The Special Significance of the Feast of Trumpets

(Feast of Trumpets)

Fred R. Coulter—September 9, 2010

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Greetings, brethren, welcome to the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets is a special day. It is a day of great significance, and that's why it is called the day of a memorial of blowing of trumpets.

As we do with every Holy Day, we begin with Lev. 23, let's see the command to keep the Holy Days. Just as I have explained in the series that we have done God's Grace and Commandment-Keeping, we keep the commandments of God and the Sabbath and the Feast days of God

• through the grace of God
• with the Spirit of God
• with the understanding that God gives us

This is the whole reason and purpose of the New Covenant and the giving of the Holy Spirit so that we know what do, how to do it, and God is fellowshipping with us through His Spirit and in each one of us.

We find that Lev. 23 is the starting and then we go from the letter to the spirit, or in this particular case we go from the letter to the fulfillment. We go from the type to the anti-type, and all of this involves the literal return of Jesus Christ to the earth.

Leviticus 23:23: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel saying, "In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath…" (vs 23-24).

All the Holy Days are called a Sabbath. The (weekly) Sabbath is called theSabbath—ha Shabbat vs Shabbat—'ha Shabbat' is the Sabbath; 'Shabbat' is a Sabbath.

"…a memorial of blowing of ram's horns, a Holy convocation"'" (v 24).

I've said for years that this indicates that they blew the trumpets all day long; it probably is so. I don't know exactly how they did it; we'll have to do some more research to find out about it. Nevertheless, that would be significant, because as God came down on Mt. Sinai to give the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel on the day of Pentecost, the trumpet sounded long and loud for that day. Here we have trumpets blowing, signifying a tremendous event.

Verse 25: "You shall do no servile work therein but you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD."

We always take up an offering on the Holy Day, and these things are important for us to realize, and also important how much, in terms of physical things that we give back to God, how we give our offerings:

• the attitude
• according to the blessings that God has given us

Remember that God says He is 'able to make all grace abound to us in all things.' So, when we take up the offering, please keep that in mind.

(pause for the offering)

Now, let's review the events that lead up to the final Feast of Trumpets. Let's come back to the beginning of the end-time, as we find in Dan. 11. What we will do is we will analyze this and then we will think about all the different things that must happen, because we're talking about a period of approximately three-and-a-half years.

Daniel 11:40: "And at the time of the end, the King of the South shall push at him. And the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and sweep through."

Let's stop and think about the things that have to take place in order for this to develop. The King of the North has got to be Europe; King of the South has got to be the Islamic area. Europe, in order to come to a point of this strength, there's going to have to be a lot of things to develop and take place. Also, they have a tremendous Islamic problem within each of the various nations in Europe.

Somehow that has got to be resolved in some way. So, it's going to take some time. How long? We don't know! But that time has to be considered. Then we also have the problem of the Jews in Palestine. They have to build a temple. We know they have to build a temple for several reasons:

• Rev. 11 says, 'rise and measure the temple'
• we find in Matt. 24 that there's something to happen at the temple that must take place

Let's see what we need to do and what needs to happen. Let's see a particular thing, because a lot of people say, 'Oh, the end is coming! Things are speeding up!' Then later on they'll say, 'Well, things are slowing down.' The truth is, they're right on time; it's just our perception of it, because we have to look and see for all of these events to come together.

Matt. 24:14 needs to also be done, too, and we don't know exactly how God is going to do it; because just look at the different things that have taken place in preaching the Gospel. You go back, say, if you've been in the Church 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, some 50 years:

• Has not the means for preaching the Gospel increased?
• Has not the number of Bibles that have been distributed in the world increased? Yes, indeed!
• Has not the cost of doing those things gone down? Without a doubt!

Look at the things that we are able to do with the small budget that we have: on the Internet and feeding the brethren. Exactly how that's going to be we don't know.

Matthew 24:14: "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come." So, it has to be to that last generation:

• they have to know
• they have to hear
• that has to take place first

Also, you look at the condition of the Churches of God, and while it's my continuous prayer that all of us repent—not only individually, but collectively—and the things that we are doing to preach the Gospel, that we really preach the Gospel and not get involved in some sort of semi-humanist approach to increase numbers and increase income. That will only backfire!

Verse 15: "Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy place'…"

When Jesus spoke this, they were looking right across the Kidron Valley from the Mt. of Olives right at the temple area. That's the only place that there's the Holy place within the temple. A lot of people say, 'Would a tabernacle suffice?' Ask the Jews! No, a tabernacle will not suffice! All of that kind of thinking is based upon, 'let's hurry up and bring the Day of the Lord here as quick as we can.' There's a prophecy of that back in Habakkuk 1 & 2 that says, 'Woe to you who desire the Day of the Lord.'

• it's a 'day of darkness, cloudiness, death and war'
• no one's going to speed up God's time-plan

If Rev. 11 says there's a temple, there will be a temple. If Matt. 24 says there's going to be a Holy place, there will be a Holy place in the temple.

