The seventh seal of the scroll is opened and seven angels are shortly going to blow their seven trumpets. The scroll will not be spoken about any more. The last seal is opened and the scroll is thereby opened, and the end time rolls itself out. The six seals have brought the story to this point. The events that unfolded with the opening of the six seals run parallel with the Lord Jesus’ ‘discourse on the last things’ on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24. It is a history of our world with wars, hunger, diseases, false prophets, lawlessness, love growing cold, persecutions and martyrdom that has already been going on for two thousand years.
However, the Gospel of the Kingdom is also going out to every nation and to a part of Israel, a hundred and ‘forty four thousand’ Jews who confess the Messiah, are being sealed. The elect have received it, but the others are hardened, as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”1 A ‘multitude that no one can count’ comes from the Gentile world during this course of history and the sealed servants from Israel are going to play an increasingly important role as the end of this part of world-history approaches. “And the remnant of Jacob will be like the dew of the Lord in the midst of many nations.”2 “Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing.”3 Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and after that, then, all Israel will be saved, when the Lord Himself will take away the sins of His people and will engraft them in their own New Covenant, that He has made with Israel.4 The Lord will do that Himself, by a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The seventh seal contains the seven trumpets. The ‘seals’ and the ‘trumpets’ lead us towards the end of this part of world history, close to, almost up to the Coming of Christ. The sixth seal contained cosmic catastrophes that proclaimed the coming of the Day of the Lord.5 The seventh trumpet will likewise announce His Coming and Kingdom.6 Thus the ‘trumpet’ and ‘bowl’ judgments come into play with the breaking of the seventh seal (because the seventh trumpet will contain the seven ‘bowl’ judgments7). In this way, His wrath arrives upon the unbelievers, rebellious and godless people who deliberately and consciously reject God and His Christ. The oppression and persecution of the believers is over. The day of ‘the wrath of our God’ begins, the Day of vengeance.8 Look at Joel 2:1-11, 15-17; 3:1-3, 9-16.
A ‘silence’ fills the Heavens before that point is reached however. Worship songs cease. It is dead silent. Everyone in Heaven holds their breath. What is going to happen now that God’s wrath is about to break loose? One thing is certain: God’s children are safe and sheltered before the throne, and His servants from Israel are sealed. Are you sure you are safely sheltered in the Lamb’s finished work?
• A shofar is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram’s horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the player’s embouchure.
• The shofar is blown in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and at the very end of Yom Kippur, and is also blown every weekday morning in the month of Elul running up to Rosh Hashanah.
• The shofar is mentioned frequently in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and rabbinic literature. In the first instance, in Exodus 19, the blast of a shofar emanating from the thick cloud on Mount Sinai makes the Israelites tremble in awe. The shofar was used to announce the new moon and the Year of Jubilee. The first day of the seventh month (Tishrei) is termed “a memorial of blowing”, or “a day of blowing”, the shofar. They were used for signifying the start of a war. Later, they were also employed in processions as musical accompaniment, and eventually were inserted into the Temple orchestra by David.
• Note that the “trumpets” described in Numbers 10 are a different instrument, described by the Hebrew word for ‘trumpet’ ‘ḥaṣoṣrah’, not shofar. So maybe ‘Horns/Shofars’ is a better translation then ‘Trumpets’. Think of the ram’s horn, the shofar, which produces an unusual and shrill sound: a lowing sound, like a siren, which sets your teeth on edge.
• Christ’s voice sounds like a trumpet/horn,9 announcing the coming final judgment. The judgment has commenced, just as it did upon Pharaoh, who had hardened his heart, and upon mocking Jericho. The seven trumpets/horns only deal with the world.
• Jericho is used as a model: the thick walls fall after the people of Israel march during six days around the fortress, plus on the 7th Day, the Sabbath, seven times around the them, blowing their trumpets/horns, Joshua 6:2-5 “And the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”
Bible References:
1.Romans 11:7–8 2.Micah 5:6 3.Zechariah 8:13 4.Romans 11:25–26; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Luke 22:19-20 5.Revelation 6:12–17 6.Revelation 11:15–18 7.Revelation 15:5–16:21 8.Luke 4:16–21; Isaiah 61:1–2 9.Revelation 1:10
