WHEN THE LORD JESUS “SHOUTS”
How thrilling to read about the Son Of God shouting as He approaches the Midair where we will meet Him. As I write I believe Heaven is preparing for our arrival. Welcomimg indications will be everywhere. I suggest a great Angelic choir is preparing to sing the welcoming reframe. The Last Trumpet is the one hundreth blast that concludes The Feast Of Trumpets. Its a Ram’s Right Horn that calls to memory the Hand Of God that stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac. Its was moving time for this father, his son and their servants to return to the father’s house. The “Feast Of Trumpets” was a great celebration to the Jewish families and was the foreshadow of the next earth shaking event, “The Saints Going Home”.
The Rapture and the trumpet are beautifully related in the prophetic truths of the Holy Scripture. From the moment that Abraham saw the ram caught in a thicket by his horns on the mountain, the right horn of that ram has signaled this hope of the future Rapture. Every type that the Holy Spirit uses in the teaching of God’s truth in the Bible always relates back to the moment of first mention. If a type or symbol is removed out of context, the message becomes marred. There are silver trumpets that relate to worship and the temple, but the Shofar trumpet always seems to relate to the calling of the people for movement. The ultimate trip for His saints is into His presence for the celebration of the Wedding Supper.
Look at Apostle Paul’s statement to the Corinthians about this mystery that we call the “Rapture” or the “Catching Away.” “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (I Corinthians 15:50-52).
Paul called it a “mystery” or something which cannot be understood except by Divine inspiration. Uninterested souls will never understand the Rapture. Neither will undiscerning or antagonistic persons. It is God’s divine secret for His chosen saints, clearly revealed to anyone who will “desire the sincere milk of the Word.”
The Apostle Paul formed these verses in I Corinthians 15 by the Holy Spirit to capture the essence of this event. Since flesh and blood cannot enter into His presence, something called a mystery must occur. It will be signaled by the “Last Trump,” which was a designated trumpet blast on a specific day. It does not suggest the last of all trumpets to sound, but a named event on a celebrated occasion. We will see that picture shortly in this article as we discuss the “Feast of Trumpets.”
When this trumpet blast is sounded, the dead saints will be resurrected and the living saints will be changed from mortal to immortal. The corruptible will put on incorruption. Our frail bodies will suddenly be like His own glorified body for He was our “Firstfruit” of the Resurrection. When this change occurs, we will then be “caught up” or “raptured” to His presence just like He promised to His disciples as He prepared them for His death.
Jesus had said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3).
No wonder the Bible calls this a mystery; it defies all human limitation. This event will remove us out of harm’s way so that the Lord Himself can finish His judgment of a rebellious and rejecting world and prepare for His reign of one thousand years on this earth. Let’s look at the specific “Feast of Jehovah” that is a prophetic picture of this triumphant Day of the Lord.
The Feast of Trumpets! The Lord instituted seven major feasts and gave them to Israel to rehearse yearly. Scripture calls these feasts the Feasts of Jehovah. They are not the feasts of the Jews, although the Jews were the chosen people to share in their celebration; they are the Lord’s Feasts. He celebrated His redemption drama every time these feasts were celebrated. The fifth feast, which is yet future in prophetic fulfillment, was this exciting feast, the Feast of Trumpets. I believe it is a foreshadow of the Rapture of His saints of the ages and those living saints when He shall appear. Study carefully with me as we relate this Feast of Jehovah and the impending Rapture of His saints.
The main element of celebration in this feast is the blowing of trumpets. There is said to be one hundred trumpet blasts in the course of this celebration. The first blast is with the left horn of the ram; the last blast is with the right horn of the ram. It is a long “tekiah gedolah” blast that ends abruptly. It is specifically called “the last trump” in the Jewish writings. When Apostle Paul used the term “the last trump,” it was a Jewish statement clearly used by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of revelation was uniting the Feast of Jehovah with the declaration of its future fulfillment.
Jehovah God was Celebrating the Future Rapture! The Feast of Trumpets was Jehovah God Himself celebrating the glorious rapture of His saints. The entire Old Testament is filled with mysteries hidden from the undiscerning and blinded unbelievers. These mysteries are revealed in several Old Testament passages, but literally explodes in Paul’s writings and in the book of Revelation.
Isaiah clearly describes this rapture event in his great addition to the first writing of the prophets. He stated, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” (Isaiah 26:19-21).