Notice this parenthetical statement, because without a doubt this was added by John when he was compiling the final editing of the New Testament, because Jesus did not say these words: "…(the one who reads, let him understand)" (v 15).

They were hearing the words and listening; they weren't reading. This was put in here for the reason that, we can understand very easily, the temple was destroyed in 70A.D. and John was writing this and editing this and finishing the New Testament in about 100A.D. So, when he read this, he was inspired to put in this parenthetical statement, because John himself could not understand it. How is there going to be a Holy place and an abomination that takes place? What will that be?

Let's see what that will be, because it's going to be quite an event when it takes place. That ties right in with the book of Revelation. This becomes important for us to know and to understand. We've gone over this before, but let's realize the things that are going to take place at the end-time

• are not going to be done in a corner
• they're not going to be done secretly
• they're not going to be done without everybody knowing about it

God has made it that way; it's going to happen that way!

2-Thessalonians 2:1: "Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled—neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as if from us, saying that the day of Christ is present…. [that's a phrase that they use for the antichrist] …Do not let anyone deceive you by any means because that day will not come unless the apostasy… [which is the complete rebellion against God] …shall come first, and… [so, two things have to happen before the abomination of desolation takes place] …the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition" (1-3).

After the apostasy! What will be the complete apostasy? The amalgamation of all religions into the one coming world-religion! Total apostasy from God!

"…the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition…"

It gives a characteristic of him that has not happened in history before. Didn't happen in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, though that was a type of it. It didn't happen when Titus came in and looked at the temple and saw the temple area that the Romans had just conquered. He did not go into the Holy of Holies. Here what it says is going to happen:

Verse 4: "The one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is an object of worship; so that he comes into the Temple of God…"

John read this and knew that that had not happened, so that's why he put there, "…the one who reads, let him understand."

"…and sits down as God, proclaiming that he himself is God" (v 4). That has not yet happened!

It's going to take these major events to be fulfilled and built up so that 'man of sin, the son of perdition' will be revealed.

Verse 5: "Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you understand what is holding him back in order for him to be revealed in his own set time" (vs 5-6).

God is the One Who does the time setting. Jesus told the apostles, when they wanted to know, 'It's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has put in His hands'; although we're also told in 1-Thess. that we 'know the times and seasons' relating the events as pictured by the Holy Days. But we still do not know the day, we do not know the hour, because we do not know how big and gigantic these things are going to be before they are fulfilled.

Verse 7: "For the mystery of lawlessness…" That's going to encompass the whole world!

Paul says it's 'already working'—and has been working for centuries and centuries, and now we're seeing the pall and Satan the devil encompassing the whole world. We're going to see

• events like we have described
• like a coming world-currency
• a collapse of all economies everywhere
• some difficult times that are going to take place leading up to the completion of these things.

I remember years ago we used to say, 'Oh boy, we're going to live in the time when Jesus returns.' We didn't have in mind all of the difficulties that come with that statement, but now we're going to see them! So that has to happen.

Verse 8: "And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming)…." We'll see that a little later in Rev. 19!

Now let's see how Paul describes this; v 9: "Even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan… [he will be Satan possessed] …with all power and signs and lying wonders."

If you think that lies are circling the earth like a great net—especially here in America—well think what it's going to be like with this.

Although, I will have to admit, I think that God pulled one on ' global warming.' The truth is, God is in charge of the universe, and we went through a series of sunspots, which were very active, and that's what raised the temperature of the earth. Whenever there are sunspots, the temperature of the earth rises. Same way it happened on Mars. By the exact proportion of the temperature going up on earth—since they had the rovers up there—they could check the temperature on Mars, and sure enough it went up.

In 2008 God shut off the sunspots, and it's been cooling and cooling since then. Remember, we were told we would have many hurricanes—after Katrina—this is just the start of horrible things to happen. Well, in 2009 we didn't have one hurricane hit the United States.

God gave another answer to the 'greenie weenies' as I call them, and the 'green' folks who want to bring world-government through environmental control. The volcanoes going off in Iceland—early spring 2010—what did that do? That virtually shut down Europe! What was one of the countries that was greatly affected by it? Copenhagen, where they had the 'green' summit! Remember when they had the 'green' summit—what happened? Three feet of snow!

I think God was answering them to display their foolishness and stupidity of global warming and to expose the lie and the deception of using it for political means and control? That's why I think we need to look for a world-currency to take place. That way then they can control all governments and all people simultaneously, at the same time, with a complete new numbering system, which will then result in the mark of the beast! All of those things have to transpire before the final Trumpets. So, we need to keep that in mind.

Verse 9: "Even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the Truth, so that they might be saved. And for this cause, God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie" (vs 9-11).

Let's see what the lie is going to be. Let's see that the events in the book of Revelation and the prophecies that are described in Isaiah and Jeremiah talk about a time of mammoth events, mammoth wars, great deception, great death and destruction!

