A shofar is an instrument made from the horn of a ram or other kosher animal. It was used in ancient Israel to announce the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh) and call people together. It was also blown on Rosh Hashanah, marking the beginning of the New Year, signifying both need to wake up to the call to repentance, and in connection with the portion read on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Binding of Isaac (Genesis, chapter 22) in which Abraham sacrifices a ram in place of his son, Isaac.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-shofar
The sound of the trumpet will also be heard in future times, such as:
“The rapture of the church.”
This will be when born again believers in Christ will be removed from the earth, to protect them from the judgments of God which will take place during the following seven years of tribulation. When the rapture takes place, deceased believers in Christ will be resurrected/raised up from their bodily places of death. The dead and living will be taken immediately to the third heaven to the Judgment Seat of Christ for rewards (2 Cor 5:10), and for the marriage of the Lamb (Rev 19:7-8). It will be from the marriage of the lamb that Christ and His bride will return to earth for the battle of Armageddon, at the second coming of Christ to earth (Revelation 19:11-21; Zechariah 14:1-15).
Trumpet Sounded At The Rapture
Consider the following verses that tell of the sound of the trumpet that will be heard during the times above.
The trumpet will be sounded at the catching up/snatching away of the born again believers in Christ, whether dead or alive. These people have been born again due to their belief in Christ as their Lord and Savior. This is not the second coming of Christ, where He will stand on the earth at the end of the tribulation. In these verses, Christ comes in the air and takes His born again saints to the Presence of God the Father, in the third heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:50-54 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
50 For I assure you, my brothers, it is utterly impossible for flesh and blood to possess the kingdom of God. The transitory could never possess the everlasting.
The dead and the living will be fitted for immortality
51-53 Listen, and I will tell you a secret. We shall not all die, but suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, every one of us will be changed as the trumpet sounds! The trumpet will sound and the dead shall be raised beyond the reach of corruption, and we who are still alive shall suddenly be utterly changed. For this perishable nature of ours must be wrapped in imperishability, these bodies which are mortal must be wrapped in immortality.
54 So when the perishable is lost in the imperishable, the mortal lost in the immortal, this saying will come true: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ ‘O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
God’s message regarding those who have died
13-18 Now we don’t want you, my brothers, to be in any doubt about those who “fall asleep” in death, or to grieve over them like men who have no hope. After all, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again from death, then we can believe that God will just as surely bring with Jesus all who are “asleep” in him. Here we have a definite message from the Lord. It is that those who are still living when he comes will not in any way precede those who have previously fallen asleep. One word of command, one shout from the archangel, one blast from the trumpet of God and the Lord himself will come down from Heaven! Those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise, and then we who are still living on the earth will be swept up with them into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And after that we shall be with him for ever. 18 God has given me this message on the matter, so by all means use it to encourage one another.
“The trumpet will be sounded during the tribulation.”
This will happen as God pours out his judgments on the earth.
God’s judgments on the world during the time of tribulation.
Revelation 8:1-13 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
The seventh seal: complete silence
1 Then, when he had broken the seventh seal, there was utter silence in Heaven for what seemed to me half-an-hour.
The vision of the seven trumpeters
2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God, and seven trumpets were put into their hands.
3-6 Then another angel came and stood by the altar holding a golden censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to add to the prayers of all the saints, to be laid upon the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense rose up before God from the angel’s hand, mingled with the prayers of the saints. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it upon the earth. And at that there were thunderings and noises, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Then the seven angels who were holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
The first trumpet: hail and fire
7 The first angel blew his trumpet. Hail and fire mingled with blood appeared, and were hurled upon the earth. One-third of the earth was burnt up, one-third of all the trees was burnt up, and every blade of green grass was burnt up.
The second trumpet: The blazing mountain
8-9 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a vast mountain blazing with fire was thrown into the sea. A third-part of the sea turned into blood, a third of all live creatures in the sea died, and a third-part of all shipping was destroyed.
The third trumpet: The poisonous star
10-11 Then the third angel blew his trumpet and there fell from the sky a huge star blazing like a torch. It fell upon a third of the rivers and springs of water. The name of the star is said to be Apsinthus. A third of all the waters turned into wormwood, and many people died because the waters had become so bitter.
The fourth trumpet: Light from the sky diminishes
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third-part of the sun, a third-part of the moon and a third of the stars were struck. A third-part of the light of each of them was darkened, so that light by day and light by night were both diminished by a third-part.
The cry of pity from mid-heaven
13 Then in my vision I saw a solitary eagle flying in mid-heaven, crying in a loud voice, “Alas, alas, alas for the inhabitants of the earth for there are three more trumpet blasts which the three angels shall sound!”
Revelation 9:1-21 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
The fifth trumpet: The fathomless pit
1 The fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star, that had fallen down from Heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the fathomless pit.
2 Then he opened the pit and smoke like the smoke of a vast furnace rose out of it, so that the light of the sun and the air itself grew dark from the smoke of the pit.
