And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.
Numbers 10:9 ESV
The sounding of the trumpets, when used in war, was to cause Israel to be remembered before the Lord their God in order that He should save them from their enemies. From Parts 9 & 10 of our study, it seems that the “Last Trump” that sounds at the time of the rapture is likely this battle cry of remembrance – for God to rise up and save Israel from destruction.
In Parts 7 & 8 of our study, we noted the connections between the heavenly Mount Zion, our assembling together at the time of the resurrection/rapture event, and the coming of the Day of the Lord. Let’s review Joel 2, which connects the trumpet of alarm sounding from Zion (which can refer to both the Heavenly Mount Zion, Heavenly Jerusalem, and the Earthly Jerusalem), the coming of the Day of the Lord, the assembling of the people and the bridegroom and bride leaving their chambers (the resurrection/rapture event?), and God sparing His people for the sake of His Holy Name. God becoming jealous for His land and having pity on His people sounds like Him remembering the Abrahamic Covenant (Israel land and people covenant). It also sounds exactly like the purpose of the Gog Magog war in Ezekiel 38-39. Let’s review the passage:
Joel 2:1-2,15-20 ESV
Blow a trumpet in Zion;
sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
Then the Lord became jealous for his land
The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
“I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard into the eastern sea,
and his rear guard into the western sea;
the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
In case you are wondering, Zion’s Trump is H7782, Shophar (Joel 2:1-2). I think we’ve covered the other connections fairly well in previous posts, so let’s examine the connection with the Battle of Gog & Magog found in Ezekiel 38-39.
The Battle of Gog & Magog – Ezekiel 38-39
God has seemed conspicuously silent towards Israel for the last several thousand years, but in the near future God will break His silence in a specific war detailed in Ezekiel 38-39.
“Gog” and the many nations intend to plunder Israel. However, we are shown how God sets this war up Himself to fulfill His plans and purposes. He then intervenes supernaturally to save Israel from certain annihilation for the sake of His own name.
Basically, God will raise Israel’s enemies up against her in such a way as to guarantee her destruction, just so that He can prevent her from being destroyed. God breaks His silence with Israel for the purpose of announcing to an unbelieving world that He intends to fulfill His covenant promises! He will reclaim Israel as His people and His land. God mentions this purpose 70 times in the book of Ezekiel; four times in these two chapters alone, to ensure He gets His point across. However, He has one final test for Israel.
It’s impossible to overemphasize the significance that God Himself is arranging this war exactly according to His schedule. He will use Gog / Magog as a set-up for both Israel and the nations. It will be deliberately presented so that it can be interpreted by Israel as the final war (Battle of Armageddon). When God intervenes, Israel will look for the Messiah to inaugurate the Messianic Kingdom. A “messiah” will most certainly appear.
Will Israel accept or reject the ultimate false messianic figure?
There are strong connections between Ezekiel 38-39 and the opening of Seal 6 in Revelation 6. These connections also seemingly mark the beginning of birth pains (Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13). Collectively, Seal 6, Matthew 24, and Ezekiel 38-39 would seem to mark both the Rapture and the beginning of the Day of the Lord. We discussed in Part 3, with Peter’s Pentecost Prophecy, how Seal 6 and the end of the church age ties in with Pentecost. I hope you are starting to notice how all these threads are being woven together to form a beautiful tapestry!
Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
Then the Lord became jealous for his land
The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
“I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard into the eastern sea,
and his rear guard into the western sea;
the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
Gog approaches Israel “from the North”, and he will be driven away and slain on the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 39:4-6 describes this stench, with my commentary in brackets:
You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. [Emphasis is on the mountains of Israel, where they will be gathered] I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. [instead of humans offering clean animals in sacrifice, humans will be a sacrifice to the birds of prey and beasts of the field – ceremonially unclean animals. Note the connection here to Luke 17:37 – the first of the sacrificial feasts God prepares for the birds of prey. This places a strong connection between the rapture at the same time as or followed immediately by the Gog Magog war.] 5 You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord. [God will also send judgment on the countries these people came from – the land of Russia and the coastlands – those who stayed behind will not be spared from wrath]
I believe that the upcoming Ezekiel 38-39 (Gog/Magog) war will occur in conjunction with the rapture, and that the antichrist will claim it was the Battle of Armageddon. He will then seek to “change the times and laws” and attempt to set up his own “kingdom age”. For more study on the Gog/Magog battle, I refer you to these posts:
The Heavenly Battle – Revelation 12
As on earth, it is in heaven… I believe that the Last Trump will also initiate the greatest heavenly battle of all time. I believe that THIS is the “heavenly dragon sign” we have been watching for. I believe it will occur in conjunction with the rapture… as we go up, the angelic hosts go to war.
As I discussed in this post: Revelation 12 – A Visual Rearrangement, I believe that Revelation 12 gives an overview of the entire Day of the Lord from a unique vantage point. I believe that verses 1-6 give an overview, and the rest of the chapter fills in details. I have discussed Revelation 12 verse by verse HERE. The part that the Last Trump introduces I believe is this (my commentary in brackets):
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. [Seal 6, Rev 6 – 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. Does the Holy Spirit (Restrainer) remove with a violent wind (gale) just as He came down with a violent wind in Acts 2?] And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.