The word “come” points directly to Revelation 4:1, where it says, “Come up hither.” Then he describes this chamber, called “thy chambers” or a secret place, where the saints met the Bridegroom and are hidden while the “indignation” is overpast or passed over. As these resurrected saints are hidden in a “prepared place,” the Lord comes out of His place (Heaven) to punish the wicked on the earth.
Malachi, also, gives us a small peep into this spectacular day. He stated, “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” (Malachi 3:16-18).
It is clear that this is a unique group of saints, not the run of the mill crowd. Three distinct features characterize them: they feared the Lord, they thought on His Name, and they spake often one to another. These are the jewels in the kingdom of God and are spared the wrath and indignation that immediately follows them being exalted into His presence. He said “They shall be mine,” and then added, “I will spare them as a man spareth His own son that serveth Him.”
The context continues by showing immediately after the wrath, which they are spared from, that they will return to judge the earth. The new translations leave out the words, “Then shall ye return . . .”, which does great damage to this mystery of revelation. Malachi is clearly revealing the pre-Tribulation Rapture to be followed by wrath and then the return of Christ with His saints to judge and establish His kingdom on earth.
The Ram’s Horn! There are no accidents in Holy Scripture. Every act, every event, and every circumstance was placed in this Holy Book to communicate His message to the saints. When God informed Abraham to go and sacrifice Isaac his son, the entire event became a drama of future glory. He was told to travel to a mountain, which the Lord would show him. For three days they traveled, during which Isaac was as good as dead in Abraham’s heart. Then the two, Abraham and his to be sacrificed son, climbed the hill together just as Jesus Christ with His Father would climb a future hill. Isaac asked his father, “Where is the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb…”
Just before Abraham could sacrifice his son, the angel of the Lord spoke. Immediately, “…Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns…” (Genesis 22:13). Abraham named the place Jehovah-jireh, which means, “in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” The sacrifice prefigures the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The horn of the ram goes even further and sets a type for the final triumph of that sacrifice. Listen to what the angel said, “Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” (Genesis 22:17). This seed is Christ and the possessing of His enemies will begin in full when the “Last Trump” (the ram’s right horn) sounds on that triumphant day. The Feast of Trumpets is on the first day of the civic calendar. Everything has meaning in this celebration and the first day of the New Year certainly suggests the first day when God begins the process of His new government. The Rapture of the saints out of harm’s way must occur so that the wrath and its resulting cleansing can begin, This is the beginning of the “Day of the Lord.” It is in preparation for His new government with His saints reigning with Him on this earth.
The Day the Lord Shouts! To even imagine a day so triumphant and glorious, so fulfilling of heaven’s design that the Lord Himself shouts, must suggest something glorious indeed. The Holy Ghost filled Apostle Paul makes it absolutely clear that when the Rapture of the saints comes to fulfillment, the Lord Himself lets out a divine shout. Let’s read this passage in context, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
I love these words, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.” He could call to us from the balcony, but He comes to meet us in the air. It is my belief that He comes into the midair because Satan is the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). Satan has resisted every triumph of every single saint and he will certainly put up a master show to hinder this escape out of his net. Could this be some of the reason for such a show of unidentified flying objects our world is presently witnessing? I personally believe they are fallen angels manifesting their diabolical powers.
Remember Jude telling us of Michael and Satan disputing over the body of Moses? (Jude 8). God sent a chariot of fire in a whirlwind to get Elijah and came Himself to walk Enoch across the divide. There is no question in my mind but that the Lord comes as the “Lord of Hosts” with His mighty angels to lead a procession right through the devil’s domain and makes a show of him (Satan) before the powers of the universe. He does not just come down into the midair. He comes down “from Heaven with a shout…” The Lord has been celebrating this event for at least 3,800 years since Abraham offered that ram on the “Holy Mountain.” Remember that the Feast of Trumpets was called a Feast of Jehovah. The Bride has been wooed from the nations of the world and, by great sacrifice, has overcome ten thousand obstacles. Many of her choice saints were burned at stake, sawn asunder, and torn to shreds by lions. The world has hated this crowd of “blood-washed saints” and now her Bridegroom has finished the bridal chamber. He is traveling through the clouds to rescue her from her sworn enemies. As Heaven recedes and earth comes into view, the Son of God shouts for His chosen.
Joseph Chambers