The Trumpet of God — God is Coming
The first mention of a trumpet in the Bible is in Exodus 19. After this time, trumpets were used for many various reasons. God’s people would blow the trumpet when it was time for their troops to gather for war. God told Moses that any time they went up against the enemy they should sound an alarm with trumpets, and God would remember His people and would save them from their enemies, (Numbers 10:1-10). Trumpets were sounded when Joshua led the Israelites around the walls of Jericho for the last time and the walls of that great city fell, (Joshua 6:20). God said His prophets would be watchmen on the wall to warn His people and call them to return to God, (Isaiah 62:6-7; Joel 2:1, 15; Jeremiah 4:19-21; Ezekiel 33:1-6).
Here in Exodus 19, God had brought the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage to Mount Sinai.
Their Exodus from slavery had been a mighty work of God’s deliverance and intervention. For 400 years they had been held in Egypt’s bondage and slavery. When they cried out to God for a deliverer to be sent, God sent Moses. When God sent Moses to bring His people out, the LORD demonstrated His mighty power. After the ten plagues of God’s judgment and power, Pharaoh finally let God’s people go. When they came out, God led them in the path they should take. From the day they left Egypt, God’s presence among His people was witnessed as a miraculous manifestation of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Everyone in the hosts of Israel knew that God was bringing them out by His mighty strong hand. Nothing they faced in the exodus or in the wilderness was greater than the LORD their God. When the great “I AM” that “I AM” first met with Moses at the burning bush, He told him that He would bring His people to this place where the LORD God Almighty would meet with them.
Exodus 19:1 NKJV In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai.
Exodus 19:2 NKJV For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.
When the hosts of Israel camped before the mountain, Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain.
Exodus 19:4 NKJV ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
Exodus 19:5 NKJV Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
Exodus 19:6 NKJV And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
This was an amazing testimony of God’s covenant and blessing on His people. God prepared this place and moment in time to show Himself strong in their behalf. That day, God was making them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. So Moses called all of the elders of the people and shared with them the word of the LORD. Everyone in the host of Israel rejoiced at that time and said, “We will do everything the LORD has said.” Then Moses went back up the mountain and told the LORD what the people had said.
Exodus 19:9 NIV84 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.”
After the LORD met with Moses, He told him to go tell the people to get ready to meet with your God.
God was going to come down into their presence in a way they had never seen before. They had seen God’s power when they were in Egypt. By His might and power, God had brought them through the Red Sea on dry ground. They had been delivered, kept, fed and helped by God and they had walked under the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire of God’s presence. But now, God was going to come closer than they had ever seen.
In the next few verses, God gave instructions on how they were to prepare themselves for what was going to happen.
You should know that we must prepare ourselves for God’s coming. God told them to consecrate themselves, wash their clothes, and be prepared for He was coming down in three days to meet with them.
Do you find it interesting that on the third day Jesus Christ arose from the grave and made it possible for anyone who believes to come into fellowship with God almighty?
On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast.
Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God at the foot of the mountain. All of a sudden, without warning the sound of the trumpet of God grew louder and louder, and then everyone in the whole hosts of Israel heard the voice of God. There in the presence of God the mountain trembled violently and the sound of the trumpet of God grew louder and louder.
Exodus 20:1-2 NIV84 And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
You need to know that the God Who brought them out of slavery is the same God Who provided your salvation.
- The LORD our God is the living God.
- He is powerful to save, heal, and deliver.
- He has brought you out of your bondage to sin.
- He has delivered you from the power of the enemy of your soul.
- He is the LORD your Healer, Savior, and King. He is the God Who has made covenant with you. He has promised to never leave or forsake you.
At the moment when God came down, He established His covenant and laws with Israel.
When the people saw the thunder and lightning, heard the sound of the trumpet of God, and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear in the presence of God.
In the midst of a world that is overwhelmed with the powers of sin and darkness, you need to know that the LORD our God is the mighty God.
God is getting ready to do something that the world has never seen before. He has spoken about this time and what is to happen through His Word, by His prophets, and through His Son. God is about to interrupt this world and all of its chaos, wars, strife, sickness and woe with His coming and presence.
The trumpet of God is a significant element in Biblical eschatology that is particularly associated with the end time events.
The sound of the trumpet was a powerful sound that shook the whole mountain and the hosts of Israel. The trumpet of God is a powerful sound that will accompany Christ’s return and the gathering of believers into God’s presence. The trumpet sound in the Bible served as a clarion alarm to announce a major event and the deliverance that God would bring. It was a sound that signaled the appearance of the LORD God Almighty, (Exodus 16:9). In the last days, the sounding of the trumpet of God will usher in the raising of the dead and the rapture of the church.
1 Corinthians 15:52 NIV84 For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
The time for preparation is now. God told Moses it would happen in three days. Jesus said He was coming soon. He said His coming would be in an hour you do not expect.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 NKJV 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.
Look closely at this. As soon as the trumpet of God sounds, the righteous dead will arise to meet the Lord in the air.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 NKJV 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.
The Lord Himself is about to appear with the declaration of victory, the shout of an archangel, and the trumpet blast of God.
The LORD will descend from the heavenly realm and command those who are dead in Christ to rise first.
Then we who are alive will join them, transported together in clouds to have an encounter with the Lord in the air, and we will be forever joined with the Lord. With this “shout from the Lord Himself,” and “the voice the archangel”, and the clarion blast of the “trumpet of God,” the world will be made to know that the LORD lives and reigns in power. This is not something that will be secretive and hidden. The whole world will be shaken by this sound of victory and resurrection. With the sound of the trumpet of God, Christ will personally and physically appear in the clouds, (Matthew 24:44; Acts 1:11; Colossians 3:4; 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 9:28). Those who have died in Christ will be raised, and Christians living on earth will be caught up to meet Christ. This event will mark the end of the believer’s life in this world as we have known it, and the beginning of life in unbroken communion with God. Jesus is coming soon.
