"The Blowing of the Silver Trumpets and Rapture”
Dr. Allen M. Barber
July 27, 2009
Numbers 10:1-10
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. 3 When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 4 But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather to you. 5 When you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their journey. 6 When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall begin their journey; they shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys. 7 And when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance. 8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations.
9 "When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. 10 Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God." NKJV
1 Corinthians 15:54
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." NKJV
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
16 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. 17 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. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. NKJV
The Old Testament is the foundation for the New Covenant and unless we understand the types and shadows of the Old Covenant that depict New Covenant revelation our understanding of prophecy will be limited and fragmentary. The trumpets or "trumpet" involved with the First Resurrection and rapture is a grossly misunderstand concept and many theologians are as confused as the people are, some even more so. I have a chapter in my book on the Posttribulation Day of the Lord that deals with the trumpets proving there is no such Pretrib trumpet.
To understand the New Covenant teaching about the trumpets in relation to the resurrection and rapture (these two events are never seen in the Scripture as a separate event, but two parts of one event; resurrection is the raising of the dead saints "in Christ" and the rapture is the changing of living believers to receive their glorified bodies when Christ returns; this does not mean the resurrected saints will not also be changed for they will), Numbers 10 is our starting point. Notice in the passage above that the Lord instructs Moses to make two silver trumpets (according to Josephus, the Jewish historian, before Numbers 10, trumpets were not made of silver, but were made of ram's horns). In Verse 8 God tells Moses that only Aaron and the priests (tribe of Levi) could blow the trumpets - no one else! They were blown on four occasions: (1) to assemble the whole congregation of Israel before the door of the tabernacle of meeting (this was in the wilderness and before the first temple; the Levites were to blow both trumpets (Verse 3) to assemble the whole congregation; (2) only one trumpet was blown to assemble the leaders and heads of the people (Verse 4); (3) when Israel went to war, they were to blow both trumpets with short blasts to make a distinction from the other trumpets; (4) They were to blow both trumpets at the beginning of their feasts days (Verse 10).
The Feast of Trumpets (Num. 29:1-6; Lev. 23:23-25) was the 5th feast (number for grace) and began on the first day of Tishri (Sept. - Oct.) and lasted for 10 days. At the beginning of each day, a trumpet was blown to alert the Israelites to assemble for the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets is the antitype of the New Covenant resurrection from the dead - I Corinthians 15: 52 and I Thessalonians 4:16. Notice in Numbers 10 that Moses was instructed to blow only one trumpet to assemble the leaders of the people. The Greek word for trumpets in both the I Corinthians and I Thessalonians passage is in the "singular" tense, meaning only one trumpet is blown (In my book on the Day of the Lord, I show that the trumpet to resurrect and rapture the overcoming saints is not the last trumpet or 7th trumpet of Revelation 11:15, but a singular trumpet that sounds at the "time" of the 7th trumpet). The blowing of the single silver trumpet to assemble the heads of the tribes is a picture or type of the trumpet that is blown on the Day of the Lord to begin the First Resurrection. While there are two resurrections of the dead, there are not two phases to the First Resurrection as Pretrib wrongly teaches.
What does the singular silver trumpet typify and who are resurrected and raptured at the First Resurrection? Since only a special class of people was gathered before the door of the tabernacle of meeting - the leaders of the people - at the blowing of the one silver trumpet, it represents in type the resurrection and rapture of the "overcomers" within the body of Christ. The so-called Church Age (it is better known as the Pentecostal Age) is composed of three types of believers: (1)Those who accept Passover - the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and are genuinely born again, but never progress beyond Passover; they get saved and "sit down" - do not pay the price to achieve Pentecost and Tabernacles. (2)The second group are those who accept Passover, receive the Holy Spirit, but try to live a double life, that is, they attempt to live in the best of two worlds - the world of the spiritual, which the indwelling and filling of the Holy Spirit affords every believer - the opportunity to walk consistently in the power of the Holy Spirit is their inheritance, but they fail to avail themselves of the walk in the Spirit and end up having a carnal experience (a carnal believer is one is saved, but is weak spiritually and does not deny his flesh, but lives according to it and is entrapped by the allurements of the world). (3)The third group are those who progress past Pentecost and achieve the Tabernacle Age in advance. They are the overcomers who pay the price to deny their flesh, come totally out the world, and live in the Spirit. They are in essence those seen in the Church who manifests the "Man-Child" - the fullness of Jesus Christ in their everyday experience. They hunger and thirst for righteousness and are not compromisers of the truth of Holy Writ. The exhibit love when persecuted, mocked, and ridiculed by the world and the carnal saints in the Church who think the overcomers are "weird company." They are also known as "forgivers" - they forgive others as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven them. They hold no grudges toward anyone especially their Christian brothers and sisters. Hate is a foreign word to them for the love of God in Christ owns their heart and mind. They choose to love others who are not easy to love. Perhaps the highest trait of the overcomers is they are totally obedient to the laws and commandments of God. The singular silver trumpet represents the company of overcomers who will be resurrected and raptured on the Posttribulation Day of the Lord to rule and reign with Jesus in His Kingdom on the earth.
