Trumpets

In this study, we will explore the word “trumpet”, as used in the scriptures, so we may have a better appreciation of:

1. The symbolic intent of the trumpet
2. The significance of blowing the trumpet – times and events

The symbolic intent of the trumpet

The trumpet is used in symbolic reference to the means by which a message is communicated. Typically, this message comes through the channel of a voice and the words spoken i.e. mouths are trumpets and the words spoken is the sound of the trumpet.

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.

Revelation 4:1 KJV

Being loud is a prominent feature of the trumpet and was certainly intended given the phrasing of John’s words. However, the decibel level of the sound would have little value if the message of “come up here…” was missed. The significance of the trumpet is not in the sound or the volume of it, but in the message it communicates. When the issue of tongues came up in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth, this was said:

Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? [7] And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? [8] For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?

1 Corinthians 14:6-8 KJV

When the people spoke in tongues without an interpretation being provided, an analogy given as a parallel to this was that of a trumpet giving an uncertain sound. Because without an interpretation or an understanding of what is being said when a person uses tongues, the message has no significance to the hearer and is therefore received as gibberish or noise. Therefore, the sound is of no benefit to the hearer.

When my phone rings, I’m immediately aware that someone is trying to reach me because the sound has that meaning to me. Someone else may hear the sound and not realize that the sound they are hearing is actual a ringtone for a phone. Because, though they hear the sound of it’s ring, they may not be aware that what they are hearing is a ring tone. In other words, they are hearing the trumpet but are uncertain of its message. It’s the same with those who are hearing tongues without interpretation. They hear the trumpet, but don’t know what is it’s message. This is why the sound of the trumpet is described as ‘uncertain’ and why no one responded to the trumpet by preparing for battle.

So sounding a trumpet is typically the voice of our words and the message of such words.

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Isaiah 58:1 KJV

But while being loud is typically used in reference to the volume of our words, one can BE LOUD WITHOUT VOLUME, SUCH AS THESE LOUD WORDS. Our lives are also mouthpieces and can loudly trumpet a message without the use of words. 

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Matthew 6:2 KJV

Here we see Jesus warning us not to sound a trumpet before us when we are doing alms (helping or giving to the poor). The hypocrites in his day were doing their alms in the view of the public, for the view of the public. They were trumpeting their alms via their public actions. One of the ways alms is trumpeted without sound in our day is: a person giving to the homeless and having a picture taken of the exchange, posted to various social media platforms. The picture is loudly trumpeting that the person is doing alms. 

We also see Ezekiel trumpeting God’s message to the people without words in Ezekiel chapter 4. So while trumpeting may often involve a person lifting up their voice loudly in conveying a message, what is equally true is that a person can trumpet loudly without the use of speech. With this understanding that scripturally, trumpets convey messages via the mouth and voice of our words and actions, let’s now examine:

The significance of blowing the trumpet – times and events

In our world today, there are sounds of significance, sounds used at specific times to convey a message to those who hear it. The siren of an emergency service provider (fire, police, ambulance), the school bell for recess, the alarm of an early warning system for countries prone to earthquakes and tsunamis etc. To accurately respond to a sound, one must understand the message it conveys. 

The importance of the sound is in the message it conveys. The person who hears and understands the message of a firetruck on the highway (and responds correctly) will make room for it to pass. The person who doesn’t understand the message of the alarming firetruck, may sit in their car and complain about the noise, while blocking the part of the firetruck. The same school bell that signals recess, is the same bell that signals the end school, the message changes depending on the timing of the bell. These principles hold true when we examine the blowing of trumpets in the old testament. As we examine some examples of trumpet blowing and the timing of it, we will see the inescapable conclusion that it’s all about Jesus.

The Trumpet of Jubile

Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

Leviticus 25:9 KJV

Before we dive into why the trumpet of jubile was sounded on the tenth day of the seventh month, let’s first explore: What is the jubile? The children of Israel were commanded to keep several Sabbaths:

1. Weekly Sabbath – Exodus 20:9-10 KJV Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: [10] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
2. Sabbath of years – Leviticus 25:3-4 KJV Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; [4] But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
3. Feast day Sabbaths – Leviticus 23:39 KJV Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

A jubile is a Sabbath of annual Sabbaths, which is 7 times 7 annual Sabbaths:

Leviticus 25:8 KJV And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.