3-5 Then out of the smoke emerged locusts to descend upon the earth. They were given powers like those of earthly scorpions. They had orders to do no harm to any grass, green thing or tree upon the earth, but to injure only those human beings who did not bear the seal of God upon their foreheads. They were given no power to kill men, but only to torture them for five months. The torture they could inflict was like the pain of a scorpion’s sting.
6 In those days men will seek death but they will never find it; they will long to die but death will elude them.
7-11 These locusts looked to me in my vision like horses prepared for battle, On their heads were what appeared to be crowns like gold; their faces were like human faces, and they had long hair like women. Their teeth were like lion’s teeth, their breasts were like iron-breastplates, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of a host of chariots and horses charging into battle. They have tails and stings like scorpions, and it is in their tails that they possess the power to injure men for five months. They have as their king the angel of the pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek Apollyon, (meaning the destroyer).
12 The first disaster is now past, but I see two more approaching.
The sixth trumpet: the destroying angels
13-14 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a solitary voice speaking from the four corners of the golden altar that stands in the presence of God. And it said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!”
15 Then these four angels who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month and the year, were set free to kill a third-part of all mankind.
16-19 The number of their horsemen was two hundred million—I heard what their number was. In my vision I saw these horses and their riders, and their breastplates were fiery-red, blue and yellow. The horses’ heads looked to me like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths poured fire and smoke and sulphur. A third of all mankind died from the fearful effects of these three, the fire, the smoke and the sulphur which pours out of their mouths. For the power of these horses lies in their mouths and in their tails. Indeed their tails are like serpents with heads, and with these they inflict injury.
20-21 The rest of mankind, who did not die in this fearful destruction, neither repented of the works of their own hands nor ceased to worship evil powers and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone or wood, which can neither see nor hear nor move. Neither did they repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual sins, nor of their thieving.
“The trumpet will be sounded at the end of the tribulation.”
This will happen as Christ returns to earth to gather the Jews from all corners of the world, whether dead or alive. The following are the living Jews which did not know Christ as their Lord and Savior at the time of the rapture. They have spent the last seven years in the tribulation, where some were born again, due to their coming to saving faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior. Other Jews, during that same seven-year period, were not born again and had not come to saving faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. The deceased Jews, living and deceased, are discussed below in Daniel 12:1-2. As you read the following verses, consider their separate destinies in eternity.
Matthew 24:29-31 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
The following verses describe the events of the second coming of Christ to earth, accompanied by His born again believers, which were caught up to the third heaven in the rapture. In the rapture, the saints are caught up with Christ to Heaven. In the second coming, the saints return to earth with Christ from the marriage of the lamb in the third heaven (Rev 19:7-8).
At the end of time the Son of Man will return (This relates to the end of the time that people will live on the earth before the kingdom age begins.)
29-31 “Immediately after the misery of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, the moon will fail to give her light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken’. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will wring their hands as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky in power and great splendour. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet-call and they will gather his chosen from the four winds—from one end of the heavens to the other. (vs 31, the chosen people are Jews).
Matthew 24:40-41 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
Two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left behind. Two women will be grinding at the hand-mill; one is taken and one is left behind. (The ones that are taken, are taken to immediate death and future judgment for eternity (Rev 20:10-15). The ones that are left behind are left behind to enter the Kingdom Age, which also is known as the thousand-year reign of Christ, the millennium. This is not the rapture of the church. The eternal destiny of the ones that are left behind is the new heaven, new earth and new Jerusalem (Rev 21:1-2).
The plight of the deceased Jews, whether they are born again, or not born again, is mentioned in the following verses. Please remember that this occurrence also takes place at the end of the tribulation when Christ returns to earth from the third heaven with his caught up saints, whether resurrected or raptured.
Daniel 12:1-2 The Message (MSG)
The Worst Trouble the World Has Ever Seen
12 1-2 “‘That’s when Michael, the great angel-prince, champion of your people, will step in. It will be a time of trouble, the worst trouble the world has ever seen. But your people will be saved from the trouble, every last one found written in the Book. Many who have been long dead and buried will wake up, some to eternal life, others to eternal shame. (Notice that the context of this passage relates to Israel “your people.” The time trouble is the tribulation. Those saved from the trouble are those which have been born again and caught up (1 Thes 4:13-18). The book of life is the Lamb’s book of life which has written in it all of the saved from all times (Rev 17:8). The deceased born again Jews will be raised to eternal life. The deceased Jews whom have not been born again will be raised to eternal torment, Luke 16:22-24; Rev 20:15.)
Jews or Gentiles who missed the rapture but came to saving faith in Christ during the tribulation and were martyred will be raised from death for an eternity of blessings and presence with God (Rev 20:4).
Revelation 20:4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
We have learned about Christ, our Lord and Savior. Now, let’s worship Him.
Philippians 2:9-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
All The Glory – Terry MacAlmon
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