The Seven Trumpets
Parts 1-3
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The Jews celebrated
“The Feast of Trumpets” on
the first day of the seventh month
each year. (Tishri 1) Actually, God
required Israel to observe the
commencement of every month at the
time of each new moon and these
festivals kept Israel’s calendar
synchronized with the moon. But, the
new moon festivals for the seventh
month of the year were different from
all the others. The sounding of
trumpets marked this feast.
The purpose for the
sounding of the trumpets was to
notify Israel that the most important
day of the year was about to arrive.
In other words, the Jews were put on
notice that they had nine days to get
ready for the 10th day of
the 7th month that was the
Day of Atonement – or the Day of
Judgment.
God warned Israel with
trumpets that their Day of Judgment
was coming because corporate approval
was only possible ifall of the
Jews made sure that all personal
wrongs had been made right.
Consider this:
When a wrong was
committed, God does not forgive the
sinner until restitution has been
made to the victim. Restitution
consists of restoring what was taken
plus paying a penalty.
For example:
Exodus 22:1
“If a man steals an ox or a
sheep and slaughters it or sells it,
he must pay back five head of cattlefor
the ox and four sheep for the
sheep.”
Exodus 22:5
“If a man grazes his livestock
in a field or vineyard and lets them
stray and they graze in another
man’s field, he must make
restitution from the best of his own
field or vineyard.”
Exodus 22:7
“If a man gives his neighbor
silver for goods for safekeeping and
they are stolen from the
neighbor’s house, the thief, if
he is caught, must pay back double.
Exodus 22:8
But if a thief is not found, the
owner of the house must appear before
the judges to determine whether he
has laid his hands on the other
man’s property.
Exodus 22:9
In all cases of illegal possession of
an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment,
or any other lost property about
which somebody says, ‘This is
mine,’ both parties are to bring
their cases before the judges. The
one whom the judges declare guilty
must pay back double to his
neighbor.”
Of course, restitution
is not possible for some things.
Exodus 22:16
“If a man seduces a virgin who
is not pledged to be married and
sleeps with her, he must pay the
bride-price, and she shall be his
wife.
Exodus 22:17
If her father absolutely refuses to
give her to him, he must still pay
the bride-price for virgins.” [Full
price]
[The bride
price was determined by the father of
the woman. The idea behind the bride
price was that the girl was the
property of the father, and her
marriage was a financial loss to her
father. So, if she was a good-looking
virgin, and if the father was a
wealthy man, the bride price was very
high. If she was quite ugly, the
bride=price wasn’t very great.
Now you know why Laban gave Leah
instead of Rachel. No one would pay
Laban for Leah. Jacob worked for
Laban for seven years to pay for
Rachel and after he was cheated, he
worked another seven years to pay for
her. I find the Bible to be humorous
describing the morning after
Jacob’s wedding to Leah:
“When morning came, there was
Leah!” Can you imagine
Jacob’s surprise and angst?]
The point
here is that the Feast of Trumpets in
ancient Israel was designed to awaken
Israel to the fact that Judgment Day
was only 9 days away.
If a Jew
failed to make the necessary
restitution between man and God
during these nine days, his sin would
be revealed when the High Priest
entered the Most Holy place to stand
before God’s presence. God would
tell the High Priest that sin was in
the camp and after the sinner was
located he would be “cut
off” or “evicted” from
the nation of Israel.
So, the nine
days between the Feast of Trumpets
and the Day of Atonement were to be
spent in soul searching, carefully
reviewing the past to make sure all
wrongs had been made right. So it
will be. The time-period of the
seven trumpets will be a time of soul
searching. A time for making all
wrongs right and taking a position on
the side of truth.
Jesus will
send seven trumpets judgments to
Earth to awaken the people of earth
to the fact that Judgment Day has
come.
2 Corinthians
5:10 “For we
must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, that each one may
receive what is due him for the
things done while in the body,
whether good or bad.”
Revelation
14:7 He said in a loud
voice, “Fear God and give him
glory, because the hour of his
judgment has come. Worship him
who made the heavens, the earth, the
sea and the springs of water.”
One last
point: Meeting Jesus is vastly
different than meeting a great king
or president on Earth because the
only people that can see Jesus
without being destroyed by His holy
presence are the pure in heart.
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God.
Let’s
finish today’s study with this
question, “What is the purpose
of 1/3 in the seven trumpets?”
Actually, the
quantity of 1/3 is mentioned 12 times
in the seven trumpets. This
repetition is important because it
keeps directing us to an important
concept over and over again. The use
of 1/3 in Revelation comes from an
ancient custom of kings showing
generosity.
For example,
if a king defeated his rebellious
enemy, he might show great generosity
by allowing one third of his enemies
to live! .
2 Samuel 8:2
“David defeated the Moabites. He
made them lie down on the ground and
measured off with a length of cord. Every
two lengths of them were put to
death, and the third length was
allowed to live. So the Moabites
became subject to David and brought
tribute.”
The 1/3 that
was spared was glad to be alive! They
had a change of mind and were
suddenly pleased to pay their
taxes.”
Look at this:
When the Lord, the Great King of
Israel, destroyed Jerusalem because
of apostasy, He spared 1/3:
Ezekiel 5:11
Therefore as surely as I live,
declares the Sovereign Lord, because
you have defiled my sanctuary with
your vile images and detestable
practices, I myself will withdraw my
favor; I will not look on you with
pity or spare you.
Ezekiel 5:12
A third of you people will die
of the plague or perish by famine
inside you; a third will fall by
the sword outside your walls; and
a third I will scatter to the
winds and pursue with a drawn
sword.”
The point
here is that the seven trumpets
are a time of mercy. In stead of
justifiably destroying 3/3’s
Jesus destroys 1/3 and leaves 2/3! He
is double generous!
The
destruction of 1/3 will be so
overwhelming that people will think
that God is going to destroy everyone
and everything. Yes, He would be
justified in so doing, but He is a
double generous king.
One last
thing:
The number
666, the mark of the beast, is 2/3 of
1,000. The devil will divide the
people of Earth into groups of 1,000
and kill 1/3.
When we study
the mark of the beast, you will be
amazed at the fact that Lucifer will
kill 1/3 of mankind and spare
2/3’s. (Revelation 9:15) The
2/3’s will gladly choose
to wear the number “666”
showing they belong to the 2/3’s
that are permitted to live.
We’ll discuss this later on.
If time
permits:
“Eternal
truth is not what I believe. Truth is
greater than me. Truth is not even
what I know for truth is larger than
anything I know. Truth is fact. I may
not believe it. I may not know it.
But, that does not change it. It is
nevertheless, waiting to be
discovered and believed. Truth does
not depend upon the unsettled and
changing opinions of men. It was
there before it was believed and it
remains truth whether it is believed
or not. Truth is true. Reason does
not originate it nor create it, it
merely discovers it. Consequently,
reason is not its source. Truth goes
back beyond the beginning of reason.
Some would have us believe that the
church is the source of truth,
particularly in matters of theology.
They are wrong. The church is the
product of truth. It does not
originate it. The church came into
being by accepting divine revelation.
The church is not the source of that
revelation. Truth goes beyond the
church it is antecedent to it. Truth,
eternal truth.”
(Written by
Carlye B. Haynes (1882-1958), the
reference for this quote has been
lost.)
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