Are The Trumpets of Judgement Warming Up?
A Video(s)
B
I Whose making all that Noise?
A As we approach the coming Day of the Lord can we expect to hear audible sounds from the heavens?
1 From the pages of Scripture we find some remarkable (even if overlooked) accounts of sounds from the heavens that surround decisive historical events.
a David’s victory over the Philistines is a very good example.
aa After the Philistines had heard that David had been anointed as King of Israel, they launched an attack on him/Israel before David has sufficient time to solidify his power among God’s people. (1 Chron. 14.8)
bb The enemies of God always try to abort a fresh move of God/or new birth before it has had time to mature. (Moses, Jesus)
b Unlike David’s predecessor (King Saul) who “inquired” the witch of Endor (1 Sam. 28.7), David “inquired” of the Lord what to do to defeat the Philistines.1 Chron. 14.10).
aa The Philistines were defeat, 1Chron. 14.12 tells us that they abandoned their idols/false gods, symbolic of their importance before YHWH.
bb David demands the idols to be burned per Mosaic Law (Deut. 7.5; 12.3), as compared to parading them through the streets. (Dvd was a man after God’s own heart. . . He was after the heart of God.)
cc You go after the heart of God . . . the enemy attacks again!
c 13 The Philistines made yet another raid in the valley. 14 David inquired again of God, and God said to him, "You shall not go up after them; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees. 15 It shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines." 16 David did just as God had commanded him, and they struck down the army of the Philistines from Gibeon even as far as Gezer. 1 Chron 14:13-16
aa God tells David that the divine signal to entrap/defeat/overcome the Philistines will come as “sound” coming from above.
bb The noise was probably the sounded like soldiers marching to war (trumpets, cadence of drums, turning of wheels, clanking of body armor); SOUNDS OF WAR/BATTLE.
cc I believe the sound did two things: confused/struck terror into the hearts of the enemy & encouraged the King’s army.
2 The prophet Jeremiah tells us about a “Day of the Lord” prophecy that in no uncertain terms that will be supernatural sounds from on high that are associated with the Lord’s judgement.
a 29 For behold, I am beginning to work calamity in this city which is called by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth," declares the Lord of hosts.'30 "Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them, 'The Lord will roar from on high , And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31 'A clamor has come to the end of the earth, Because the Lord has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with all flesh; As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,' declares the Lord."
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, evil is going forth From nation to nation, And a great storm is being stirred up From the remotest parts of the earth. 33 "Those slain by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be lamented, gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground. Jer 25:29-33 (NASB)
b “Clamor” in the original text means “roar, roaring, big noise”; v. 31 (KJV, NIV, NCV), A loud noise will be heard all over the world!
3 At the giving of the Law (The decalogue), the Lord came down upon the top of Mt. Horeb with the event being marked with His voice, which sounded as a gigantic trumpet.
a 10 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and have them spend today and tomorrow preparing themselves. They must wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the day after tomorrow. On that day I, the Lord, will come down on Mount Sinai, and all the people will see me. 12 But you must set a limit around the mountain that the people are not to cross. Tell them not to go up on the mountain and not to touch the foot of it. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death 13 with stones or shot with arrows. No one is allowed to touch him. Whether it is a person or an animal, he will not live. But the trumpet will make a long blast, and only then may the people go up on the mountain.“ 14 After Moses went down from the mountain to the people, he made them prepare themselves for service to God, and they washed their clothes. 15 Then Moses said to the people, “Be ready in three days. Do not have sexual relations during this time.“ 16 On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning with a thick cloud on the mountain. There was a very loud blast from a trumpet, and all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord came down on it in fire. The smoke rose from the mountain like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook wildly. 19 The sound from the trumpet became louder. Then Moses spoke, and the voice of God answered him. Ex 19:10-19 (NCV)
aa The voice of God is described as a trumpet/shofar/ram’s horn.
bb 2 to 5 million people heard the voice of God at one time! (Not a small Ram’s horn. Supernatural trumpet!)
b Thunder & Lighting are not to be lost or overlooked at Sinai.
aa Thunder? If they were asleep or not paying attention, God was going to wake them up and make them take notice!
bb Lightning? They were looking away, God was going to turn their faces to Him.
