Did you know that God has Holy Days that reveal His plan of Salvation? God has a redemptive plan and it is revealed in The Feasts of the Lord. Each one of God’s seven annual Holy Days has a specific meaning and they are prophetic.

"And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, {2} "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts" ( Lev 23:1-2 NKJV).

Notice that God calls these festivals "My Feasts". They are His Feasts because He ordained them to be His Holy Days. Also notice that these feasts are "holy convocations". In Leviticus 23 all seven of God’s annual Holy Days are listed in the order that they occur each year.

In this article we want to focus in on the Feast of Trumpets. Let’s continue in Leviticus 23:23: "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, {24} "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. {25} 'You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.'" Lev 23:23-25 (NKJV).

Seven is God’s special number indicating completeness and perfection. Let’s notice that there are seven festivals of the Lord and the Feast of Trumpets occurs in the seventh month and as we continue our study, we will find that there are seven seals, seven trumpets and the seven last plagues involved in this prophecy which begins with this special Feast of Trumpets.

Notice that this feast day is a "memorial of blowing of trumpets" (Lev. 23:24). It is from this event that the Feast of Trumpets gets it’s name. God had Moses make two silver trumpets and they were to be used: "for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps" (Num 10:2 NKJV). Let’s continue in Numbers 10:9-10 to see what else they were used for: ""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.""

The silver trumpets were to be used for calling the congregation, for directing the movement of the camps, to sound the alarm of war and in the day of gladness at God’s festivals.

There was also another trumpet that was blown on the Feast of Trumpets and that was a special trumpet made out of a ram’s horn and is called a "Shophar". The Shophar is mentioned in the Bible about 70 times and is translated as "trumpet" or "cornet". (Check out our feature article: The Shophar which describes how it was made, how and when it was used, and even some spiritual qualities that are associated with it).

The Shophar was also used as an alarm of war: "Blow the trumpet (shophar) in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand" (Joel 2:1 NKJV).

How did Jeremiah react when he heard the sound of the Shophar? "O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet (shophar), The alarm of war. {20} Destruction upon destruction is cried, For the whole land is plundered. Suddenly my tents are plundered, And my curtains in a moment. {21} How long will I see the standard, And hear the sound of the trumpet (shophar)?" (Jer 4:19-21 NKJV). Jeremiah was filled with fear at the sound of the shophar realizing that the alarm of war meant that death and destruction was close at hand.

It is this warning of war that gives the joyous Feast of Trumpets its contrasting note of solemnity.

Why does God bring war on a nation? "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. {2} But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear" (Isa 59:1-2 NKJV).

God brings war on a nation because of sin and rebellion which separates us from Him. The book of Jeremiah was filled with many prophecies from God and was delivered by Jeremiah to the House of Judah. The prophecies stated that if they did not repent then God would have to fulfill the curses of their breaking the covenant that He had made with them, which meant that they would be invaded by King Nebuchadnezzar and carried off as slaves to Babylon. They refused to repent and the prophecy was fulfilled just as God said that it would be.

Prophecy is not just "history prophesied in advance". God gives us prophecy so that "if" we "Repent", "then" we will receive His blessings or "else" we will receive cursings Read Deuteronomy 28 to see what God says about blessings and cursings. Prophecy reveals the curses of what will happen when a nation will not repent and follow God. The prophecies against the House of Judah were fulfilled. An example of what happens when a nation repents is related in the life of the prophet Jonah. Jonah prophesied against Nineveh but the nation repented and God relented and changed His mind: "Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it" (Jonah 3:10 NKJV).

Since the warning of war gives the joyous Feast of Trumpets its contrasting note of solemnity, let’s look at what will happen at the end of the age.

Let’s begin in Mat 24:3 (NKJV) "Now as He (Jesus) sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"" {4} "And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. {5} "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many" (Mat 24:3-5 NKJV).

The first sign that Jesus gave was that false prophets would try to deceive you. Are you deceived? How do you know that you are not deceived? The one sure way is to read and study your Bible and pray to God that He will open your mind and reveal His truth to you. Don’t believe me or anyone - Believe your Bible. Believe what God is telling you not what some minister or church organization is telling you.

The next signs that Jesus reveals is wars, famines, pestilence, and earthquakes: "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. {7} "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilence, and earthquakes in various places. {8} "All these are the beginning of sorrows" (Mat 24:6-8 NKJV).