The jubile is the 50th year:

A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.

Leviticus 25:11 KJV

Being in the 50th year tells us “when is the jubile” but not “what is the jubile”. The jubile is a year of freedom/restoration:

Leviticus 25:10 KJV And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

The proclamation of liberty in the year of Jubile was a foreshadowing of the freedom to come in Christ. 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, [19] To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Luke 4:18-19 KJV

To be “in Christ” is to be in the acceptable year of the Lord

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Ephesians 1:6 KJV

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:5 KJV

Now let’s go back and examine the timing of the trumpet. It was sounded on:

Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

Leviticus 25:9 KJV

Christ is “the Day” and in him we receive atonement. Said another way, he is the day of atonement, just as he is the acceptable year.

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Romans 5:11 KJV

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 KJV

Both the seventh and tenth are used to communicate “complete/whole”. As in, we are complete or made whole, in Christ. (Note: tenth is also used in reference to part – as in a tenth of the whole)

All in all, the sounding of the trumpet of Jubile and the timing of it’s sounding, points us to what we have received in Christ after hearing his voice through the trumpet of the gospel, which is being sounded throughout the land/earth.

Trumpet of victory

And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.

Joshua 6:16 KJV

Joshua was instructed to have seven priests, each with a ram’s horn, march around the city once everyday for six days as part of a procession. The priest were to blow the horn every day when marching, but the people were to remain silent. However, on the seventh day, after marching around the city seven times, this was the instruction: 

Joshua 6:5 KJV And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

To appreciate what is being communicated spiritually, we need to understand the various symbols used:

The wall:

Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. [14] And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

Isaiah 30:13-14 KJV

The sin of the people is likened to a high wall because sinful flesh is symbolized by the wall. We see Paul describing Ananias in this way, after being unlawfully struck:

Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?

Acts 23:3 KJV

Note Isaiah foretold that the breaking of the ‘wall’ will come suddenly, and indeed it did:

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Ephesians 2:14 KJV

The trumpet of the Rams’ horn

‘Horn’ is symbolic for power, the ram is a type of Christ and the sound of the trumpet from the rams’ horns is the voice/words of Christ. Now we know that all of scripture is the Word of God and Jesus is the Word of God. Therefore, the blowing of the trumpet for all seven days is the word of God (Genesis to Revelation) trumpeted to man. However, the six days of trumpeting, is the word of God spoken through Moses and the prophets, the law, the old covenant, whilst the trumpet of the seventh day is the word of God spoken to us by the voice of Christ.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, [2] Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Hebrews 1:1-2 KJV

There were 6 days of silence because, during the covenant of the law, which is also called the ministration of death (2 Cor 3:7 KJV), no one could shout for victory over the enemy under the law. No one could pull him (the enemy) down from on top the high wall that is our flesh. The victory shout came/comes with the cross of Christ.

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:56-57 KJV

Seven priest

The seven priest blowing the trumpets is the Royal priesthood of God’s people, all who are complete (7) in Christ.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1 Peter 2:9 KJV

The people could shout for victory only after the blowing of the last or seventh trumpet, because it’s only on hearing the voice of Christ (the seventh/last trumpet) do we get victory.

The last trumpet

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

John 5:25 KJV

When Christ declared that the hour “now is” he was declaring that now is the time when the seventh and last trumpet, the trumpet of victory, will begin to sound:

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Revelation 10:7 KJV

Everything God had declared to his servants the prophets, everything they trumped for the 6 days of Genesis to Malachi, the time had reached for the mystery to be revealed (be finished/complete – 7). 

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

Romans 16:25 KJV

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

Ephesians 1:9 KJV

The seventh and last trumpet is the final angel, the final messenger of God, the one who comes to reveal and fulfill what was written:

But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.

Matthew 21:37 KJV

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, [2] Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Hebrews 1:1-2 KJV

The seventh and last trump (the voice of Christ) began to sound with the coming of Christ. All of the prophets testified of him and what he would accomplish.