Rev. 13—let's see that this beast comes up and receives power and there are difficulties and problems with it. Nothing is going to come easy. It's a beast of 'seven head and ten horns' and it's a combination of all the great civilizations of the world (Rev. 13:1-2).

Revelation 13:2: "…and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne and great authority"—over the whole world, and there has never, never been a time of world-government!

It's coming! That must be fulfilled! There are a lot of people who understand concerning the thing, what they would call the conspiracy. But let me tell you something:

• Does not Satan the devil lead conspiracies?
• Does not Satan have many of them been working at the same time to fulfill his purpose?
• Yes!

He has that authority, and men are going to try and stop it. Men are going to say, 'We can't have this going on.'

Verse 3: "And I saw one of his heads as if it were slain to death, but his deadly wound was healed; and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast."

Never such a thing as this has happened before. So, whoever the great leader is—called 'the son of perdition, the man of sin (2-Thess. 2)—he's going to receive a deadly wound, but he is going to be revived back.

Notice what happens after that, the whole world goes crazy. Satan is now out in the person of this man.

Verse 4: "And they worshiped the dragon, who gave his authority to the beast…."

Remember what Satan told Jesus? 'I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world if You'll worship me.'

"…And they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him?' And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him; and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months" (vs 4-5)—3-1/2 years! That's after the deadly wound was healed.

Here's what he did when he came back to life. Now he's 'God'! This is when he goes and sits in the Temple of God and says I am God!

Verse 6: "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His Tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And he… [the beast] …was given power to make war against the saints, and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation" (vs 6-7).

Never has there been that kind of authority. This is the power that is going to rule the world, and this is why the events in the book of Rev.—to show those things leading up to the return of Christ—are such great and fantastic and deadly, and just worldwide occurrences.

Verse 8: "And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

That means everyone who does not have the Spirit of God! That's quite a thing to understand and contemplate! Then here is a verse that we all need to listen to:

Verse 9: "If anyone has an ear, let him hear."

This becomes important from this point of view, brethren: We cannot solve the world's problems by the means of men! That's why the Kingdom of God has got to come. That's why we have been called to rule and reign with Jesus Christ.

Then we know there's a false prophet with him, the next beast of Rev. 13. The Seventh Day Adventist make a great mistake by equating both beasts as the Catholic Church, and they make a great mistake by saying that the mark of the beast is Sunday-worship when it has to do with 'buying and selling' and control. We've given enough sermons on the mark of the beast that you understand how that is coming, and you now understand that there are the means and mechanisms to do so today.

I just saw something very interesting advertised on television the other day. I don't have a cell phone, but if this were a cell phone, they now put into your cell phone your credit cards. All you do is dial up whatever credit card you want and you just swipe it right over the screen where purchases are made, and there you have it. That will probably be one of the precursors leading up to the mark of the beast. So those things are going to come.

Let's look at some prophecies of the events that are going to take place. Let's see what else Jesus said. When there's that abomination of desolation that 'stands in the Holy place'—that is a key! A key event! It's so powerful, notice what He says to those who are in Judea. Notice how quickly it's going to unfold, the last three-and-half years, when that 'man of sin, the son of perdition' comes and sits in the Holy place and says, 'I am God.' Let's see what Jesus says concerning this:

Matthew 24:16: "Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains."

Notice that He doesn't call it Israel. Judea is probably the more correct Biblical name. I call it Palestine, and I don't call it the Holy Land, because of all places on earth, it's one of the most unholy places today.

This is a test, v 17: "Let the one who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house." Nothing! You just get up and go to the hills and/or mountains of Judea!

Verse 18: "And let the one who is in the field not go back to take his garments." Nothing! Go! If you want to spare your physical life temporarily, get out of there!

Verse 19: "But woe to those women who are expecting a child, and to those who are nursing infants in those days! And pray that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath" (vs 19-20).

That's because it's not going to happen at that time, it's going to happen in a different time.

Verse 21: "For then…"

When you see the abomination of desolation take place, THEN that event starts the last 3-1/2 years.

"…shall there be Great Tribulation…" (v 21).

So, we need to look for those events, and what you're going to see is everything is going to build up to that.

"…such as has not been from the beginning of the world until this time…" (v 21).

We also have been told, that 'as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.' But the times now are going to be worse than before the Flood!

"…nor ever shall be again" (v 21).

So, we are looking at some tremendous events that are going to take place; that are literally going to shake this whole world; that are literally going to cause the deaths of hundreds of millions and billions of people. That's why this Feast of Trumpets is actually a war feast.

Verse 22: "And if those days were not limited…" God has pre-limited them to 3-/2 years.

The King James says 'cut short'; and how many sermons have you heard, the minister gets up there and says, 'Oh look, this is happening,' and Matthew says that God is going to 'cut it short. Maybe He's going to cut it short; maybe it's going to happen next week; maybe it's going to happen next year.' Or like Franklin Graham says when they ask him 'when is the Kingdom of God coming, Christ going to return?' He says, 'Well, it could be tonight or many years out.' Do you know why they say that? 'Tonight'means maybe the rapture will occur! 'Many years out' means that it's beyond the rapture! The answer is: In God's set time, according to His schedule!

