Sermon: Symbolism...a sermon for Trumpets

by Chris Cumming

Of all the Holy Days of God, this is the least understood by the people of this world.

I opened my Nelson’s Bible Dictionary last night and this is what it says…

FEASTS AND FESTIVALS

Seventh Month Festival. This festival is mentioned in <Leviticus 23:24-25,27-32> and <Numbers 29:1-40>. It was introduced with the blowing of trumpets, the halt of labor, sacrifices, and a testing <Leviticus 23:24-32; Numbers 29:1-40>. The exact reason for its observance is not clear. Some scholars believe it originated during the Babylonian Captivity as a way of counteracting the influence of the Babylonian New Year Festival.

Let us look at the command to keep this day. Turn to Leviticus 23 and beginning in verse 23

Leviticus 23:23-25
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

The key phrase here is, “a memorial of blowing of trumpets”

If we can focus in on the word “trumpet” then we can more fully understand the meaning of this day and see that it is the “focal point” in the whole plan of God.

So my purpose today is to explore the meaning of this day and encourage us all to…

“Listen for the Trumpet”

I have organized this sermon into 3 parts

1) Discuss the meaning of the day.
2) Describe what is going to happen on this day.
3) Focus on the word “trumpet” to discover its symbolism and meaning.

THE MEANING OF THE DAY OF TRUMPETS

We know from our many years in the church that this day pictures the return of Jesus Christ. It heralds that day. It celebrates that day before the fact. That is why this day is a “festival” day as opposed to a “Feast” day.

My American Heritage dictionary defines “festival” this way..

fes·ti·val (fµs“t…-v…l) n. 1. An occasion for feasting or celebration, especially a day or time of religious significance that recurs at regular intervals.

A “Feast” is defined as a great meal enjoyed to commemorate an event or thing.

In a Festival we “celebrate” something or someone.

In a Feast we commemorate an event.

This Day of Trumpets focuses specifically on Christ

The Spring Holy Days primarily picture that part of God’s Plan to call a firstfruits of His harvest.

Passover pictures the sacrifice of Jesus Christ; the shedding of His blood so that the sins of the firstfruits could be forgiven.

The Days of Unleavened Bread picture the firstfruits need to put sin our of their lives.

Pentecost pictures the event of the giving of the Holy Spirit to strengthen the firstfruits of His salvation.

The Fall Feast Days picture the putting away of Satan and the millennial period of Christ’s reign on earth. The Last Great Day pictures the Second Resurrection and time of judgment.

But it is the Day of Trumpets that give all the other Holy Days their meaning. It is the focal point, the central, pivotal Holy day in God’s plan.

It is the Day of Jesus Christ, Himself. It is the day we hope for and have joy in.

Is it any wonder why this is the least understood of all the Holy Days? Man does not want this day to happen. The world with all its nations do not want this day to happen. Satan does NOT want this day to happen.

But it is going to happen!!

Let us now discuss what specifically is going to happen on this day. Because if we can do that we learn a little bit more what this day is all about.

WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN ON THE DAY OF TRUMPETS?

1) Jesus Christ Returns to Earth:

Psalm 47:5, 7-8
5 God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
8 God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.

Revelation 11:15
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

2) The firstfruits meet their King.

Matthew 24:31
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (comment)

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
16 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:
17 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.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

3) It is a Day of Repentance
Joel 2:1
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Joel 2:12-13
12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

4) Israel Will be Gathered Once Again at the Sound of the Trumpet.
Isaiah 27:12-13
12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

5) The Day of Trumpets is a Memorial.
Memorial is from the Hebrew word zi-krown, which means memorial, record, remembrance. Passover and Trumpets are both Holy Day Memorials.

Passover reminds us of Israel’s exodus from Egypt and the death of the Messiah.

Trumpets is a memorial of the greatest event in human history: the return of Jesus Christ to establish His kingdom.

Leviticus 23:24 says…a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

6) It is a Day of War
Zephaniah 1:6-7, 14-18
6 And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired for him.
7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.

14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

7) It is a day where the trumpet will signify a Day of Joy

Psalm 89:15
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

Psalm 98:6
With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King.

