Scriptures: Ezekiel 37:21-27, Isaiah 11:11-16, Isaiah 14:1-2, Joel 2, Revelation 10:6-7; 11:15-18
One of the activities of the Shepherd of Israel is to gather them from the ends of the earth in the last days. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 24 My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever” (Ezekiel 37:21-22, 24-26).
Isaiah 11:11 says, “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people.” The Jews were brought back from exile in Babylon, but Isaiah is speaking of a second return from exile. “He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth” (Isaiah 11:12). This is a global regathering. Isaiah 14:1-2 says, “The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners will join them and unite with the descendants of Jacob. 2 Nations will take them and bring them to their own place.” The word “nations” is plural. While Cyrus sent the Jews back to Israel after Babylonian captivity, it took the United Nations after World War 2 to resettle Israel in their own land. The regathering of the Jews or Judah has begun with the recreation of the nation of Israel, but reuniting the scattered lost tribes will be accomplished by Jesus when the last trumpet sounds.
In Matthew 24:30-31 Jesus says that the whole world “will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world – from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.” Today we look at how Jesus fulfills the Festival of Trumpets with this mighty trumpet blast when he returns. In Leviticus 23:24 God commanded the Israelites, “On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.” Seven is the number of sabbath rest. The seventh day was given for rest and so the Festival of Trumpets at the beginning of the seventh month foreshadowed the announcement of the kingdom of Messiah who will finally give Israel rest from her enemies. His coming is announced by trumpet blasts.
Israel used the sounding of the trumpet or shofar (ram’s horn) to gather the people together for holy days and for war. The fall festivals begin with the Festival of Trumpets, during which the shofar is sounded 100 times. Since the Jewish day begins at sunset, the festival begins on one solar calendar day and concludes at sunset of the next day. The trumpet is sounded to gather the nation together for the 10 Days of Awe and repentance before the Day of Atonement. Just as there is a dual purpose in sounding the trumpet to gather for both holy convocations and for war, in Revelation we see trumpets sound in the last days to announce the coming of Jesus to gather God’s children from the ends of the earth and heaven, and as a warning to those in rebellion to repent before the final judgment.
“’Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’ 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing – grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God. 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly” (Joel 2:12-14). When God sounds the trumpet for war, if we respond by sounding the trumpet to call a fast and repent, the Lord’s desire is to relent from sending calamity. God is not willing that any perish, but all be saved.
God will sound six warning trumpets. Revelation 10:6 says that when the seventh angel blows his trumpet there will be “no more delay.” The first six trumpets are sounded to delay judgment and give people time to repent, just like the time between the Festival of Trumpets and Day of Atonement is a time of awe and repentance. The trumpets announce judgments upon the last days empire that carries the spirit of Babylon and those who took the mark of the beast. These trumpet judgments will restore the fear of the Lord and awe of him.
Before the trumpets are sounded, God’s people are marked with his seal to protect them from judgment, just like Israel was protected in the land of Goshen from the last seven plagues on Egypt. All twelve tribes are marked in Revelation 7, reminding us that the “lost” northern tribes are known to God. As we studied in day 12, Exodus 13:9 reveals that observance of God’s commands is a mark on our forehead and hand. Just before God sends six angels to execute judgment on idolatrous Judah, Ezekiel 9:3-4 says, “Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side 4 and said to him, ‘Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.’” The righteous are seen by God and carry his mark. We who are filled with God’s Spirit are sealed and protected during times of judgment.
Like the seven days the Israelites marched around Jericho, sounding the trumpets as a warning of their impending invasion, Revelation 8-11 reveals that God will sound six trumpets to call the world to repentance, and on the seventh he invades the earth. Just as the ground beneath Jericho shook while the Israelites marched around it, the sound of each trumpet in heaven releases a corresponding activity on earth meant to shake the earth’s inhabitants out of their complacency and begin to reckon with their eternal destiny. On the seventh day, the Israelites marched around Jericho seven times blowing seven trumpets and shouting, causing the walls of the city to collapse so they could invade. Revelation 11:15 tells us “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.’” As the angel tells John in Revelation 10:7, “When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets.” We have been studying that very plan.
At the last trumpet, after delaying judgment so people can repent and be saved, Jesus appears in the clouds and sends out his angels to gather his chosen ones from the ends of the earth and heaven (Matthew 24:30-31). “It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). The remaining remnant of Israel and Judah will be gathered along with believers everywhere into one flock. Jesus will then go out to trample his enemies in the winepress of God’s wrath, fulfilling all God’s promises to Israel to avenge them by destroying their enemies (Isaiah 63). Jesus will sit down at the wedding supper of the Lamb with his bride (Revelation 19:7). God’s people will be rewarded and reign with him a thousand years in his Kingdom (Revelation 20). Every promise Jesus made to his disciples to reward them in his kingdom will come to pass. The earth will be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb who reigns forever. God will fulfill every promise and wipe away every tear. Hallelujah!
Response:
Jesus, we worship you as the coming King who will gather Israel and the rest of your flock together on the last day, ushering in your kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace. Worthy are you of all praise!
(The picture above is of a shofar being blown outside the walls of Jerusalem.)
