Numbers 10

Why do you believe in God? Reason? History? Scripture? Experience? All four have a divine story to tell for the person who has ears to hear by the Holy Spirit. But whether or not you or I believe, one day the fact of Christ will be undeniable. The trumpet will sound.

God prepared us for a life of faith and for the culmination of His great purposes with something so simple and unexplained as the use of the trumpet within the community of Israel while this church under age moved toward the promised land. He gave Israel a feast of trumpets every year, but this was not the only time that the sound of the trumpets was heard among God's people.

All of the old ceremonies of preparation were the context for Jesus' prophesy about “a loud trumpet call” and for the apostle Paul's words about what would take place “at the last trumpet” when death would be “swallowed up in victory.” What can we learn about that coming day and about our lives today from the varied uses of the trumpet call in Israel?

The sound of the trumpet meant something to God's people. It was a call to come together sounded by a leader in response to a condition. God would raise up His glory cloud to call His people forward, but it would be one of God's servants that would blow the trumpet.

Blowing the trumpets in different ways signaled different messages. Leaders summoned, the entire congregation called to the tent of meeting, the tribes setting out on the next leg of their journey, … All of this was moving Israel toward a promised destination. God was leading them. He was using His priests and His tribal chiefs moving in obedience to His direction. The sound was not a call to individualism, but to a communal walking in accord with Lord's will.

Along the journey, Israel needed to be protected from potential enemies. They needed to know that God had not forgotten them. The trumpet not only was a call to the people. It was also a surprising plea, like the prayers and worship of the church, that Israel might be remembered before God and be saved from her enemies.

It was not only a call of need, but of celebration, for the trumpets were also sounded on the day of gladness. When it was time for the joy of worship together, at the appointed feasts of God, at the beginning of a new month, at the sacrifice of peace offerings, the trumpets spoke a message before God and man that was more than words could communicate.

With the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, and with His gift of the Holy Spirit from heaven, the cloud of God has lifted up from the Old Testament holy place. The people of God are being led forward by Word and Spirit from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth. God is in the lead. He calls some to be special ambassadors, but the whole community of faith is on the road of Christ toward a new heavens and earth.

This church on the move is an inviting church. It needs all of the faithful from among the Gentiles to be brought in to worship the God of Israel. Just as Moses strongly encouraged his Midianite relatives to find a place in the camp of God, Jesus has issued a call to all the spiritual sons of Abraham to find their place in His church. His word to every neighbor is simple: “Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the Lord has promised good to His Israel.” Those who come along can help us through the wilderness. Each one has a gift from God.

One day this gospel phase of the journey will be over. The last trumpet shall sound for the greatest gathering of a worldwide congregation. Then the enemies of the Lord will flee, but Jesus will return to the thousands and thousands of His full Israel. Come soon, Lord Jesus!