B Some 1,400 years later (around 70 AD), first century historian Flavius Josephus wrote of some incredible supernatural disturbances that took place around the time that the Romans razed the Second Temple.
1 Josephus was a Jewish soldier that had been captured by the Roman army in 67 AD (He became a historian for the Roman Empire concerning all things Jewish/Israel & accounts of immediate post-Temple Judaism & early Christianity.
a He recorded that for about a year before the destruction of the Second Temple there was a “star resembling a sword” that was seen over Jerusalem.
aa Also, a week before Passover, “Thus also, before the Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eight day of the month Xanthicus, [Nisan,] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day-time; which light lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it.”
bb He also tells us that The Temple’s huge inner gate, so heavy that it took 20 men to move them, opened by itself.
b Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one-and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence." (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book VI., v.,2)
aa As the time of judgement drew nearer for Israel/Jerusalem, I believe angelic activity increased.
bb Many strange events in the skies: Unusual star, soldiers running to battle in their chariots.
cc We don’t know exactly what the priests heard as the day of judgement drew neared for the Temple’s final destruction, but the priests heard/saw something.
c How much stock do scholars put in Josephus?
aa Hebrew University Professor Ehud Netzer reported on May 8, 2007 that he had discovered the tomb of Herod, above tunnels and water pools at a flattened site halfway up the hill to Herodium, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of Jerusalem, at the precise location given by Josephus in his writings.
bb Later excavations strengthened the idea that this site is Herod's mausoleum. The base of the tomb has now been uncovered and is visible to visitors to the site.
cc We know that there is an ongoing war in the heavens . . . maybe at critical moments in history, the battle bleeds over into our dimension.
C Sounds from heaven have been heard in the modern era as well.
1 “The Barisal Guns” is one such incident.
a Barisal (in Bangladesh today) is small seaport at the mouth of the Ganges River.
aa There were long periods when Barisal’s residents heard sounds that they described as the firing of distant cannons . . . but no cannons were being fired.
bb Sometimes they were loud, other times muffled and distant.
cc Sonic Booms. Right? Problem is this was the 1870's.
b This phenomena was also reported in Ireland, Italy, North Sea, Japan, East Coast of the U.S., the Finger Lakes (Upstate New York), the Florida Keys and Australia.
2 Today, the sounds being heard are entirely different.
a People have reported as hearing deafening booms described as only a few feet away . . . and not just booms.
b Some report of hearing metallic clanging/crashing: something like the crushing destruction of glass and metal.
T.S.: Who can explain the airborne trumpets being heard around the world today?
II The only precedent for these sounds from heaven being heard today are found in Scripture.
A The events on the prophetic horizon are practically all preceded by trumpet sounds.
1 1 Cor. 15.52; 1 Thess. 4.16 KJV
a Both of these passages describe the rapture (the event that removes the Church from the world/immediately prior to a seven year tribulation) with a trumpet prelude.
b Not just any trumpet, but the trumpet that was sounded over Sinai.
c Every Bible-believing Christian is awaiting the sound of that trumpet!
2 Rev. 8.1-2, 6: The trumpets in Revelation 8 are trumpets of judgement upon mankind during the tribulation.
a They follow what is called the Seven Seal judgements (bad), but the Seven Trumpet judgements are worse! (Conclusion triggers Seven Bowl Judgements)
b Trumpet judgements (1: Rains hail/fire killing 1/3 of all trees; 2: Mountain of fire thrown into the sea making 1/3 oceans blood, fished killed, ships destroyed; 3:Great star burning like a torch makes 1/3 of all fresh water undrinkable by contamination, etc.)
3 Do trumpets proceed the rapture or judgments? Yes!
a After the rapture of the Church, judgement will surely come!
b The trumpets will sound because the Bible tells us they will.
c Perhaps what we’re now hearing is the warm-up chorus . . . the rehearsal for the big day!
Conclusion:
1 Thess.4.13 KJV
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