The 7th Trumpet of Revelation Is The Rapture?

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The "Mystery" is SOLVED!

OFTEN OVERLOOKED BIBLICAL FACTS:
Is the seventh trumpet of Revelation really the rapture of the church?
 
The Apostle John  (On the island of Patmos - around 90 AD)
 
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. Revelation 10:7
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The Apostle and Prophet Paul told the church what the "mystery" was about 30 years before John:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  
I Corinthians 15:51-52
 
Years prior to Paul's revelation to the Corinthian church, he also spoke about the rapture to the church of Thessaloniki. In that discourse, Paul also associated the rapture with a trumpet blast.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.   After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

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Jesus also mentioned a "trumpet blast" at the "gathering" up of His people in the last days.
 
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 24:31 
 

BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL FACTS:

John said in 90 AD - the "mystery of God" will happen at the 7th or LAST trumpet ... just like the "prophets said."

Paul said (before 67 AD) - the "mystery of God" is the rapture - and it WILL happen at the LAST trumpet.

Paul is the ONLY one in the entirety of God's word to link "mystery of God" with a "trumpet" and of all things - the LAST trumpet. It is also a fact that the seventh trumpet of Revelation, last mentioned in Revelation 11, is the VERY LAST time the word trumpet is used in the entire Bible. So - the seventh trumpet is actually the last trumpet of that series and it is literally the last trumpet in the Bible - the very last trumpet of God!

If we stick with only the Word of God, the only series of trumpets in the New Testament that Paul could have been referring to is what was revealed to John (the 7 trumpets of Revelation). But this should be no surprise - Paul would have seen these trumpets from God - thirty years before John (2 Corinthians 12:4)! That is why John most likely was referring  to Paul (the ONLY one who ties a mystery with a trumpet) as a "prophet."  There is NO OTHER PROPHET in the entire word of God who does this! And John would have known this fact. Who ELSE would John have been talking about - and of whom the early church would have known about?  The answer to this question is (biblically) obvious.

It is an indisputable fact that Paul DID receive end-time revelations from God long before John did. Thus he truly was a prophet to the early church and John would have been very aware of this. We know this because Paul speaks of trumpets, the end-times, the times of the antichrist, certain qualities of the antichrist, the rapture, resurrection bodies, the coming of the Lord Jesus, the terrible times related to the last-days, the false prophets that would appear in the last days, etc... Paul even told the church at Thessaloniki that he had told them the things of the end times "many times before" (II Thess. 2:1-3). Paul spoke of these things to the church (and often) long before John was given the book of Revelation. Paul died in 67 AD at the hands of Nero. John wrote Revelation in 90-95 AD.

The ONLY Bible prophets to speak of "mysteries" were Daniel and Paul (look in a concordance). Jesus used the word once in Mark 4:11 (this is repeated in the very same context in Matt.13:11 and Luke 8:10) speaking of why he spoke in parables. But, Paul was the ONLY one to tie the specific word "mystery" and the last-days "mystery revelation" with the blowing of the LAST trumpet...the ONLY one.

Revelation 10:7 and I Corinthians 15:51-52 CANNOT be biblically separated. They are referring to the same event. There is no biblical evidence otherwise. One has to go outside the Bible to make a disconnect between these two verses.

Some say that Paul was talking about a "different" last trumpet than John. But why would we assume THAT? If we stick only with the Word of God - that scenario is impossible. What "different" series would Paul have been talking about? The ONLY series of trumpets in the New Testament is the seven trumpets of Revelation (which Paul would have seen before John!) We will not apologize for not going outside the Bible to interpret the Bible.

The only other series of trumpets in the Bible (there happens to be seven there also!) is the 7 trumpet days of Jericho in the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. The pattern of Jericho fits precisely the pattern of the Revelation trumpets! 

It was on the 7th day at the blowing of the 7th series of trumpet blasts that the walls of Jericho (representing the evil world system) came down and God's people "went up" into the Promised Land! (A beautiful rapture picture!). The 6 days of trumpet blasts before the 7th were "days of warning" to Jericho that the end was near and that God's people would inherit the land. Of this there can be no dispute. There are no other "series"of trumpets in the Bible. So - to which biblical series was Paul referring?

Some say that Paul is referring to the "Great Trump" of the Feast of Trumpets - the "last" trumpet blown on that Jewish feast day. The orthodox Hebrews call it the Tekiah Gedolah – meaning - one extra long blast - the final blast on that feast. This is all fine and good, but the problem with equating this definitively with what Paul and John say is that the "last trump" of the "feast of trumpets" is found nowhere in the Bible! This particular concept was an invention of the orthodox rabbis (see the Talmud) - it was never a prescription in the Word of God! If you say "that is what Paul meant" - you have to go outside the Bible! And, you have to put the teaching of the rabbis (the traditions of men) above the clear Word of God! And, you have to "assume" that Paul was doing the same! (Wow).

