DAILY DEVOTIONAL – January 29, 2020
“Heralding Horns”
Prayer: Jesus, You are the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. As we look towards that wonderful and final Day when You return, still our hearts and fill them with hope and the assurance of Your Word that promises eternal salvation for all that put their faith and trust in You. Amen.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
51 But I reveal to you a wonderful mystery. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.
Devotion – “Heralding Horns”
As most of you I think are aware, music is and always has been a big part of my life. I was fortunate enough to have music in elementary school, and by 7th grade I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a trumpet. If it wasn’t for the fact that both my parents were music educators, I’m not sure they would have been able to endure the terrifying sounds that came out of my horn when first learning how to play.
I am so thankful to God for the opportunities and blessings that have been and are still in my life because of music. So many good friends and experiences. Music has not only always brought me a unique sense of happiness, but God also was gracious enough to have them provide me generous scholarships throughout my college career…and it was while attending music school that I met my beautiful wife Sarah.
One of my most favorite memories of playing trumpet was back in high school when I was selected to play in the 8 member Herald Trumpet Regiment that marched in front of and announced the arrival of the Queen of Roses for the Pasadena Tournament of Rose Parade that takes place every New Year on January 1st. It was perhaps the most demanding rehearsal schedule and performance I ever had both physically and mentally. Because the Queen’s float is always moving, and because the Queen is being seen by new eyes approximately every 3-5 minutes…we essentially never stopped playing…the queen always had to be properly announced and introduced by a fanfare.
In our passage for today, the Apostle Paul tells us about how the final return of the Lord will be announced; that last Day when Jesus returns in both judgement and with salvation for all who have put their faith in Him. Paul says, “It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.” What an awesome day that will be my friends…and I can’t wait to hear those perfect heavenly trumpets scream through the sky and bring every person rightfully to their knees in worship of the True King Jesus.
Technically speaking, the trumpets referred to in Scripture are not the kind of metal trumpet I once played. The trumpets in Scripture were called shofars, and they were beautifully crafted and hollowed out ram’s horns. When my mother recently went to Israel, she blessed me by acquiring a real, hand made Ashkenazi shofar for me; it’s one of my most treasured possessions.
Trumpets played a major role throughout Scripture. Of course you can’t help but remember how the walls of Jericho fell at the blasts of the priests trumpets. Trumpets also played a crucial role in the services of the Temple and the Feasts and Festive Celebrations God had commanded Israel to hold. Though we don’t have those feasts and celebrations any longer, I assure you, we should be very interested in the correlation between trumpets and the celebratory feast days God put in place.
Throughout history, God gave His people Israel three vital revelations. He gave them His Law that served to reveal our rebellious hearts and need for His grace and salvation. He gave them the Temple to picture and foreshadow the sacrifice of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ who would pay for our sins, and God gave them a set of Feast days that pointed to the fulfillment of God’s promise to provide His Savior and salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
When Jesus came to die for the sins of the world, He was crucified on the very first of the seven feasts, the Passover Feast. As the Jews celebrated how God’s judgment passed over the Israelites who had spread the blood of a lamb they sacrificed on their doorposts, Jesus the True Lamb of God was shedding his blood for us on the cross! On that very day!
As Christ’s body lay in a tomb as a sinless offering, the Jews observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leaven represents sin and the Israelites were to remove all leaven from their homes during this Feast, just as Christ paid for the sins of the world through His death on the cross.
Jesus then rose from the dead on the third day, the very day the Jews were celebrating the Feast of First Fruits. Just before our text for today, in verse 20 of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.” (1 Corinthians 15:20).
Jesus then appeared to His disciples for 40 days before His ascension. But just before His departure He instructed them to go to Jerusalem and to wait there for the promise of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. Jesus didn’t tell them how long they would have to wait, He just told them to remain there until this event occurred (Acts 1:7-8), but it should not surprise us that the Holy Spirit came just as Christ promised 10 days later during the Feast of Pentecost, which celebrated the beginning of a new harvest season. Now with the Holy Spirit, the disciples were sent out as the church of Christ to reap the harvest of God’s grace; preaching the death and resurrection of Christ so that all who would believe in their message would be saved.
How awesome is our God my friends?! That beginning with the Israelites in the desert our Lord foretold of His salvation in Christ, and because He is perfectly faithful in His love and promises…all of the feasts and celebrations God put in place as a foreshadow of His salvation, found fulfillment in Jesus just as God promised.
But there are three more Feasts that also speak of God’s plan of redemption that have yet to be fulfilled. These Feasts pick up at the end of the growing season in Israel, in the Fall. The first one, and the next in line for fulfillment is the Feast of Trumpets. It is the celebration of the bringing-in of the full and final harvest. The Apostle Paul wrote that it will be “at the last trumpet” that the true Church of those who believe in Jesus will be gathered at the end of this age; a reference to the last of a series of trumpet blasts that take place during the Feast of Trumpets in Israel.
So we see that the next Feast in the line of succession just happens to correlate perfectly with the next event promised to the Church in the New Testament. And just as God was perfectly faithful to fulfill His promise in the Feasts of old, God has promised the day is coming when those trumpets will sound my friends, and all the earth will bow in reverent awe of the victorious King Jesus. As Paul said, “It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye.” It will be sudden and unexpected, but we need not fear that glorious Day as people who have put their faith and trust in Christ. Jesus tells us in Luke 21:25-28, “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Soon and very soon my friends! God bless and strengthen you in faith as we eagerly wait to hear those beautiful trumpets sound, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
