Friday, December 16, 2005

Eschatology 101 (Part 3)

Last time we saw that when Jesus comes again, every eye will see him and just as the clouds covered him when he ascended, those same clouds will reveal him when he returns.

Another feature of his return will be the trumpet call. The trumpet is an instrument to announce something. Jesus said in Matthew 6:2: "Therefore when you do your alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward." We have a saying in England "to blow you own trumpet" which means you are promoting yourself.

When Jesus returns it will be announced with trumpets (blown by Angels):  "then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. " (Matthew 24:31, RSV)

This trumpet is a sign, an announcement of his coming and a rally cry for the church of Christ to gather to Him. It will also be a time of mourning for those who don't want to see Jesus coming, for "all the tribes of the earth will mourn."

Revelation 11:15 put it like this, "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.' "

Paul by the Spirit writes it like this, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." (1 Corinthians 15:52, RSV).

Again in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Paul puts it like this, "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first;"

At the trumpet sound we will be called to our Jesus, we will be changed and the dead will be raised. Which is the topic of the next entry... the resurrection of the dead.

More soon, bless you,

Gary
PS. There are some theologians who don't agree with the linking of the trumpets in Matthew 24, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 15. They have a reason for this and we shall look at that in a later study.

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