The Last Trump: Triumph or Threat?

The views expressed here are solely of the author who shall be held accountable. Therefore I tremble, yet I am confident to move forward to proclaim the whole counsel of God.

Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1Cor. 15:51-58)

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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: 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1Thess. 4:13-18)

What does a trumpet signify? Let’s think it through together. We may not be the most intelligent lot, but we’re smart enough to think. Do these passages seem threatening to you? Honestly? Is there anything in these texts that sounds like Paul is snarling, growling and ready to bite to manipulate the churches into the urgency of living more holy, witnessing, church attendance and giving a tithe? We have other motivations and exhortations in the Bible and life itself for how to live. Telling others about our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, meeting with other believers regularly, and how to handle His money that He has so graciously given us stewardship, is a blessing He bestows to each believer. These have nothing at all to do with when the trumpet blows or the timing of the rapture or the immanency of death. I hope you believe that any one of us could die at any moment, because that is more sure as taxes.

Without doubt holy living, for a Christian, is not based on the rapture of the church. Holiness is our genuine response to Christ’s enduring love and care for each one of us; we want to be holy for He is holy. We want to witness because of a desire to see others become saved and enter into a living, loving, lasting relationship with Jesus Christ whether He takes us home to glory before the tribulation, during the tribulation, or after the tribulation. Church attendance is a time of corporate worship, instruction in the Word and fellowship. When we worship together our hearts are unified in thought and purpose. Worship is refreshing to our hearts, stimulating and sometimes challenging to our mind, and comforting to our soul. It is reported that as Spurgeon was preaching on the topic of heaven he observed a lady die right in the pew before him. “…while I had been talking of heaven,” he said, “…she had gone there!” (I found this nugget in the book Spurgeon at His Best p.53) Giving is a no brainier, it is part of stewardship. God gives and gives and gives, and believers, for the most part wish to give too, even if we must endure to the very end of the wrath of God poured out on this planet.

For one say that the immanent rapture of the church is a manipulative tool for preachers to threaten people into action, is a gross misrepresentation and should be resented, but then quickly forgiven and even forgotten. For a preacher to actually have the attitude of using the teaching of the immanency alone as a threat for action, is unconscionable and should be protested, and by God’s grace corrected. Enough on my tangent about motivation let’s get back to the trump of God.

Trumpets announce that something is about to happen. Trumpets sounded and the walls of Jericho fell. Trumpets sounded and Gideon and his three hundred men gained what seemed to be a miraculous victory. When the trump of God sounds and the church saints are removed from this planet something is about to begin. The day of the Lord is announced. God’s wrath will fall. This green earth will be doomed. Yet, many will come to Jesus the Messiah for Salvation even in the midst of this terrible time.

Paul wrote these things before John wrote Revelation. He was not introducing a new idea of what a trumpet sounding would mean. Every one knew that a trumpet sounding is an announcement that something is about to happen.

What is about to happen? Who will be involved? Who will not be involved? What will be the involvement? What do you think?

John