Verse 22: "And if those days were not limited, there would no flesh be saved…" alive—all flesh would die!

So we're talking about some pretty terrible and absolutely unprecedented times that are going to take place.

We will see that the Tribulation starts out—probably the first two years of it—where it's men against men. Yes, there are demons involved in the background, but more men against men. The demons and things will come later in greater power. But here in Rev. 6 we find the opening of the seals. Christ is the one Who opens them at the time that God the Father says, 'Open them.' In the meantime, all the events that will unfold out of each one of these seals are being prepared right now, building gradually, going to take place. So, he opened the first seal!

Revelation 6:2: "And I looked, and behold, there was a white horse; and the one who was sitting on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering and to conquer."

The white pictures the false prophet; the red pictures the beast because he is going to make war! Exactly how the religions are going to come together—we already know and understand some of that framework, but exactly how that's going to happen—we'll just have to wait and see. Know this: it will happen!

Some have asked me, 'What do you think is going to happen to the Roman Catholic Church?' I thought, one of their prophecies is, the next pope is supposed to be their last pope. If this one dies—and he's getting pretty close to dying—wouldn't you say? What is he about 86 now; 83, somewhere around in there. Well, sooner or later he's going to die. What if they elect the next pope and its supposed to be the last one and he dies? Now what are they going to do?

The same thing that happens whenever there is a human prophecy that fails, which is this: you re-interpret it! Then they elect another pope and there's a great reformation with the Catholic Church and world religions. Do you suppose that's possible? (speculation) Very likely, something like that could happen.

We know from Dan. 11 that the King of the North is going to come against the King of the South; he's going to come into the Holy Land, the Glorious Land, and he is going to go into the temple (2-Thess. 2) and say that he is 'God' and proclaim war against one-fourth of the world! That's just the start.

Verse 3: "And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, 'Come and see.' And another horse went out that was red; and power was given to the one sitting on it to take peace from the earth…" (vs 3-4).

Yes, there are demons behind this, that is true! But not like we see in Rev. 8 & 9.

"…and to cause them to kill one another; and a great sword was given to him" (v 4).

What happens when there's war? Think about this society and how everyone is tied to the supermarkets or the stores. Who grows food? Who harvests food? Who knows how to do any of that? Hardly anybody in the world! S, when this war starts:

• immediate shortages!
• immediate famine!
• immediate sickness!
• immediate disease!
• Immediate plagues !

and all of the things that will take place!

That's what we have in v 5: "And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, 'Come and see.' And I looked, and behold, there was a black horse; and the one sitting on it had a balance in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say, 'A measure of wheat for a silver coin, and three measures of barley for a silver coin: and see that you do not damage the oil and the wine'" (vs 5-6)—because they're not going to have another crop coming anytime soon.

Just like you see where there's famine and starvation. What do they have? They have bags of flour! Isn't that true? Yes, it's going to happen! This is going to lead to great depravation:

Verse 7: "And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, 'Come and see.' And I looked, and behold, there was a pale horse; and the name of the one sitting on it was Death, and the grave followed him; and authority was given to them over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and with death, and by the beasts of the earth" (vs 7-8).

Now let's see what kind of situation this is going to be. It's going to affect the whole world. No one is going to escape! Any safety that we have comes from God.

We know the next seal is going to be the martyrdom of the saints. We also know that there will be certain chosen ones that God will choose to go to a place of safety (Rev. 12)—and it's not going to be the people that think they are going. I think it will end up being this way: The ones who plan on being there won't be there, and the ones who don't know they're going to be there, but are faithful to God, God will send an angel and take them there.

Consider this for a moment: With the current leadership in the Church and the fighting and division among the Churches of God, who's going to be in charge? I mean they even have evangelists wondering about who's going to be in charge. 'Well, I don't like this guy, he doesn't like me'—and they all hate each other.

I tell you what, none of them are going to go to a place of safety, so cleanse your mind and expunge all the thoughts you've had concerning going to a place of safety. You be faithful to God and you yield to Him and perhaps you might be one that will go! In the meantime, the rest of us, we have to be faithful unto death, as a witness to this world.

(break)

Let's see how the prophecy in Jer. 25 shows that it's going to involve all the nations of the earth. Since all the nations of the earth went after the beast and the false prophet, worshipped him as God, received the mark of the beast, and those Christians who are martyred are those who will not receive the mark of the beast.

Maybe there will be a good number of those who are in captivity from the tribes of the children of Israel, the 144,000 and those in the great innumerable multitude, who also do not receive the mark of the beast. It's going to affect everyone, one way or the other.

Here is a prophecy of drinking of the cup of the last events—it doesn't call it that in the Bible—but that's what I would call it here:

Jeremiah 25:26 "And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world… [What does that mean?] …which are on the face of the earth… [all of them] …and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them"—the coming beast.