The ONLY thing that God's word prescribes concerning the Feast of Trumpets is that the Israelites were to blow trumpets on ONE day. That's it!  Not two days (as the rabbis and tradition later prescribed) and not hundreds of blasts (as the rabbis and tradition later prescribed - actually they prescribed "at least 30 blasts" but the modern practice is more around 100 blasts on each day). How can an honest student of the word relate rabbinical traditions as being equal to the word of God in order to interpret the words of Paul?  Again - wow.

 

The Festival of Trumpets as prescribed by The Bible: (Leviticus 23)

²³ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. ²⁵ Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the Lord.’”

See these  references to the (two days of celebration, the "great trump" of Rosh Hashannah, the number of blasts, etc.)
http://www.tedmontgomery.com/bblovrvw/C_5a.html
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Rosh_Hashannah/rosh_hashannah.html
 
Additionally: there is only one place in the entire Bible that mentions a great trumpet. It is found in Isaiah 27:13. The vast majority of commentators agree that this is a reference to God's promise of returning the scattered nation of Israel back to the land in the last days. (Some think it is a reference to God allowing His people to return to the land in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra under the Persian captivity period). This "great trumpet" blast is in no way connected with a rapture event, especially as the rapture was explained by Paul and by Jesus (Matthew 24). The last trumpet that Paul mentions cannot be tied to the "great trump" of Isaiah. It simply is not a biblical connection.

Isaiah 27:13
And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Some who hold to the pre-trib persuasion will say that Paul was talking about the "great trumpet" blown on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) (Leviticus 25). The Jews call this the shofar hagadol - meaning the "great trumpet.". The problem is that nowhere in the Bible is the trumpet blast of Yom Kippur called the "great trump" the "great trumpet" or the "last trump" or the "last trumpet."  The Bible simply says that there should be a trumpet blast on that day.  It is rabbinic tradition (You know - that same tradition stuff that put Jesus on the cross and gave the Jews the practice of Kabbalah!) that called this trumpet blast "the great trumpet" - not the Bible - and not a command of God.  Neither Paul, nor Jesus, nor John use the designation "great trumpet" when speaking of the trumpet blast associated with the rapture. The ONLY designation that Paul gives it is "the last trumpet" - and, again, the only "last trumpet" of a series that is actually IN THE BIBLE - is the Seventh Trumpet of Revelation.

To this day, the shofar is blown only once on Yom Kippur: one long blast at the very end of the holiday, signifying that the celebration of it is over.  If this is what Paul meant - surely he could have easily said so - and he most likely would have called it the "great trumpet" - but he did not. Instead, he ties the "mystery" of God with a "last trumpet."  This is the SAME thing that John does in Revelation 10:7. Contextually speaking one would be much safer in assuming that John and Paul are speaking of the very same thing, especially since they use the very same language and descriptions. Why should we assume anything else? (Unless we are purposely trying to force a disconnect between the two verses.)

   
Leviticus 25:9
9    Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land.


NOTE: Some pretribbers, in an effort to circumvent the above biblical truths, actually attempt to say that a "trump" is different than a "trumpet!"  We kid you not. For a quick and great proof that they are absolutely mistaken - read this brief article ... http://ppsimmons.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-great-trumpet-debate.html
 
JOHN'S "CATCHING UP" IS THE RAPTURE?

BY THE WAY - if one wishes to argue that the rapture of the church is presented in Revelation BEFORE the 7th trumpet blast - we would ask "where?" The usual answer is that John's "catching up" (Rev. 4:1-2)  is the rapture. But the Bible does not "say" that! In fact - it does not even hint that. This is a typical example of "reading into" a passage to make it say what one wishes it to say. The truth of the matter is simply that John was "caught up" into the presence of God - as was the apostle Paul - years before John! Neither John nor Paul claim that  their experiences represented the rapture of the church.

In fact, if one says that John's "catching up" represents the rapture of the church - why could not Paul's "catching up" (30 years earlier in 2 Corinthians 12) represent the rapture of the church? Why does the entrance into God's presence represent the rapture with John but not with Paul?  John went on to live many years after he wrote Revelation. Why is his vision a representation of the rapture - but Paul's is not? To say that John's "catching up" is the rapture - is biblical gobbledegook and speculation - but it is not proper exegetical biblical interpretation!

But - we CAN tell you what the Bible DOES say: Rev 10:7 - "in the days of the 7th trumpet the mystery of God will be revealed."  I Corinthians 15:51-52 -"behold I will tell you the mystery! In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we will all be changed, at the last trumpet."   THAT is what the Bible says. We understand that this is not what Scofield's notes say - it is not what Hal Lindsey says - it is not what the Left Behind series of books say, but it IS what the Bible says.

 
BOTTOM LINE: John and Paul knew what they were talking about. Paul had already "revealed" the mystery of the last (seventh) trumpet  to the church long before John did. John merely refers back to it in Rev. 10:7.

Therefore - the 7th trumpet (letting the Bible speak for itself) is the RAPTURE. Therefore the 6 trumpets before the 7th will happen BEFORE the rapture.