To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

Acts 10:43 KJV

The trumpet that is his voice, continually blows, for the dead to continually hear and be raised to life.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:52 KJV

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

John 5:25 KJV

We can see clearly from the words of Christ that the time when “the dead shall live” was both coming and now is. But who are the dead that shall live? 

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Ephesians 2:1 KJV

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Romans 6:13 KJV

“The dead” refers to all who are dead in trespasses and sins, all who are “without breath” 

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

John 20:22 KJV

When they/we hear the trumpet/ the voice of Christ, they are quickened i.e. they are raised to life. How do they hear the trumpet/ the voice of Christ? John heard Jesus speak and describes it this way:

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

Revelation 1:10 KJV

A few verses later he describes the same trumpet/voice this way: 

And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Revelation 1:15 KJV

His voice being as the sound of many waters tells us exactly how the dead will hear him:

And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Revelation 17:15 KJV

The dead will hear him through the “many water” of his people.

Joyful trumpets

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

Psalm 98:6 KJV

When scripture speaks of “joyful noise” it’s always in respect of salvation and thus prophetic of Christ. Examine the following examples:

1.

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Psalm 95:1 KJV

Christ is the rock of our salvation, it’s him the psalmist was pointing forward to.

2.

Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

Psalm 81:1 KJV

The call to make a joyful noise here is because of the “strength” of God in the delivering his people from Egypt:

Psalm 81:7 KJV – Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee….

Psalm 81:10 KJV – I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt….

We are delivered from bondage (Egypt) through Christ:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Galatians 5:1 KJV

3.

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

Psalm 100:1 KJV

All the lands can make a joyful noise because Christ made a way for people of all the earth (lands) to come out of darkness/death and enter the gates of New Jerusalem:

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Psalm 100:4 KJV

To enter is to be a citizen in the kingdom of God:

For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. [19] Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Ephesians 2:18-19 KJV

Now we have seen already the biblical connection between trumpet and voice:

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Isaiah 58:1 KJV

Therefore, the command of Psalm 98:6, to make a joyful noise with trumpets communicates using the mouthpiece of our tongue and life in giving praise and worship unto God. This is the very opening of the Psalm:

Psalm 98:1 KJV O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

The new song is the song joy, the song of deliverance, the song of salvation, the song of Christ:

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Revelation 15:3 KJV

We trumpet this song to the world, joyfully declaring with the voice of our mouth and actions, that through him, we receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

There are other trumpet times and events not addressed in this article, these include but are not limited to:

1. Seventh/Sabbath day Trumpets – Leviticus 23:24 KJV 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.
2. New moon Trumpet – Psalm 81:3 KJV Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
3. Day of the Lord Trumpet – Zephaniah 1:14,16 KJV 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. [16] A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
4. Trumpet of warning – Ezekiel 33:4 KJV Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

All of these trumpets, like the ones addressed in the article, point us to Christ. When we live by faith in him, we become his angels/messengers, we trumpet his gospel message to the world:

1. The trumpet of joy – when we are joyfully declaring with the voice of our mouth and actions, that through him, we have received forgiveness of sins, deliverance from bondage and sonship (we are sons of God).
2. The trumpet of victory – When we declare the message of victory over the enemy (flesh, world, devil) and thus victory over death, is available in Christ.
3. The trumpet of jubile – When we declare throughout the land (earth) the message of freedom, restoration and atonement is available in Christ
4. The seventh/last trumpet – When we declare that this is God’s final word to mankind, those who hear will live, but those who reject will remain dead (John 3:16)

I pray that the above helps in illustrating, the Christ centric nature of the entire bible. Believers in Christ, we are the trumpets, we are his angels sounding his message. I pray that we would sound as trumpets of warning, as we are supposed to, so those in the world may arise to walk in the light/day of Lord, trumpeting with us, that there is rest from our labours through the cross of Christ. I pray this helps you go deeper in your personal bible studies and builds your love and appreciation for our LORD Jesus and all that he has done for us. 

If this article blessed you, I encourage you to share this with friends and family, perhaps they too would be blessed. Till next time, take care.