5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, [resurrection/rapture event]
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. [Revelation 7 – 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”]
12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” [1 week of years – 7 years – Restraint has now been lifted on the earth with the removal of the Restrainer, and satan will unleash his plan of deception. God will send a powerful delusion on those who refused to believe the truth, so that they will believe satan’s lies. 2 Thess. 2]
There is no longer any place (purpose) for the accuser of the brethren (satan) in heaven, because we have been redeemed! For one brief moment in time there are NO CHRISTIANS left to accuse! We will conquer him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, loving not our lives even unto death.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Romans 10:9-10 ESV
For more on the dragon sign, you can check out these posts:
Who Sounds the Last Trump?
…in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:52 ESV
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 ESV
The Last Trump will not be sounded by humans. No matter what it is associated with – Feast of God, Battle Cry, Call to Assembly, or all of the above, the Last Trump is clearly sounded by God Himself. We’ve been examining the different types of trumpets in Scripture, and trying to discern whether the Last Trump is a shophar or the silver trumpets. But what if the Last Trump, like the First Trump, is referring to the trumpet voice of God? David Lowe proposes this concept very well in his books Earthquake Resurrection and Then His Voice Shook the Earth. Lowe explains it this way:
Just what could Paul have meant by the “trumpet of God” in I Thessalonians 4:17? Does the idea of God Almighty placing a gold or silver trumpet to his mouth come to mind? Given his omnipotence, the idea of the Creator of the universe placing a literal trumpet to his mouth in heaven seems a bit unnecessary. Could it be that the trumpet of God is actually his voice rather than a trumpet that he places to his mouth and blows?
Fortunately, there is a wealth of scripture that will shed some light on these questions. The first is Exodus chapter 19, in which the scene is set for the giving of the Ten Commandments. The following is the Septuagint version of the passage:
Exo 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day, as the morning drew nigh, there were voices and lightnings and a dark cloud on Mount Sinai. The voice of the trumpet [salpiggo] sounded loud, and all the people in the camp trembled.
Exo 19:17 And Moses led the people forth out of the camp to meet God, and they stood by under the camp.
Exo 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was altogether in smoke, because God had descended upon it in fire; and the smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the people were exceedingly amazed.
Exo 19:19 And the sounds of the trumpet [salpiggo] were growing much louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him with a voice.
It is clear from this famous account that the voice heard from the mountain was the sound of a trumpet. As God spoke to Moses, his voice reverberated and shook Mount Sinai, and the people were extremely terrified. When Paul recounted this spectacle in the letter to the Hebrews, the voice of the trumpet is again mentioned:
Heb 12:18 For you have not come to something that can be touched, to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind
Heb 12:19 and the blast of a trumpet [salpiggos] and a voice uttering words such that those who heard begged to hear no more
The trumpet and the voice are again combined in describing God’s communication to the Israelites. Another example of supernatural communication and trumpets is found in Revelation, when John encountered the Lord on the isle of Patmos:
Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet [salpiggo],
Rev 4:1 After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet [salpiggo] said: “Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after these things.”
Revelation chapter 1 states that John heard the resurrected Jesus Christ speaking to him, who would have been seated at the right hand of God after his ascension. In both cases, John described the voice he heard as a loud trumpet blast.
In each of the verses explored above, the Greek words salpiggi or salpiggo are used to describe a trumpet or the sound of the trumpet. These Greek words are also found in the two prophetic passages in I Corinthians and I Thessalonians in describing the sound just before the dead are resurrected:
I Cor 15:52 in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet [salpiggi]. For the trumpet will sound [salpisei], and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
I The 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet [salpiggi] of God [theos], and the dead in Christ will rise first.
According to Strong’s Concordance, these words are associated with the reverberation and vibration sound made by a trumpet when it is blown. These Greek words have root word origins that are too interesting and important to bypass. Again according to Strong’s Concordance, one root word is salos, which
means the quavering or billowing of the waves on the sea, and is used but once in the New Testament:Luke 21:25 “And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth nations will be in distress, anxious over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves [salou].
Source: http://www.earthquakeresurrection.com/excerpts/08.voiceandtrumpet.pdf
The “Last Trump” that will call us up to heaven is the trumpet voice of God Himself, issuing forth from the Heavenly Mount Zion just as it did at the First Trump on the earthly Mount Sinai. It will be a call for the body of Christ to assemble, a call for the angels to go to war, and a call for God to intervene on behalf of His people for the sake of His Holy Name.
This introduces us to our next post:
Pentecost Part 12 – Covenants Confirmed, Covenants Proclaimed
Main Pentecost Study Menu: Everything You Need to Know About Pentecost, the Feast that Ties It All Together For The Church
Further Resources:
Are you CERTAIN of your Salvation, beyond a shadow of a doubt? Do you KNOW that no matter when the rapture occurs, you will be counted worthy to escape? If not, please read What Must I do to Be Saved.
The Covenant With Israel – Who Confirms It?
Connecting Isaiah 17, Psalm 83, Ezekiel 38&39
When God Intervenes (Douglas Berner) – I recommend this book for multiple reasons, but it has a very good discussion of the Gog Magog war.
The Silence is Broken! God Hooks Ezekiel’s Gog & Magog (Douglas Berner) – If you are really interested in Ezekiel 38-39, this is an exhaustive discussion of it!
Douglas Berner has several short articles available online.
The Trumpet of God and His Voice: Are They the Same? – David Lowe
God’s Mosaic – A Whole Scripture Overview of Things To Come
Main Menu – God’s Mosaic Prophecy Model
The Bible is infallible. I am not. I am merely challenging traditional models and testing them against Scripture. I believe that traditional pretribulation teachings provide a solid backbone upon which to lay the musculature of details, some of which I think might need to be adjusted slightly. I encourage you to consider my thoughts as you also examine the scriptures to see if these things are so!
Red Moon Rapture 