But notice what God says. When these events start (Rev. 6) there is going to no stopping; it's going to flow one event after another event, and it's going to affect all the nations on the earth.

Verse 27: "Therefore, you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you."'"

You want to worship Satan? You want to worship a man? 'You don't want to worship Me. You don't want to give honor to Me. I'm sending a sword among you!'

Verse 28: "'And it shall come to pass if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'You shall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city, which is called by My name…" (vs 28-29).

Remember, it is the single event of the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy place, and that is in Jerusalem. This talks about the city which is called 'by My name,' says God.

"…and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished. For I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,' says the LORD of hosts. And prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, 'The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His Holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place. He shall give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the people of the earth'" (vs 29-30)—referring to the harvest of the wicked!

Verse 31: "'A noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations; He will plead with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,' says the LORD.'"

Verse 32: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be stirred up from the farthest corners of the earth. And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; they shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground. Howl, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, you lords of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and of your scatterings are fulfilled; and you shall fall like a choice vessel'" (vs 32-34). It's going to happen, all the nations of the world!

Now let's see what else is going to effect it, because as we covered on Pentecost, God is going to do a startling thing when He opens the sixth seal. The heavens are going to 'roll back like a scroll.' The whole earth is going to be shaken, and they're going to see the sign of the Son of man in heaven that is like a new sun out there in the universe.

Let's see this prophesied back in Isaiah, the second chapter. It's amazing how a lot of these things are in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. That's why we have the book of Revelation to put it all together.

Isaiah 2:9: "And men will be brought low, and humbled—forgive them not. Enter into the rock and hide in the dust for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day" (vs 9-11)—it's going to be quite a thing that's going to take place!.

Verse 17: "And the pride of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth for fear of the LORD and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake terribly the earth…. [sixth seal of Rev. 6.] …In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake terribly the earth" (vs 17-21). That's exactly what's going to happen!

Let's see what the earth is going to be like when that occurs. That's why it says, 'No man knows the day or the hour,' because the earth is going to be shaken in its orbit. The things that take place are going to be awesome!

Isaiah 13:9[transcriber's correction]: "Behold, the Day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation; and He shall destroy the sinners out of it, for the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not reflect its light…. [perfect description of Rev. 6] …'And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the tyrants. I will make man more scarce than gold; even man more than the fine gold of Ophir. Therefore, I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger'" (vs 9-13).

That day is coming! That's the judgment that is going to be brought at that particular time. Now, when the sign of the Son of man appears (as we covered on Pentecost in Matt. 24) what we find is this: I said that that comes closer and closer and closer to the earth. I think we need to modify that just a bit and say: the sign of the Son of man looks like a new star out there in the heavens, is going to stay there; not come closer and closer to the earth. The armies, after this big shaking takes place, they're going to re-gather for battle.

Let's see what's going to happen to the earth. What I want you to understand is this, keep this in mind: When we come back to the earth, to take over the world with the Kingdom of God, this is the kind of earth that we're going to inherit. We're going to have to—through the power of God and Christ, ruling and reigning with Him—make it good and right and have the people of the earth rebuild it again, those who survive, because there will be those who survive.

Isaiah 24:1: "Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, and turns it upside down and scatters its inhabitants."

That doesn't mean actually flipping it upside down. But everything is upside down. It says in another place, 'every valley shall be exalted and every hill made low'; that's turning it upside down!

Verse 2: "And as it is with the people, so it shall be with the priest; as with the slave, so with the master; as with the handmaid, so it is with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be completely laid waste, and utterly stripped; for the LORD has spoken this word" (vs 2-3).

Here's the earth. There are going to be people who are going to want to be fighting over this because Satan is angry and he stirs up the men to do these things (as we will see in just a little bit in the book of Rev.).

Verse 5: "And the earth is defiled under its people; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and have broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, the curse has devoured the earth, and they who dwell in it are desolate; therefore the people of the earth are burned, and few men are left" (vs 5-6).

How many that's going to be? Have no idea, but we'll find out when that day occurs and come back to help Christ in making these things take place.

Let's pick up and carry on from the Feast of Pentecost to the Feast of Trumpets and down to the return of Christ and the saints standing on the Mt. of Olives.

Rev. 7—where we have the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude that are saved. Let's look at it this way: That sign of the Son of man like being another sun out there in the universe, if it stays out there, then when the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude are sealed, there's a time of peace and calm, and time between Pentecost, when that occurs, and Trumpets, when the next event takes place beginning in Rev. 8. Men are going to have a chance to re-gather themselves, get their armies situated again, make do with the best that they have.

So, we find here, when we come to Rev. 8, that now it's not men against men alone, or men and demons against men alone; but now we have the angels of God directly intervening in the affairs of the earth, beginning with the trumpet plagues.

You go from Pentecost to Trumpets and then from Trumpets to Pentecost resurrection, then Trumpets at the end. This is the timeframe that we're dealing with.

Revelation 8:1: "Now when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour…. [exactly how long that is we'll have to wait and see] …Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them" (vs 1-2).

