Day of Trumpets: The Days of the Seventh Angel
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance... The axe is already at the foot of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
– Matthew 3: 8, 10
Background
The Day of Trumpets fell on the first of Tishri, the start of the secular calendar year. Tishri was also the seventh month of the religious calendar. This day is similar to our New Year’s Day, except that it was celebrated as a call to repentance instead of rejoicing. Israel awoke to the sounding of numerous trumpets and horns that continued throughout the day. Although several different horns were sounded, the Shofar, or ram’s horn, came to symbolize the Day of Trumpets with its call to repent.
The ten-day period that started on the Day of Trumpets was a time of self-examination and fasting in preparation for the coming judgment on the Day of Atonement. In Scripture, a ten-day period is symbolic of an indeterminate time, usually involving tribulation, with the object of perfecting those being tested. The ten-day testing of the church at Smyrna (Rev. 2) is an example of this. The Day of Trumpets had a dual theme. It was not only a call to repentance, it was also a call to make a new beginning with God in preparation for the coming judgment of the Day of Atonement. This idea of a new beginning was mirrored in the start of the new year, much as we view New Year’s Day as a time to make resolutions to live a better life. Christ’s fulfillment of the Day of Trumpets is still a future event. According to Rabbinic teaching, the Day of Trumpets will be fulfilled with the Resurrection at the completion of 6000 years of history.
Jewish tradition has an interesting explanation of the importance of this feast and its connection to the Day of Atonement. Later set down in the Talmud, this tradition held that on the Day of Trumpets “three books were opened – that of life, for those whose works had been good; and another of death, for those who had been thoroughly evil; and a third, intermediate, for those whose case was to be decided on the day of Atonement, the delay being granted for repentance, or otherwise, after which their names would be finally entered, either in the book of life, or in that of death.” 6
Everyone’s fate during the coming year was decided on his or her deeds of the previous year. This tradition explains why one of the names for this feast was Yom HaDin, the day belonging to the Lord for judgment, “the day of the Lord” of Rev. 1: 10. Because anyone’s name might be found in the book of ‘undecided cases,’ the ten days of Trumpets were a time of tribulation for all – thus the fasting and repentance of the ten days between the Day of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement – the “Days of Awe.”
The Talmud teaches that the Day of Trumpets is a type of the Resurrection of the Just, calling it “the day of the awakening shout,” because the dead would be awakened for judgment. This title had a present application in that God’s people were to awaken to the sound of trumpets, repent and live for God. Repentance was rightly understood as walking in a new direction rather than a momentary act of contrition.
The Day of Trumpets, the fifth feast, was associated with the altar of incense, the fifth furnishing, which was placed in front of the curtain in the sanctuary. Incense from the altar was offered morning and evening to accompany the prayers of the priest and those in the temple courts interceding for the nation. The incense is symbolic of coming to God in prayer with an attitude of humility and contrition for our sins. The high priest always carried a censer of burning incense when he entered into the Holy of Holies.
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Revelation 11: 15-19 – Feast: The Day of Trumpets
Dual Theme: A new beginning for the earth; A Call to Repentance during tribulation
To review the ordering of trumpets in Revelation, the typical model lumps the seven trumpets together as a single thematic unit, noting the interval between the sixth and seventh trumpets. However, no significant meaning is attached to this. Taking into account the pattern of the feasts, the seventh trumpet is separate from the first six because it initiates a new thematic chapter in Revelation. The first six trumpets fulfill the cleansing theme of Unleavened Bread. (Rev. 6:8-9) Moving forward in the religious calendar, Revelation 10 marks the seven weeks between Firstfruits and Pentecost, while the two witnesses of Revelation 11: 1-14 fulfill Pentecost, the fourth feast. Verses 15-19 of Revelation 11 fulfill the Day of Trumpets, with its dual theme of repentance, assigned to the spiritual feast day, and a new beginning, the first day of the secular new year.
The new beginning of Revelation 11 is the sovereignty of Christ over the earth, announced as an accomplished fact of the New Year, or in this case, the new age. This is proclaimed as a present reality in heaven by the Elders. However, the new millennium is not immediately implemented on earth, just as the rejoicing of the Jewish New Year was not celebrated until after the judgments of the Day of Atonement. The suffering during the rule of the beast must come first, fulfilling the theme of repentance during the tribulation of the “Days of Awe.”
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Revelation 11: 15-19
The seventh angel blew his trumpet; and there followed loud voices in Heaven which said, “The sovereignty of the world now belongs to our Lord and His Christ; and He will be King until the Ages of the Ages.” Then the twenty-four Elders, who sit on thrones in the presence of God, fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, “We give thee thanks, O Lord God, the Ruler of all, Who art and wast, because Thou hast exerted Thy power, Thy great power, and hast become King. The nations grew angry, and Thine anger has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and the time for Thee to give their reward to Thy servants the Prophets and to Thy people, and to those who fear Thee, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.” Then the doors of God’s sanctuary in Heaven were opened, and the Ark, in which His Covenant was, was seen in His sanctuary; and there came flashes of lightning, and voices, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and heavy hail.
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Revelation 11, verses 15 -19 Commentary
v. 15-18 The seventh angel blew his trumpet; and there followed loud voices in Heaven which said, “The sovereignty of the world now belongs to our Lord and His Christ; and He will be King until the Ages of the Ages.” Then the twenty-four Elders, who sit on thrones in the presence of God, fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, “We give thee thanks, O Lord God, the Ruler of all, Who art and wast, because Thou hast exerted Thy power, Thy great power, and hast become King. The nations grew angry, and thine anger has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and the time for Thee to give their reward to Thy servants the Prophets and to Thy people, and to those who fear Thee, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
While some interpret this passage as the actual start of the Kingdom of God on earth, this is not the case. It is a proclamation of the heavenly spiritual reality that Christ, having claimed the title deed to earth, is now officially its king. This spiritual reality will be manifested on earth only with Christ’s return. Future prophetic events on earth are present realities in heaven, seen only later on earth. Isaiah explains this dynamic.
“Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Isa. 42:9
The first part of the dual theme of the Day of Trumpets is a new beginning. Loud voices proclaim the New Year in heaven: a new beginning is coming for the earth with the Lamb as its King. The image is somewhat like crowning a prince in exile, legally confirming his right to the throne so he may return and take possession of his kingdom. The chorus announces that the millennial reign of Christ over the earth has officially begun, even though it is not yet implemented. When he does return, Christ the King will judge the earth, deciding reward for those who have remained loyal to him during his absence, and the punishment of those who did not want him to be king over them. (See the parable of the ten minas in Luke 19:11-26.)
v. 19 Then the doors of God’s sanctuary in Heaven were opened, and the Ark, in which His Covenant was, was seen in His sanctuary; and there came flashes of lightning, and voices, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and heavy hail. The ark inside the Holy of Holies is symbolic of judgment. It held the stone tables on which God had written his law, the standard by which Israel was measured to determine if individuals and the nation deserved blessing or punishment. Since the ark is associated with the Day of Atonement, its appearance here reminds the reader that the ten days of Trumpets are followed by the final judgment of Atonement. The ark and the elements of hail, lightening, thunder, voices and earthquake all confirm that the earth has entered a season of tribulation and coming judgment, God’s call to repentance. This fulfills the second aspect of the theme of the Day of Trumpets, a call to repent during the ten Days of Awe. The "days of the seventh angel" (Rev. 10:7) are about to begin.
Chapter Notes:
6. Alfred Edersheim, The Temple, Eerdman Publishing Grand Rapids MI 1982, p. 296
Revelation 11: 15 - 19
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