A very short sermon on Numbers 10:1-10 on trumpets that I made a few months ago but never delivered, written down now because I was asked to. Read Numbers 10 first, then prepared to be blown away. Get it? Blown away. Haha...
First, in any Bible study, we must remember what it meant for the people back then. The trumpets were very effective tools used to summon the people either to war (v9) or to move out (v2). It was a loud way to worship God (v10) and to be "a reminder...: I am the Lord your God" (v10). Even back in the day, each time the trumpets sounded, the Israelites would be reminded that God is calling them, summoning them to something. They would also be reminded that they are not alone in this desert, something much needed in their forty years of wandering. But as important as this historical usage was, there is a deeper significance. We know what that "something" God was calling them to back then, but what is the "something" God is calling us to today? We'll get to that soon.
This imagery of the trumpets continues all throughout the Bible, even to Revelation. Rev 8 talks about the seven trumpets, each bringing about judgement, death, and destruction. That's what the trumpets signified back in Numbers too: war, death, and destruction. Rev 8:7 tells us that "in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled." What is this mystery? We know this mystery! Rom 16:25-26 says "according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed". Rev 11:15 tells us "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.'" It doesn't get any better than this! GOD WILL REIGN!
That is what the last blowing of the trumpet will bring about: the consummation of God's kingdom! Imagine, no more death, no more suffering, no more sin, just peace and worship of a beautiful God. The Israelites worshipped when the trumpet was blown in Num 10:10, and that is what we will be doing for all eternity too when this final trumpet is blown. Look forward to that day, that final trumpet, as you continue in your journey through this wilderness that is the fallen world. The promised land is near, don't miss that final blast of the trumpet, listen for it, wait for its sound.
And yes, in fact we are not listening or waiting for a trumpet, but for Christ himself. 1 Thess 4:16 says "The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God." Yes, Jesus has descended once and will again, "coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matt 26:64). It is the same cloud that led the Israelites through the wilderness, the same cloud that is associated with divine presence, the same cloud that would have set Jesus on the same level as God. Oh don't miss it, don't miss the imagery here, don't miss the sound of Jesus' voice. John said in Rev 1:10 that "I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet". Whose voice was that? Why was it like a trumpet? That voice was Jesus Christ! The trumpets calling the Israelites to war and to worship was in fact Christ!
The calling in our lives to fight sin and to battle for souls is also a call from Christ! His call IS the trumpet in Num 10. His voice IS the trumpet in Rev 1:10. His presence IS the promised land that is waiting for us! Brothers, sisters, don't miss that sound. "Be sober-minded; be watchful." (1 Pet 5:8) Furthermore, in your every day lives, "blow the trumpet and warn the people" (Eze 33:3). Tell them of the gospel of Jesus Christ or the blood will be on your hands (cf. Eze 33:6)! If you do not know Christ, don't miss his call. Can you not hear the many trumpets that have already been sounded? Can you not hear my Master beckoning you to come? Repent and join me in the worship of my God and my king.
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