Notice how these are a very close repeat with the things of the seals and also a very close repeat of the things that took place in the book of Exodus when God was bringing Egypt low and to prepare for the children of Israel to come out of the land of Egypt; same kind of plagues.

Verse 3: "And another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar; and much incense was given to him, so that he might offer it with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up before God from the hand of the angel, ascending with the prayers of the saints. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it into the earth; and there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake" (vs 3-5).

As we go through there are many earthquakes that take place. That all now is preparing for the seven angels to sound their trumpets, and the first four sound one! two! three! four!—very quickly, one after the other.

Verse 6: "Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound their trumpets. And the first angel sounded his trumpet; and there was hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was cast upon the earth; and a third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up" (vs 6-7).

Imagine what that's going to be like. Just think of the event that takes place with that. Think of all the death, all smoke, all the things that occur with that.

Verse 8: "Then the second angel sounded his trumpet; and there was cast into the sea as it were a great mountain burning with fire, and a third of the sea became blood; and a third of the living creatures that were in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed" (vs 8-9).

Notice, the next one comes quickly again; v 10: "And the third angel sounded his trumpet; and there fell out of heaven a great star, burning like a lamp; and it fell on a third of the rivers, and on the fountains of waters. Now the name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from drinking the waters because they were made bitter" (vs 10-11).

After they were made bitter in blood, then the flowing water again cleansed it out, just like it did in the land of Egypt when the plagues came, because there's more time. You can't have total bitter water because then everyone would die. This was for a period of time and after that period of time the waters began flowing again their regular water.

Verse 12: "Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet; and a third of the sun was smitten, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars; so that a third of them were darkened; and a third part of the day did not shine, and likewise a third part of the night."

That's why no one knows the day or the hour. The earth has been shaken. Everything that affects the earth, affects its orbit, it's time; everything is going to be out of kilter. Now, we have it affecting the sun and the moon and the stars. Tremendous thing! This is just the beginning, because now what is going to happen is the great war of Joel 2—the war of the Day of the Lord. It's going to be awesome, indeed!

It's going to involve Satan retaliating back and God allowing more demons. Wherever the demons are in the abyss—however many there are and we don't know how many that is—they are going to come out like grasshoppers.

Revelation 9:1 "And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet; and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and there was given to him… [this star is an angel] …the key to the bottomless abyss. And he opened the bottomless abyss; and there went up smoke from the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. Then locusts came onto the earth from the smoke; and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was said to them that they should not damage the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only the men who did not have the seal of God in their foreheads" (vs 1-4).

The only ones who had the seal of God in their foreheads would be those in a place of safety, the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude.

"…they should not damage the grass of the earth…" (v 4).

What happens when grass is burned? You have all this cloudiness and then you have rain. It grows back! Grass isn't going to stop growing. Just like with every tragedy that happens, the plants and things keep going on. So, that's why there's grass again, and that's why this time it's 'don't hurt the grass'—"or any green thing, or any tree…" because at that point they're pretty precious.

With the super-secret weapon of war that they have, that's like a scorpion:

Verse 5: "And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months…"

When the King of the North (Dan. 11: 'tidings out of the north and the east and goes forward in great fury.' This appears to be the fulfillment of that. Then we know there's going to come the retaliation, as we find here in the last part of Rev. 9.

"…and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death but will not find it; and they will desire to die, but death will flee from them. And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for war; and on their heads were crowns like those of gold; and their faces were like the faces of men; and they had hair like women's hair; and their teeth were like those of lions. And they had breastplates like iron breastplates; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots drawn by many horses running to war" (vs 5-9). Then it shows they have the power of the scorpion in the tail.

Verse 11: "And they have over them a king, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon… [a name of Satan the devil] …but the name he has in Greek is Apollyon"—same thing! Apollyon or Apollo is the god of war!

Verse 12: "The first woe is past. Behold, after these things two more woes are still to come." They're going to be even more devastating!

After the torment is worn off, a time of recuperating, then the armies of the east of 200-million. You're not going to get a 200-million-man army in one single location. It describes where they will come from—the east—and come across the River Euphrates. That means that those armies are strung out going all the way east and coming all the way from the north, assembling down there in Babylon, or what is called Iraq today, and they are going to come after the King of the North who is centralized there in Palestine.

Verse 13: "And the sixth angel sounded his trumpet; and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God; and it said to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, 'Loose the four angels who are bound in the great River Euphrates'" (vs 13-14).

I tell you, that area of Babylon and Iraq today has been nothing but deception and war and killing and death, and just every plague that has ever been—just like God has said when He cursed Babylon the Great, and it has been fulfilled and will be fulfilled even in this.

Verse 15: "Then the four angels, who had been prepared…"

Notice how precise God is, and He's the One Who knows what the timing of these things are:

"…for the hour and day and month and year, were loosed, so that they might kill a third of men; and the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred thousand-thousand; and I heard the number of them" (vs 15-16).

Then he saw them. Tremendous vision of the kind of super war machines that will have been developed by that time.