Because Pretrib teachers do not know the Law of God, they teach the "whole Church" will be resurrected and raptured at the First Resurrection, but that is incorrect - only the heads of the people, the "overcomers" shall be summoned by the blowing of the single trumpet to meet the Lord in the air when He returns to earth at the 7th Trumpet and at the Battle of Armageddon. The Holy Spirit gave the Apostle Paul insight into this mystery in I Corinthians 15:
1 Corinthians 15:23 NKJV
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.
It is clear not all the saints are going to appear before the Lord at the same time, but each in his own order or class of believers. Paul defines the difference between the spiritual saints (those who walked in the Spirit) and the carnal believer (those who walked in the flesh) in I Corinthians 3 and used the metaphor of fine jewels (the overcomers) and common wood, hay, and stubble (the carnal crowd).
Paul said something in Philippians 3 that few understand regarding his insight into the resurrections:
Philippians 3:7-11 NKJV
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Notice in Verse 11 Paul said he was striving "to attain the resurrection from the dead." The usual Greek word for resurrection is "anastasin," but here Paul used the world "exanastasin," which means OUT from the resurrection of the dead (nekron). Why did Paul use that word rather than the usual Greek word anastasin for the resurrection? He was showing that in the First Resurrection of the dead, it would involve a special group of people who would be summoned from among all the dead - both believers and unbelievers to appear before the Lord to receive their glorified bodies in advance of the other non-overcoming believers. They will appear before the Lord first (this does not mean in a Pretrib rapture) and rule with Him in his Kingdom because they were the overcomers during the Pentecostal Age that exemplified the Tabernacle experience - Christ dwelling on earth among His people. They are the Man-Child company who allowed the Holy Spirit to manifest the life of the Lord Jesus in them. They are the first fruits of Revelation 14.
The silver trumpets are pregnant with meaning and give insight into the First Resurrection. The book of Daniel speaks of “the general” or second resurrection. Jesus taught both resurrections even though He did not use a "first" or "second" resurrection terminology:
Daniel 12:2 NKJV
2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
John 5:28-30 NKJV
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Notice in both Daniel and John the general or second resurrection is implied for in that resurrection "ALL" that remain in the graves (leftover from the First Resurrection) shall be resurrected - some to eternal life some to eternal damnation. We know this is not the First Resurrection because not ALL are raised - only the overcomers represented by the single silver trumpet and the heads of the tribes
This is what the Scriptures teach about the resurrections and we have only touched on it briefly, not what the theologians teach to support their platforms such as Pretribulationism and Dispensationalism. Professing believers living a compromising life more in the world and not paying the price to be an overcomer, know one thing, they will not take part in the First Resurrection and reign with Christ in His Kingdom. They will remain in the outer darkness, which is the abode of the dead departed non-overcoming saints until the second or general resurrection.
Pretrib theologians teach that Revelation 20:1-7 is the resurrection of unbelievers only, but that is incorrect. There is no need for the Book of Life to be opened for unbelievers for they will be judged out of the books (the books of the Law). The passage also does not say there are no believers at that resurrection. The fact some are examined by the Book of Life means believers will take part in the second or general resurrection. They are the carnal non-overcoming believers.
If you are having a problem with this because of false religious teaching, you should read the seven letters the Lord gave John to write to the Churches in Revelation 2 and 3. Notice to every Church "AS A WHOLE," He appeals to the overcomers and says plainly only THEY will rule and reign with Him in His kingdom.
All believers should be striving like Paul to take part in the “Out resurrection from the dead” – the First and best resurrection, which includes all raptured saints.
May God bless the saints.