The Seventh Trumpet And the Divine Timeline
Notes
Transcript
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:
“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”
19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.
Revelation is a book of prophecy but is is also a book for the present.
It is a book about terrible times but it is also a book of hope.
It begins with an introduction of Jesus Christ
At the end of the book… Jesus gives a promise that someday He will deliver:
12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and Offspring of David, and the Bright Morning Star.
And then the Lord Jesus repeats the promise: YES, I AM COMING SOON.
To which, John, the one who was commanded to write down the words of the prophecy of the book, responded with a joyful expression of hope - AMEN, Come Lord Jesus!
Recap of last two Lessons.
The breaking of the Seven Seals, the beginning of the unfolding of God’s judgement.
Seven Trumpets Diagram Here (Revelation 8 to 9):
FIrst Trumpet: The Earth was burned.
Second Trumpet: The Sea was turned to blood.
Third Trumpet: Water was poisoned by Wormwood and turned bitter.
Fourth Trumpet: 1/3 of the Sun, Moon and Stars were darkened.
Fifth Trumpet: Locusts come out of the bottomless pit and torture men for 5 months.
Sixth Trumpet: Four angels bound at the Euphrates were released to kill a third of mankind.
The response of the world is very telling, instead of repentance...
20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
The hardening of the hearts — beware!
When will these things be? Although we will not know the exact day of the end of the Lord’s coming, we can know the times and seasons.
God gives us clues, you can see the signs (fig tree)..
Our God brings things about according to the Divine Order, that He Himself had designed… we can even find clues to God’s Divine timeline through the Seven Feasts of the Jewish Calendar.
The Seven Feasts of the Jewish Calendar (Leviticus 23):
The Spring Feasts :
a. Passover.
b. Unleavened Bread
c. Feast of First Fruits
Summer
The Fall Feasts:
d. Feast of Trumpets
e. The Day of Atonement
f. The Feast of Tabernacles
Explain Hanukkah and Purim.
Explain how these feasts corresponds to actual events in the Messianic Timeline.
God’s timetable intersects Human History.
The Fall Feasts Corresponds to Future End times events.
What event does the Feast of Trumpets correspond to? Some Bible teachers hold the view that it corresponds to the time of the rapture.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
There are Bible scholars and End times Theologians who do not hold this view, because every year the feast of Trumpets is observed becomes a soft coming of the Lord.. we lose the imminence of Jesus’ coming, He said no one will know the day and the hour.
They subscribe more to the idea that the Feast corresponds to the regathering of Israel after the Great Tribulation and before the Millennial or thousand-year reign of Christ.
Because of its significance in the timeline of end time events, Bible teachers can find a correlation between The Feast of Trumpets with the Seventh Trumpet.
The Seventh Shofar Heralds the Arrival of the Kingdom.
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:
“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
2. The Seventh Shofar is a call to War and Judgement.
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”
3. The Seventh Shofar ushers in the Regathering.
19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.
The ark of the covenant is a reminder of God’s faithfulness.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Seven: A Time for Testimony (Revelation 10–11)
Once again, John saw and heard the portents of a storm (see Rev. 4:5; 8:5). Greater judgment is about to fall on the rebellious people of earth! But God’s people need not fear the storms for He is in control. The ark reminds them of His presence and the faithfulness of His promises. And on that ark was the mercy seat on which the blood was sprinkled each Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:15–17). Even in wrath, God remembers His mercy (Hab. 3:2).
Significance of prophecy:
We always think that when we face difficulties in life, look back in what God has done in the past. We ask has God ever failed me? Never. God has always been at work even though many times I did not see it. How many times has God delivered you? How many times had he turned what was meant for evil to something that is good for you?
This builds your faith! If you are going through tough times...
All you have to do is to look back..
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Looking back to your past is like the second part, now you see the evidence of things not seen, that all the while God is with you.
It’s good to look back and remember and memorialize God’s faithfulness. But do you know that there is a special blessedness to looking forward to the future? To things that are yet to take place.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for. My blessed hope is that the Lord Jesus will return someday to establish His glorious Kingdom..
There may be terrible events and perilous times in between now and the coming of the Lord, but never at any time will my God lose control — in spite of the evil in the world and that it will get worse and even escalate in the end times --- God remains faithful and true and someday He will reclaim total control of all things when His Kingdom finally comes! Hallelujah!
24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
God knows what He is doing.
He is doing things according to His Divine order. Nothing is happening randomly.
Even though we are not seeing it clearly now, God is still working!
What do we take away from this lesson? In God’s timeline before the autumn or fall, we are still in the summer. There is also in the Jewish calendar, the summer harvest.
1. There is an urgent appeal to repent now!
Do not delay if the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin:
2 For He says:
“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2. Every day you delay repentance until may be a day too late.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
The rich fool in Jesus’ story in Luke 12:16-20.
3. Avoid the hardening of hearts.
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
every time you say no, and puts off repentance, it makes it easier to say no the next time you hear another call.
People become less sensitive to the things of God.
A growing Numbing
A Callousness
The hardening of the heart may lead to the condition known in scripture as:
“Past Feeling”
19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
This is a scary and dangerous spiritual condition to be in, for your conscience to be seared.
2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
There may be a point of no return, and I pray to God that none of you who call Crosswind Church your home will arrive at such a place.
The good news is that even today, there is room at the cross of Jesus Christ. (Recite the song).