternal with a psalm. Praise the eternal with a psalm. You probably know the words. You probably don't even have to turn here.

The words are slightly different, a little revised so they rhyme in our songbook. But Psalm 81, notice what it says here at the beginning of Psalm 81. Sing aloud unto God our strength.

Make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob. Raise the chorus. Make a joyful noise. We sing that, don't we? It says, raise a song. Strike the timbrel, the pleasant harp, and the sultry.

Look at verse 3. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon.

That should send a message. End of the time appointed on our psalm feast day.

Does that send us a message? It does.

What feast day is the only one that falls on the new moon?

The one we're celebrating today. This is it. This is it. So if someone said, do you celebrate new moons? Well, sort of. Today we do. Today we do, absolutely.

This is the only day that falls on the new moon, and the trumpet would have been blasting today.

As a reminder of that, raise that song. Blow the trumpet. There's going to be some interesting things happening with moons in the future as well. Some visible signs that were going on.

In fact, if you look down in verse 8, it says, hear, O my people, I'll testify to you.

That's talking. That's the message that's coming out. If they would listen to God, God was sending a message through the blowing of trumpets, wasn't he?

And so he says, there'll be no strange God among you. Neither shall you worship any strange God.

I am the Lord which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I'll fill it.

So here we have that blasting of the shofar, the sounding of the silver trumpets happening.

And it meant something. It sent the message, whether it was a war or an alarm, or just God's presence alone. The powerful things in this memorial of the blowing of trumpets.

In fact, part of what might have come to mind as well was not only the fact that God came to meet them at Sinai, not just the fact that they needed to be ready to listen to God and what his message was, but I'll bet you the whole idea of getting away from Pharaoh, coming out of slavery, I'll bet that probably came to their mind as well when they heard that trumpet. How did they organize even early on? Well, it would have been by that trumpet.

Over in Isaiah 27, verse 12, this memorial of the Exodus is probably what came to mind. If you're keeping track, this is probably a third aspect of the memorials. We had the fact that God makes himself known through trumpets. God sends a message through trumpets. But part of the memorial, part of the remembering, part of the commemoration was probably the Exodus as well. And this isn't just a historical thing. We think of it in historical terms, but it's not just a historical thing. Yes, they came out from Pharaoh. They were free. They were now to be slaves of God, no longer slaves of Pharaoh. And so they would have remembered that. And yet here in Isaiah, Isaiah 27, verse 12, it talks about an Exodus. It says, There's that phrase that focuses on the end time, just at the time of the return of Christ.

Come to pass in that day that the Lord will thrash from the channel of the river to the brook of Egypt, and you'll be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. So it shall be in that day, the great trumpet. That one is the shofar. That great ram's horn will be blown. All right, get ready for the message. It says, Now see, we know there's more to this than just some ancient meaning. We know there's a duality in this particular prophecy, that this is coming. This is coming. They would remember coming out of Egypt, you know, with this giant multitude of people. But this is pointing to the fact there's going to be another Exodus, a future Exodus, where God will gather his people. And once again, it says, at Jerusalem. And he will thrash. He will thrash. He'll literally, in a sense, pick up a stick and beat that grain until the best parts are separated. He'll harvest his people. He'll harvest them. He'll break loose the wheat from the chaff. And then he'll gather his people in Jerusalem.

And that great trumpet, it says, will be blown. In fact, the people first hearing this, they never were in Egypt. That would have been long ago for them. Their forefathers would have been, but that was all history for them. They had heard it in different stories. Probably thought maybe it was just legend. They sang songs about it. But here we see the prophet Isaiah comes and he says, you're sick. Your nation is sick. There is sin that has infested your world. Your government is corrupted. Your religion is corrupted. And it's going to take the hand of God to come and thrash this world to get it on track. So we see this memorial is not just a historical thing.

Not just a commemoration of something past, but something that also looks forward to the future.

At the time of the millennium, God is going to do that. He is going to regather his people.