Verse 17: "And so I saw the horses in the vision, and those sitting on them, who had fiery breastplates, even like jacinth and brimstone. And the heads of the horses were like heads of lions, and fire and smoke and brimstone shoot out of their mouths. By these three, a third of men were killed: by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that shoot out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouths; for their tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with them they inflict wounds" (vs 17-19).

Notice how stubborn that men are in the face of all of this. You would think they would say, 'O God, I give up! O God, I repent!' But they don't!

Verse 20: "But the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands, that they might not worship demons, and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which do not have the power to see, nor to hear, nor to walk. And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thievery" (vs 20-21).

There's a pretty good indication from the Greek that sorceries can include drugs, drug trade.

Sidebar: The truth about the war in Afghanistan is this: Who controls the opium and hashish? That's the truth of the war. American troops, during the harvest of the opium, were standing there guarding the Afghanis as they harvested it, so they could sell it! Don't you think that's also part of what this fight is all about? Yes, indeed!

Then we have in Rev. 10, the seven thunders. We don't know what those are, because God told John, 'Don't write it.' So, no one knows what they are! Yet, someone comes along and says, 'I know what the seven thunders are.' Really! When did God tell you about it? Then the last part of this there has to be a time for a last minute warning.

Revelation 10:7: "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall also be completed… [right when he sounds it] …according to the Gospel that He declared to His servants the prophets…. [John was given another vision]: …Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again, and said, 'Go, take the little book that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the earth.' And I went to the angel, and said to him, 'Give me the little book.' And he said to me, 'Take it and eat it; and it shall make your belly bitter, but in your mouth it shall be sweet as honey.' Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it; and it was sweet as honey in my mouth; but after I ate it, my belly was bitter. And he said to me, 'You must again prophesy against many people, and nations, and languages and kings'" (vs 7-11).

Exactly how that's going to work out? Exactly how that is going to be done? We'll just have to wait and see, we don't know.

Then we have Rev. 11, when the resurrection takes place. With this sign of the Son of man out there in the heavens, it's out there and all of a sudden in the midst of these wars and fighting each other, and the seven thunders takes place, something happens right over Jerusalem. That is the sudden appearance of the great Sea of Glass. A question was asked: Can men see the Sea of Glass? Well, you go back to Exo. 24, and did not 70 of the elders of Israel and Moses, Joshua, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu see the God of Israel walking on a Sea of Glass that was like jasper stone? Yes, indeed! They will see it. It will be visible.

Then the seventh angel shall sound and the dead and Christ shall be raised, but just before that the two witnesses will be raised. Then the trumpet shall sound and all the dead in Christ shall be raised. I think, as a witness to the whole world, the whole world is going to see the event of the resurrection. They're going to think, 'Oh, what on earth is this? The invasion from outer-space? Look, they're taking people!' People are coming out of their graves and they're being taken up to the Sea of Glass. That's going to be a tremendous event.

Think of what the world is going to think about when they look up there and see that. All the generals who are left, and all the armies who are left, they're going to say, 'Boy, we'd better get busy and start fighting against these people, because this invasion from outer-space—which it will be, Christ coming to the earth as a warrior—is that not an invasion from outer-space? And don't we come with Him? Yes! Did not Jesus say, 'If My Kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight'? Yes, indeed! So, we're also going to fight!

Rev. 19—let's see what happens here. The seven last plagues are poured out. Still, there's no repentance! Then a tremendous thing takes place. How are you going to handle this for those of you who think that the Sea of Glass is some kind of symbolic language? Well, no, it's real language!

Revelation 19:1: "And after these things I heard the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, 'Hallelujah!…."

How did the great multitude get in heaven? Obviously, it's in the first heaven where the clouds are, because Christ said He would 'come with the clouds.' We are to meet Christ in the air, and we are to be standing on the Sea of Glass (Rev. 15)

and we're shouting: "…'Hallelujah!…. [which is praise to God] …The salvation and the glory and the honor and the power belong to the Lord our God'" (v 1). So, we see all the seven last plagues poured out! We're praising God for it!

Verse 2: "'For true and righteous are His judgments; for He hasjudged the great whore, who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.'…. [all the martyred saints have been resurrected] … And they said a second time, 'Hallelujah! And her smoke shall ascend upward into the ages of eternity'" (vs 2-3).

Let me tell you something: The smoke goes up and once it escapes out the atmosphere of the earth, it goes on into space forever! Just like they found out when they sent the satellite that went up to Mars, took pictures of Mars, and went on to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and on out into the universe—way out into the universe! And even with the small battery power that they had, they were still able to communicate with it, years and years after they figured that it would be over and done. But it's still out there some place.

Just like the smoke of the torment of those who receive the mark of the beast. They're not tormented forever! It's the smoke that ascended, the smoke of their torment ascends into the ages of eternity. Once something is out in the universe, it's there! It doesn't rot! It doesn't go away, unless God makes it go away! In this case, apparently, He's not going to let it go away.