So the Day of Trumpets is a day of

· War
· of gathering
· of memorial
· Repentance
· of Joy
· a day of Jesus Christ

Now I want to look at the trumpet itself…

TRUMPET: THE SYMBOL, USE AND MEANING    (or pattern?)

1) Trumpets Used to Notify, Warn or Assemble Israel for War

Numbers 10:2, 9
2 Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.

9 And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

Jeremiah 4:19
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

2) Trumpets Used as a Sound of Peace, End of Strife

2 Sam 2:26-28 War between Israel and Judah (chasing)
26 Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?
27 And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.
28 So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.

3) Trumpets Signified Crowing a King

1 Kings 1:34, 39
34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon.

Now verse 39
39 And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

4) Trumpet Used in Temple Worship

2 Chronicles 5:2-3 (Solomon brings the Ark into the Temple)
2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.
3 Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month.

Drop down to verses 12-13
12 Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)
13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;

Now to 2 Chronicles 7:6
And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of musick of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

5) There was a Trumpet on Mt. Sinai

Exodus 19:16-19 (Moses brings the people to meet God)

16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

Exodus 20:18 (after the reading of the 10 commandments)
And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

6) God’s Voice is a Trumpet

Revelation 1:10-11 (John about to write the book of Revelation)
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book,

Now down to Rev chapter 4 and verse 1

Revelation 4:1-2
1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

John sees God (in vision) sitting on the throne. Turn over to Psalms 29, a book often read in its entirety on the Day of Trumpets down through history…

The word “trumpet” is not used in the 11 verses of this chapter but as I read it, YOU tell me…can you hear trumpets? Are we talking about trumpets AND is Our Great God a Trumpet?

Psalm 29:1-11
1 Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.
2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
7 The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
10 The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.
11 The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.

Now one final use of the term trumpet…

7) Jesus Christ, Himself is a Trumpet

That is, Christ is symbolized by the Trumpet and is the "trumpet" of the Feast of Trumpets.

We have actually known this since before He was born into human flesh.

You see, trumpets were not only instruments of polished metal like the silver ones we read of in Numbers 10. Often they were made of the horns of animals.

Often blown with the trumpets on this day was the rams horn or shophar.

Let me read from Nelson’s Bible Dictionary about trumpets..

Trumpet:
Made of metal or bones, the trumpet featured a sounding air column not quite two feet long. This short length gave this instrument a high, shrill sound. The tone of the trumpet apparently could be regulated <2 Chronicles 5:12>. Some trumpets were probably made from the horn of an animal; the word horn is used for this instrument in some English translations <1 Chronicles 25:5>. Other words used for trumpet include cornet <Psalm 98:6>, and bugle <1 Corinthians 14:8>, (NASB, RSV).

One distinctive type of trumpet or horn used by the Hebrew people was the ram's horn, also known by its Hebrew name, the shophar <Hosea 5:8>. The shophar was the greatest of the Jewish ritual instruments. Eventually the horn of a mountain goat was used for this instrument, rather than the horn of a ram. The shophar, or trumpet, was basically a signaling instrument, used to assemble the army <Judges 3:27; 1 Samuel 13:3>, to sound an attack <Job 39:24-25>, and to sound an alarm <Jeremiah 6:1; Amos 3:6>.

The ram's horn signaled war and peace, the new moon, the beginning of the Sabbath, approaching danger, and the death of a dignitary. Some even believed the shophar had power to drive out evil spirits and to heal by magic. The sound of the shophar could be heard from a great distance. -end-

Now, as I said, Jesus Christ is a trumpet. Turn to Luke 1 and verse 67

Luke 1:67-69
67 And his (John the Baptists) father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

Were you aware of the fact that on the altar in the Tabernacle were 4 horns…in each corner. And did you know that if a person were afraid for his life he could run to the altar, grab hold of the horns and be safe. Read 1 Kings 1:50 sometime.

Those horns are Jesus Christ!!!

Now Zacharias called Christ the horn of our salvation. Notice Psalms 18 and verse 2

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Jesus Christ is the horn of our salvation. He is our trumpet and when does our salvation come???

On the Day of Trumpets!!! This is our Hope and our Joy this Day so

Listen for that Trumpet!!

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