As a teenager, I played the trumpet. The trumpet was the "instrument of choice" for our family. My dad played the trumpet. My older brother played the trumpet. I first wanted to learn the saxophone, but my parents said it would squawk and squeal. I next wanted to play the drums, but my dad worked midnights and he didn’t want to hear all that banging and clanging and he didn't want to upset the neighbors.
Finally I decided on the trumpet and that brought smiles to everyone’s faces until I started disturbing the peace each night. The trumpet I played was the same instrument my dad played when he was younger. You could say that it had been handed down through the generations. The finish was tarnished and the valves would get stuck, making for some awkward moments during band solos. But I made due!
But as I grew up, it became increasingly unpopular to be in the band. Everyone in the band was assigned derogatory labels. If you were in band you were a "band buddy." It’d be inappropriate to explain all the connotations associated with being a band buddy!
During my freshmen year of high school I went out for football. Every Friday night the band would dress up in uniforms, complete with a feathered hat, and play before the varsity games. The varsity players really mouthed off about the band members. I was ashamed to be in the band. I hated feeling humiliated, as if something were wrong with me, because I played the trumpet. I was already getting enough grief in high school for other things. So after one semester I relented. I renounced my band buddy ways. I disowned my band buddy friends. I locked up my trumpet and stuck it in the back of the closet.
We succumb easily to the pressure around us.
Have you ever noticed how easily we succumb to the pressure around us? Perhaps you feel a measure of pressure for being a Christian. If you're dating and decide to remain abstinent, you get labeled a prude. Your boyfriend or girlfriend becomes angry with you. They give you the silent treatment.
If you tell the truth in the workplace or do what’s right, you’re scorned by your coworkers. They accuse you of trying to be better than everyone else. If you speak the truth in love people roll their eyes and want nothing to do with you. If you share your faith you’re derided for being intolerant. If you take a stand on moral issues you’re branded a bigot. If you live out your convictions you’re an extremist.
Do you ever find yourself giving in because of the pressure? Do you ever find yourself making little compromises here and there? Do you find it easier to just keep silent and conform to the world rather than to upset the apple cart? So many people have hidden their faith away in the back of a closet, out of sight to others, lest they complicate their social relationships.
Are we prepared for the end of the age?
I wonder how prepared we really are for the end of the age? At the end of the age the environment around us will be infinitely more hostile. If we find it so difficult to suffer so relatively few social discomforts now, what hope is there that we’ll endure till the end? Will we stand strong or will we renounce our faith? Will we unite together as one or will we forsake our testimony as witnesses?
In Revelation 8:6 we're confronted with the terror of the seven trumpets, the end of the age. Throughout the Bible trumpets were used in worship. They were used to make public pronouncements. They were used to warn people of an impending attack. This begs a question. If you were standing in a tower and looked out on the horizon and noticed an approaching army, what moral obligation would you have to sound off your trumpet and warn your fellow citizens to ready themselves?
In Revelation, trumpets give warning to earth's inhabitants.
In Revelation 8:6-12 a series of trumpets are sounded off, giving warning to the inhabitants of the earth. The first trumpet sounds in Revelation 8:7 (NIV) and, "a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up." The second trumpet sounds in Revelation 8:8-9 (NIV) and, "A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." The third trumpet sounds in Revelation 8:11 (NIV) and, "A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter." The fourth trumpet sounds in Revelation 8:12 (NIV) and, "...a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night."
With these first four trumpets the apostle John sees the vegetation being devastated, he sees the sea with its bustling merchant economy devastated, the fresh water supply defiled, and theavailability of light in the heavens was dessimated. Could these trumpets signal the fallout caused by global warming? The fallout from nuclear proliferation? The fallout from a deep impact of an enormous meteor? What about the eruption of a super volcano? There is evidence that one that exists in the central United States. It is a volcano so massive that it would effectively destroy the United States.
John tells us that these first four trumpets are nothing compared to the last three trumpets. If you're looking for something to be afraid of, these last three trumpets are it! John writes in Revelation 8:13 (NIV), "As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: 'Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
The warnings become more frightening.
The fifth and sixth trumpets are utterly terrifying. Revelation 9:1-19 tells us about them. The fifth trumpet announces the release of demons from the dark abyss, the invisible realm where Satan and his angels reside. These demons were freed to wreak havoc among the inhabitants on earth. Imagine the purest and vilest of evil unleashed on the earth!