And so God's got to do that. He's got to intervene in man's affairs. God has to stop mankind from destroying himself. Trumpets reminds us of that. There's an interesting section in Jeremiah that points to this Exodus and then points forward as well. Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 19. Notice how it refers to this memorial of the Exodus. Not only that in the past, but also looks forward to the future. Because we know this time of trouble is coming. The Great Tribulation, Jacob's trouble, we're on the verge of that, it feels like. Jeremiah certainly prophesied about that.

Notice how he describes this here. Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 19. He says, Oh my soul, my soul, I am pained in my very heart. Some translations, depending which one you have, they say, bowels, my bowels. This center of his emotions was making him sick. Have you ever been in a situation where your stomach just hurt and made you sick because of what was happening?

That's what he's describing here. He's just very pained. He says, my heart makes a noise in me.

Your heart is beating so strongly, it just feels like it's going to come right out.

If you've ever been in a situation like that, you know what that feels like. He says, I can't hold my peace because you've heard, oh my soul, the sound of the trumpet.

That meant something to Jeremiah. He says, the alarm of war, destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is plundered.

See, that's something that Israel went through, but it's something that's on the horizon as well.

He says, suddenly my tents are plundered, my curtains. He says, in a moment, how long will I see the standard? How long will I hear the trumpet? For my people are foolish. They haven't known me. They're silly children. They have no understanding. They're wise to do evil, but to do good, they have no knowledge.

It's a reminder of what our world is pretty much like, isn't it? If we had to describe what our world was like, would that be a pretty apt description? They don't have much understanding.

And he says something interesting right after this. In verse 23, bring something else to mind in this context of the blowing of the trumpet.

Notice what he says in verse 23. I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form and void, and the heavens, they had no light. Now that doesn't seem to fit very well, does it?

What would that be referring to? Here he's talking about this time where Israel went into captivity, looking forward to a future great tribulation, and then suddenly it seems like he gets lost in time and goes back to where the earth was without form and void. Well, where's that? Okay, go all the way back to Genesis. Was the memorial of the blowing of trumpets supposed to be a remembrance?

Not a commemoration, but a remembrance of Satan's rebellion? Could that be part of what would have come to their mind? I mean, who ultimately causes and brings about some of this distress? We'll go through that on atonement a little bit, won't we? We'll talk about that then. But here you see, Satan's rebellion comes into play as well, that it took God's intervention and a recreation of the earth, didn't it? You know we have those seven days of creation? That wasn't when the earth was made, though. That was recreating. That was re-establishing the earth so that man could live.

And Satan and his rebellion had put it in a total time of distress. And so, here we see Jeremiah putting those events together and tying it into trumpets, which is pretty remarkable. We're going to need Christ to intervene, aren't we? We're going to need Christ because this world, like Jeremiah's description says here, is going to be a total mess. It is going to be confusion. It is going to be like a void of truth. And so he says in verse 24, I beheld the mountains. Indeed, they trembled. The hills moved back and forth. We've even seen some of that lately, haven't we? You know, if you lived in Japan, you saw things shaking, didn't you?

It says, the heavens, the birds of the heavens fled. I beheld the fruitful land was a wilderness.

The cities were broken down. It says, verse 27, for thus says the Lord, the whole land shall be desolate. Yet, I will not make a full end. Because of the elect, what's going to happen?

For their sake, he's going to come before man would destroy himself. He'll come ahead of time.

He won't allow that to happen. And so we see here all of this ushered in with what?

A trumpet. A blast of a trumpet. And so you think of devastating events recently. You think about this Japanese quake. Think about, well, we were just commemorating recently, the World Trade Center and their destruction. That's nothing. That is nothing compared to what this time of distress will be like in the future. It's a frightening thing. It's a very difficult thing.

It reminds me of a little story that I heard about the emotional distress that those kinds of things certainly bring on difficulties and trials and events like that. I heard the story about a psychiatry class. These students were dealing with emotions, and the teacher had them go through an array of emotions just to kind of set the parameters for the class. They were talking about extreme emotions. And so he asked the class, what's the opposite of joy? And one student raised his hand. He said, sadness. He said, okay, what's the opposite of depression? And one said, elation.