Jesus continues with the sign of the great tribulation: "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. {22} "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened" (Mat 24:21-22 NKJV).

Notice that world conditions are going to get so bad that "unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved" alive! This sounds like this could be caused by nuclear warfare.

Then Jesus begins talking about the sign of His returning: ""Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. {31} "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Mat 24:30-31 NKJV).

When Jesus returns there will be a "great sound of a trumpet". The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:14 "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. {15} For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. {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" (1 Thes. 4:14-17 NKJV).

Notice that this is talking about the first resurrection when Jesus returns and gathers the saints. Let’s notice another familiar passage: "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" (1 Cor 15:52 NKJV).

Revelation chapter 6 reveals the six seals. These six seals parallels the Olivet prophecy of Matthew 24 involving false prophets, wars, famines, pestilence, earthquakes, the great tribulation and the heavenly signs.

The seventh seal is opened in Revelation 8:1 and is composed of seven stages, each called a trumpet. Seven trumpets are then given to seven angels: "And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets" (Rev 8:2 NKJV). Each of the seven angels sounds their trumpets (Rev. 8-9) and seven catastrophic plagues are the result (Rev. 9:20). (Check out our article: The Key to the Book of Revelation which explains the seven seals, the tribulation and the Day of the Lord.)

Jesus will return and will intervene into the affairs of this world at the seventh or the last trump.

"Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" {16} And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, {17} saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. {18} The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth." {19} Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail" (Rev 11:15-19 NKJV).

It is at this seventh and last trumpet that Christ returns and the resurrection of the Saints takes place - two events of enormous importance to Christians.

Just as the seventh seal is divided into the seven last trumpets, so the seventh trumpet is divided into the seven last plagues. These plagues will finally crush all rebellion and bring mankind to its knees in a repentant attitude. "Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete" (Rev 15:1 NKJV).

A trumpet is a symbol of war. Jesus comes in a time of worldwide war - when the nations are angry! As soon as the work of gathering in the Firstfruits (pictured by Feast of Pentecost) is completed at the end of this present age, then Christ will begin to set up, again, the tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16) - to set His hand again the SECOND TIME to recover the remnant of His people (Isa. 11:11) - to search out and to FIND His lost sheep that the ministers of the CHURCHES have FAILED to search out and seek and find and save during this period (Ezek. 34:1-14).

Notice exactly WHEN this takes place! "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great TRUMPET shall be blown, and they [Israel] shall come which were ready to perish . . . and shall worship the Eternal in the holy mount at Jerusalem" (Isa. 27:13).

When will Israel be regathered? At the sound of the TRUMP - at the second coming of Christ. Because the churches have forgotten the Feast of Trumpets, many think that the return of Jews to Palestine now is the fulfillment of this prophecy!

Christ's direct intervention in world affairs will be the next great event in God’s Plan of Redemption.

The answer is that No One knows the Day or Hour! Only God the Father knows: ""But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Mat 24:36 NKJV).

Even though we don’t know exactly when Christ will return, it is still interesting to speculate as to when.

We know that Christ will return at the seventh trump. The seven trumpets compose the seventh seal. The seventh seal is opened in Revelation 8:1. The fifth trumpet plague lasts for five months: "And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months." (Rev 9:5 NKJV).

Perhaps the second coming of Jesus Christ could occur, in whatever year it may be, on THIS VERY DAY of the Feast of Trumpets or could He return approximately 6 months later at the Feast of Pentecost? While we cannot say, yet cannot we see this possibility? The crucifixion was upon the Passover Day - the very DAY! The Holy Spirit came, beginning the selecting of the Firstfruits of salvation, on the VERY DAY of Pentecost.

The Feast of Trumpets is a Day of Rejoicing

"So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month " (Neh 8:2 NKJV).

Note: The "first day of the seventh month" is the Day of the Feast of Trumpets - see Lev. 23:24.

Let’s continue in verse 8: "So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading. {9} And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep." For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law. {10} Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." {11} So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, "Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved." {12} And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them."(Neh 8:8-12 NKJV).

In the days of Ezra and Nehemiah the people rejoiced greatly on the Feast of Trumpets. Notice that this passage says three times that "this Day is holy to the Lord".

The Feast of Trumpets is a day of solemnity. It begins by picturing war but it ends with the return of Jesus Christ at the seventh trump.

The festival of Trumpets is a day of REJOICING and, as the weekly Sabbath, holy unto the Lord (Neh. 8:2, 9-12).

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