I’m a little leery when anyone implies that the Bible reveals the specific time that the Lord will come. Some are doing this with the Jewish feast of Trumpets. I understand their reasoning but I think they are missing the Biblical thought.

When the New Testament references regarding the coming of the Lord are examined closely, never once does any New Testament writer reveal that the coming of the Lord will be on the Jewish holiday of the feast of Trumpets. 

Consistently, the New Testament writers reveal that we are to be looking for the coming of the Lord as faithful servants and we are to be ready in all seasons. In Matthew 24, Jesus says to his disciples, Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would have come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man cometh.

Teaching people that Jesus will return at the appointed time of the Feast of Trumpets on Jewish calendar is actually pinning down the time frame and this is contrary, not only to the words of Jesus mentioned above, but also to the whole of New Testament doctrine. Throughout the New Testament we are exhorted to always be ready for the coming of the Lord, and never just at the time of the fall feast of Trumpets. The exhortation to be ready is always tied to being washed in His Blood and being faithful to Him, it is never tied to a specific time frame on the Jewish calendar. 

Someone may ask, “Isn’t the coming of the Lord foreshadowed in the feast of trumpets?” My answer is yes, but that is not all that is foreshadowed in this feast. When Paul draws on the foreshadowing within this feast as he does in 1 Corinthians 15, he speaks of the coming resurrection of the people of God at the coming of the Lord and does so in view of the “last trumpet blast.” Yet there are many trumpet blasts on the Feasts of Trumpets and we shouldn’t forget the others. Aren’t they also significant? 

The truth is, the blowing of the trumpets in the Old Testament has to do with important announcements given by God or the people of God. 

In scripture, the sounding of the trumpet blasts were made at times such as when God spoke and the people heard at Sinai, during the processions of Kings ascending to the Throne, when there was a call to battle or war, during the year of Jubilee as a signal of victory and release from bondage, at times of rejoicing, at the dedication of the Temple, and so on. 

As fulfilled in Christ, the sounding of the trumpet has to do with the proclamation of the gospel. When God sent the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to give us power to testify of Jesus and to preach that He is the one who has ascended to the throne because He is the one God has exalted. This announcement is good news and causes all who believe to rejoice in Him. Those who believe are called as soldiers into His army to advance His gospel and to proclaim that true Jubilee (release from bondage) is in Him alone. This gospel is to be announced so that all who believe will find their abiding in Him for through Him God has His dwelling place among His people by His Holy Spirit. 

As Joshua led the people of Israel into their inheritance, they were commanded at Jerico to shout only after hearing the long sounding of the ram’s horns (the trumpet) and then the walls would come down. The shout of victory which knocked the walls of Jericho down came after the trumpet was sounded. The shout of victory and the walls coming down in the lives of people occurs after they hear the truth of the gospel preached!

The feast of Trumpets was to be a special Ceremonial Sabbath Rest (not the weekly Sabbath) and it was to be announced by the blowing of the trumpets. Each of the Feasts of Israel was considered a Ceremonial Sabbath and this one called special attention to rest by the sounding of the trumpet. The last sound being the GREAT SOUND (the Tekiah Gedolah or Great Sound) to call the people of God into joyful rest. 

As the people of God who have heard and believed the gospel, we have heard the trumpet sound and have found rest (our Jubilee) in Jesus. Yet there still remains a rest for us, for there will come a time when we will hear the last trump and we will all enter the fulness of our rest in Christ when we receive the redemption of our bodies. 

In 1 Corinthians 15, the last trump referred to by Paul as the coming resurrection certainly will occur when the Lord comes, but the last trump has to be connected with all the other soundings of the trumpet or its prophetic significance will be lost. Without the others, the last trumpet blast would not be the last. Our proclaiming of the coming resurrection when Jesus comes is tied to the gospel which we believe and which we are to be preaching NOW! We are to preach Jesus! He died and rose again and eternal life is in Him alone. He is the only hope of salvation and He is coming again! 

At the last trump we who believe in Jesus, who now have the first-fruits of our inheritance, will enter our full inheritance when we receive the redemption of our bodies. We will put on immortality when, at last, our bodies will experience the resurrection. The last trumpet will soon come but in the meantime we should be sounding the trumpet by taking the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Surely, there is more that can to be said about the Feast of Trumpets as to its fulfillment in Jesus but this will suffice.

We would all do well to remember that the New Testament writers are the authoritative interpreters of the Old Testament scriptures. We do not interpret their writings by the Old Testament scriptures; on the contrary, we interpret the Old Testament scriptures in view of their writings. The Holy Spirit anointed the New Testament authors to reveal truth contained in the scriptures by bringing that truth to light in the person of Jesus Christ. If what someone is teaching points only to the type (the shadow or symbol) rather than the one in whom the type is fulfilled you can be assured it is the wisdom of men rather than the wisdom of God. All truth foreshadowed in the Old is realized in Christ in the New!