7Trumpetsbw

       The Royal Marriages, Part 3: The Seven Trumpets. The Two Witnesses.

    The Law and the Holy Tabernacle of Moses "serve as an example and shadow of heavenly things," but are
"not the very image of th[ose] things." Hebrews 8:5, 10:1 As you read here about the parallels between the Lord's Coming to Mt. Sinai and his Latter Day Coming upon the heavenly Mt. Zion, keep in mind what a shadow is like. It is not a "very image": it is only an outline on the ground, and usually a distorted one. Like real shadows, in some cases the Mosaic-era shadows have shapes that come remarkably close to the Latter Day form. In other cases, the Mosaic shadows only show a passing resemblance.

Z The Seven Seals of Revelation 6:1 - 8:1 close with a pause, "silence in heaven for about half an hour." Then seven angels are given seven trumpets, 8:2. Before they sound, however, another angel brings a golden censer to the altar of sacrifice. He is given incense (which is or includes the "prayers of the saints," 5:8, 8:4), offers it upon the golden altar of incense before God's throne, and then casts fire from the sacrificial altar into the earth.
    S The essence of these things, in a distorted form, was foreshadowed at Mt. Sinai. The High Priest Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu "each took his censer and put fire in it [typically being coals from the altar of sacrifice], put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD... And fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died..." Lev. 10:1-2 Same general themes as above: censers, altars, offering of burning incense,
and fire from the Temple/Tabernacle of God.
    Now, according to Marvin Rosenthal (The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church, p. 145f.), trumpets were used
in Israel for two purposes: 1) "to call a solemn assembly of the people; that is, to gather them to the presence
of the Lord;" and 2) "to sound an alarm for war and judgment. ... The trumpet judgments will be precisely that." The Church will be gathered out by the Lord's Last Trump, which is NOT one of the seven angelic trumpets of Revelation. Z During the seven trumpets, Israel will be gathered and judged: "It is the time of Jacob's trouble." Jer. 30:7 S The Seven Trumpets were foreshadowed by seven rebellions by the Israelites, and seven resultant judgments upon them, early in the Exodus. It is therefore noteworthy that just before these Israelite rebellions began, God commanded Moses to make trumpets. Num. 10:1f.

First Trumpet, Rev. 8:7. Z Here is foretold hail and fire, mingled with blood, which are thrown to Earth.
    S This trumpet was well foreshadowed a month and three weeks after Moses raised up the Tabernacle. The Israelites began to complain, "it displeased the LORD, ...and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed" some of them. Num. 11:1 2nd year, 2nd month, 22nd day.

Second Trumpet, Rev. 8:8-9. Z This passage speaks about "the sea" being corrupted by a burning mountain, causing it to "become blood," and killing a third of its "creatures having souls."
    S We can see some of the same symbols foreshadowed by the second Israelite rebellion, although in a distorted form. They complained about the lack of flesh they had to eat, and specifically fish, a seafood. So the Lord sent them quail "from the sea." But He then caused those who ate the quail to die from "a very great plague," most likely a bloody diarrhea caused by spoiled meat. See Numbers 11:4-5, 22, 31-33. 2nd year, 2nd month, beginning 23rd day.

Third Trumpet, Rev. 8:10-11; Fourth Trumpet, Rev. 8:12-13. Z These two trumpets are believed by many to be closely related. The third tells of "a great star from heaven, burning like a torch," which falls to Earth and pollutes its drinking water sources with "wormwood," thereby poisoning many. Literalists believe this represents nuclear missiles and radiation poisoning; particularly since the Chernobyl nuclear fallout disaster in the old U.S.S.R. poisoned and killed so many. (Chernobyl means Wormwood.) The Fourth Seal's great darkness is believed to derive from the heavy smoke of massive fires caused by nuclear weapons.
    S In the Exodus era, these trumpets were foreshadowed by the dual rebellions of Miriam and Aaron, Numbers 12. In response, the Lord appeared to them and manifested his wrath "in a pillar of cloud": A-bombs make pillars of clouds. Miriam, apparently having been in this cloud (12:10), immediately became leprous, "as white as snow."
She was then "shut out of the camp." Now, radiation poisoning causes its victims skins to become extremely pale, and can cause skin lesions: i.e., it looks much like leprosy. These victims will be quarantined from other people, as was Miriam. 2nd year, 3rd month, 23rd-29th days.

Fifth Trumpet, Rev. 9:1-12. Z Here we are shown demonic locust-spirits from the Abyss, ruled over by a fallen angel. These have the power to afflict, but not kill, all those who have not been sealed by God.
    S The fifth rebellion of the Israelites took place after the return of the 12 men Moses had sent to spy out the Promised Land of Canaan. All but two of these men brought back a report that caused the people to be afflicted with great fear, but not death. Those who brought the evil report were cursed; the two who spoke rightly, Caleb and Joshua (of Judah and Ephraim/Joseph), were spared.
    This passage in Numbers 13 uses the word "grasshoppers," i.e. locusts, and tells about the fearful Nephilim ("giants"). The Nephilim were the cursed offspring of fallen angels and human women (Gen. 6:2-4), whose spirits, according to the Book of Enoch (quoted by Jude), will be allowed to afflict humankind in the End Times. Enoch 15:10 They might well be these demonic locusts. 2nd year, 5th month, 9th day.

Sixth Trumpet, Rev. 9:13-11:14. Z This trumpet encompasses two primary themes, one martial and the other priestly. (The "little book," which is mentioned in between, apparently is related to the seventh angel's trumpet; see 10:7.)
    In the first, martial section, we are told about a great army out of the east, "prepared...to slay the third part of men." S This was foreshadowed by the sixth rebellion of the Israelites. They rejected the word of the Lord and attacked the Canaanites and Amalekites to their east, but were utterly routed by them in battle. Num. 14:39f. 2nd year, 5th month, 10th or 11th day.
   Z In the priestly section of the Sixth Trumpet, the Temple of God is mentioned, and then His Two Witnesses. They prophesy for 1260 days in the midst of their enemies. During this period (but not necessarily throughout all of it), they destroy their adversaries with fire, turn waters to blood, and smite the earth with plagues. At the end of their prophetic ministry they are killed, resurrected, and taken up in a cloud. Then an earthquake follows, which kills thousands.
    S Remarkable foreshadowings of these events are found in Numbers 16. God's chosen two witnesses at that time, Moses and Aaron, were confronted and accused by Korah and fellow Levites, as well as prominent Israelite elders. They all had a faceoff at the door of the Tabernacle. An earthquake swallowed up Korah and his kin; fire devoured the others. The next day the Lord appeared in a cloud, defending and validating Moses and Aaron, and thousands more of the rebels were killed. (Dates of these events are on the next page.)

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