Verse 4: "And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, Who sits on the Throne, saying, 'Amen. Hallelujah!'" How about that!

• On this Sea of Glass, is there going to be the Throne of God? Could very well be!
• Can we see God the Father at that time? Why not!
• Who's going to perform the marriage with Christ and the Bride?
• Why not God the Father?
• Will we be spirit beings then so we can see Him? Yes, indeed!

Verse 5: "And a voice came forth from the throne, saying, 'Praise our God, all His servants, and all who fear Him, both small and great.' And I heard a voice like that of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, 'Hallelujah!… [the third time 'hallelujah!'] …For the Lord God Almighty has reigned…. [He's coming back to this earth with His bride and with all the saints!] …Let us be glad and shout with joy; and let us give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready'" (vs 5-7).

That's what we need to be busy doing, brethren, making ourselves ready:

• growing in grace
• growing in knowledge
• growing in understanding
• growing in the Truth of God

so that we will be ready for this day!

Verse 8: "And it was granted to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, pure and bright; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he said to me, 'Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God'" (vs 8-9).

Do we understand that? We've got the greatest future to look forward to and that's what we're going to be talking about and covering during the Feast of Tabernacles, because the Feast of Trumpets then is the beginning of the fulfilling of what we are going to be doing, working with Jesus Christ to rule this world.

Verse 11: "And I saw heaven open; and behold, a white horse; and He Who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war." That's why the white horse (Rev. 6) is not Christ, but a false Christ!

Verse 12: "And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written that no one knows except Him. And He was clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is The Word of God. And the armies in heaven… [that's us! And how many ever angels joining us] …were following Him on white horses; and they were clothed in fine linen, white and pure…. [the righteousness of the saints] …And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He might smite the nations; and He shall shepherd them with an iron rod; and He treads the winepress of the fury and the wrath of the Almighty God. And on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords" (vs 12-16).

He is the King and He is the Lord! And we are kings and we are the lords!

Verse 17: "Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, 'Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of chief captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, and small and great'" (vs 17-18).

God has a special treat for the beast and the false prophet. He's not going to let them die in these plagues, but He's going to have an angel take them and cast them into a Lake of Fire.

Verse 19: "And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him Who sits on the horse, and with His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked miracles in his presence, by which he had deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Those two were cast alive into the Lake of Fire, which burns with brimstone" (vs 19-20).

Like being thrown into a molten lava lake—POOF!—no recovery from that!

Verse 21: "And the rest were killed by the sword of Him Who sits on the horse, even the sword that goes out of His mouth; and all the birds were filled with their flesh." 

Let's see how this prophesied clear back then. 'In that day'—so we have from Trumpets, when the trumpet plagues begin, to the next Trumpets, when we come back to the earth and we fight against the armies of the beast and the false prophet and we take over the world! Now, let's see how we come; let's see what's prophesied.

Zechariah 14:1: "Behold, the day of the LORD comes, and your spoil shall be divided in your midst, 'For I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem; and the city shall be taken, and the houses plundered, and the women raped. And half of the city shall go into exile, and the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.' And the LORD shall go out and fight against those nations… [tie in Rev. 19] …as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives…" (vs 1-4).

Isn't that interesting, because when Jesus left the earth to ascend into heaven for the final time, where were they standing? On the Mt. of Olives! So He comes right back to that same place.

"…which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall split in two, from the east and to the west, and make a very great valley…. [the whole typography of the earth is going to be changed] …And half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And you shall flee to the valley of My mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with You" (vs 4-5). That's us, brethren!

This day of Trumpets has a tremendous meaning for us and for the world. God is not going to return to this earth in a secret rapture. It is going to be known! It is going to be devastating! The earth is going to be a cindering hulk of dead bodies and earth and fallen buildings destroyed because of war! Yet, there will still be people alive, and we will be the ones to go save them.

Verse 6: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark. And it will be one day, which shall be known to the LORD, neither day nor night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them shall go toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea. In summer and in winter it shall be. And the LORD shall be King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one LORD, and His name shall be one" (vs 6-9).

So, that's the day we are looking forward to. That is the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets!

I'm happy we could get together on the Feast of Trumpets and now we can look forward to the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Scriptural References:

• Leviticus 23:23-25

• Daniel 11:40
• Matthew 24:14-15
• 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11
• Revelation 13:2-9
• Matthew 24:16-22
• Revelation 6:2-8
• Jeremiah 25:26-34
• Isaiah 2:9-11, 17-21
• Isaiah 13:9-13
• Isaiah 24:1-3, 5-6
• Revelation 8:1-12
• Revelation 9:1-9, 11-21
• Revelation 10:7-11
• Revelation 19:1-9, 11-21
• Zechariah 14:1-9

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 11
• Habakkuk 1, 2
• Revelation 13:1; 12; 7
• Joel 2
• Exodus 24
• Revelation 15

Also referenced: In-Depth Study:
God's Grace and Commandment-Keeping

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 7-27-10
Reformatted: bo—9/2021