Revelation 9:1-6 (NIV) tells us, "The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them."
The sixth trumpet announces the wrath of God’s angels upon the inhabitants of the earth. Revelation 9:13-19 (NIV) says, "The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number. The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury."
Do we need to sound our trumpets?
Some key verses are in Revelation 9:20-21 (NIV). "The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts." If these verses truly describe what the future holds, what moral obligation do we have to sound our trumpets to our fellow brothers and sisters on the earth?
In Revelation 10:6-7 a mighty angel comes down from heaven with a message for many. He announces in Revelation 10:6-7 (NIV), "There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets." Is there any urgency to our profession? Any passion? Any sense of impending doom?
In Revelation 10:9 (NIV) the angel’s message would turn a man’s stomach sour and yet at the same time taste as sweet as honey. "So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, 'Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.' " Does that not describe the message of salvation? First there is the sweet taste of salvation for those who are being saved. Yet there is the destiny of the wicked and unrepentant. Does the destiny of people who are apart from Christ sour our stomachs? Does it burden us? Does it make us sick and ill? Does it keep us up at night? Does it compel us to speak?
We are called to be prophets about the coming wrath of God.
In Revelation 10:11 (NIV) the angel tells John, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings." You must prophesy! How can we remain so silent about something so incredibly dreadful as the wrath of God and his angels visiting the earth? We see it coming on the horizon. God has shown it to his servant John. Why are our trumpets stuck in the back of our closets? Why do we fear the judgment of men more than the judgment of God?
In Luke 12:4-5 (NIV) Jesus says, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." In 2 Corinthians 5:11 (NIV) Paul says, "Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men."
The two faithful witnesses of Revelation.
InRevelation 11 we hear the voice of two witnesses, each with the courage to proclaim. Scholars believe that the two witnesses are representative of the true Church at the end of the age. They willingly lay their lives on the line to warn the inhabitants of the earth of their impending doom or of their need to be reconciled to Christ before he comes and reigns.
The power God gives to the witnesses.
Notice the power that God gives to his witnesses. Revelation 11:1-6 (NIV) tells us, "I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, 'Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.' These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want."
The sacrifices made by the witnesses.
Notice the sacrifices made by these witnesses detailed in Revelation 11:7-10 (NIV). "Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth."
The reward given to the witnesses.
But notice the reward that God gives these witnesses in Revelation 11:11-13 (NIV). "But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven."
These witnesses had courage to proclaim Christ because they feared God more than man. These witnesses had the courage to proclaim Christ because of their confidence in their resurrection hope. These witnesses had the courage to proclaim Christ because they knew their message would be vindicated by God himself.
The seventh and final trumpet.
I mentioned that there were seven trumpets. The first six trumpets serve as a warning for the inhabitants of earth to repent. But the final trumpet is just that; the final trumpet. The final trumpet signals that Christ has come to reign. Thus begins the reign of Christ. This seventh and final trumpet is mentioned all throughout the New Testament. In Matthew 24:30-31 (NIV) Christ himself said, "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."
Matthew 24:36-39 (NIV) tells us, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."
The significance of the seventh trumpet.
What is the significance of the seventh trumpet? Revelation 11:15-19 (NIV) tells us,"The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.' And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: 'We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great—and for destroying those who destroy the earth. Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm."
The time has come for us to prophesy.
The temptation to remain silent is indeed great. But so are the costs of remaining silent. All of life is about personally preparing for the coming of Christ. Are you ready? If you truly believed Christ was coming you wouldn’t be procrastinating about making the decision you know you need to make. You would repent of your sin. You would order your house. You would make godliness a priority. You would seek Christ. Think about that!
Life isn’t just about personally preparing for the coming of Christ, though. Do you realize how many people are around you every day who are not ready for the return of Christ? There are people in your household including your husband, your wife, or perhaps your children. You have brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents who are not ready. You have best friends, neighbors, employees, and coworkers who are not ready to meet Christ.
Why are you not sounding your trumpet? Why is your trumpet buried in the closet? Remember what the angel told John in Revelation 10:11 (NIV)? "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings." You must prophesy! It is a must for you? Or just a maybe? Or perhaps a someday?