And then he said, what's the opposite of woe? And then there was this little girl from Texas raised her hand. And she said, well, sir, I believe that's giddy up. Okay, wrong kind of woe, I guess.

Oh, boy. But it is going to be as stressful. It's going to be a frightening time, a frightening time.

And yet, trumpets doesn't leave us there. It doesn't leave us in that time of distress. You see, this memorial of trumpets also memorializes the resurrection, doesn't it? Because we think of the sound of a trumpet. If you go over to 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter, how is that resurrection brought in? How does that come about? What happens at the time of the resurrection? 1 Corinthians 15, let's look at verse 12. 1 Corinthians 15, 12, says, if Christ has preached that he's been raised from the dead, how can some of you say there's no resurrection of the dead? If Christ has not risen, verse 14, then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty. And of course, all the way down in verse 51, he says, behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

And when does that happen? At the last trumpet. The trumpet. That's when death will be swallowed up in victory. And so we see this awesome memorial of the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ, we memorialize the resurrection of Christ, don't we? We concentrate on his death at Passover, and we look at his awesome plan that God has put together for us. We look to the time of the resurrection, and the resurrection of Christ means that we'll have an opportunity to be resurrected as well in the moment in a twinkling of an eye. The trumpet will sound, it says, that dead will be raised incorruptible and we will be changed. Which certainly would lead us to another memorial.

Really, the meaning of a memorial is in a sense a celebration as well. When this happens, what will that be like? It will be an amazing thing. I was noticing Psalm 150 in this regard just the other day. I thought, well, probably one we should read a little bit here on the Feast of Trumpets. Because part of the memorial that would have come to mind, I think, for ancient Israel as well. And for us, is that this is a celebration. This is not the day of trumpets of woe, is it? It's the Feast of Trumpets. It's a feast day. It's a day to celebrate, a day to honor God, a day to praise Him. And Psalm 150 certainly captures that. It says, praise you the Lord.

Hallelujah! Those are the words there. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with the sound of a trumpet. With the shofar. Praise God. Praise Him. And so, trumpets should surely memorialize the fact that we're here to praise and honor and worship God because of His awesome ways. They knew that God had a plan. God had a plan for ancient Israel. And they thought of how that plan involved them. And for us, it means much of the same things that it meant for them. It meant they were coming into the Promised Land. It was a memorial of the fact that God led them from Egypt to the Promised Land. And it's no different for us. The memorial of the blasting of trumpets means the kingdom is here. God's kingdom is here. It's a memorial of the kingdom of God.

It's a time when that pronouncement will finally be made. That one that's found over there in Revelation. Revelation 11, verse 15. Notice Revelation 11, verse 15. I think we're all familiar with this section. Notice what's going to be blasted away. It's not just going to be the trees of Lebanon falling down. It's not just going to be the earth opening up. It's not just the mountains that are quaking and being laid flat. Revelation 11, 15 takes it a step farther. It says, The seventh angel sounded. There were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are laid flat. They are being blasted away. They have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. It says, The twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you've taken your great power and reigned. The nations were angry. Your wrath has come. And so God flattened those nations. The time of the dead, it says, that they should be judged. And you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, hearkening back to that resurrection. So there's the time that we're looking forward to, that the kingdoms of this world will be done. Man's age will be over. Christ will return. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, and God's kingdom will be established. What an awesome thing that is as we look at ancient Israel and the Promised Land, and we look forward to the ultimate Promised Land, the Kingdom of God. And so the Feast of Trumpets is a memorial, a memorial of blowing, of blasting. It means we're in the presence of God. God has made Himself known to us, and He's spoken to us. He's given us His message. And God will come to judge the world. It's a time that the pronouncement for the time of man is done. And so Trumpets definitely sends us a message. We remember. We celebrate. We observe. We commemorate.

And of course, we remember the memorial. Part of that memorial is, probably most importantly, that we're spiritually ready for the coming of Jesus Christ.