A Deeper Dive Into the Book of Revelation - Part 84
When John saw the door standing open in Heaven, he also heard a voice.
“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.’”—Revelation 4:1 (NASB)
The voice that summoned John into Heaven was “like a trumpet.”
John’s experience here seems to be a lot like the experience of Moses being called up to Mount Sinai to meet with God in Exodus chapter 19.
Very similar to John’s experience, Moses was called up to receive revelations from God that he would afterwards be responsible for delivering to the people of God.
Also, just as John was given a message to prepare the people of God to be ready to meet the Lord when He returns on the Mount of Olives, Moses was given a message to prepare the people to meet God when He came down on Mount Sinai.
“The Lord also said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow [that is, prepare them for My sacred purpose], and have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai [in the cloud] in the sight of all the people.’”—Exodus 19:10-11 (AMP)
Similar to John’s experience, when God called Moses to come up, the command was accompanied by the sound of a very loud trumpet.
“On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.”—Exodus 19:16 (AMPC)
It was during this experience that Moses received the Ten Commandments.
Heavenly Protocol
When we look at these two experiences together, we realize that there is a heavenly protocol that is being followed in order for John to approach the throne of God, and there was a heavenly protocol with definite dos and don’ts that Moses had to follow in order to approach God as he went up on Mount Sinai.
God gives us a glimpse into His heavenly protocol in Numbers chapter 10. In that chapter, God gave Moses instructions to make two trumpets of silver. These trumpets were to be used to summon people and to signal the next move (Numbers 10:2).
As we read Numbers 10:1-10 in light of the events detailed in the book of Revelation, we realize that God did not invent a new trumpet protocol for Moses and the children of Israel. Instead, God was giving Moses an earthly application of the protocol that was already established in Heaven. In following the trumpet protocol given in Numbers 10, Moses and the people of Israel would come into alignment with God’s heavenly trumpet protocol.
For example, it was a voice “like a trumpet” that summoned John into the presence of God in Revelation 4:1. That seems to have been done according to the protocol given to Moses which tells us that the purpose of a single trumpet sound was to summon the leaders (Numbers 10:4).
Trumpet sounds were also used to gather the assembly of the people of God (Numbers 10:7). The ultimate fulfillment of this will happen at the sounding of the seventh trumpet of Revelation, which is the last trumpet mentioned in the Bible.
“And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”—Matthew 24:31 (ESV)
“Let me tell you a secret. Not all of us will die, but all of us will be changed—in a moment, faster than an eye can blink, at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will be raised never to decay, and we will be changed.”—1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (ISV)
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”—1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NASB)
The trumpets were also to be sounded when the people of God went to war (Numbers 10:9). This will also be fulfilled at the sounding of the last trumpet when Jesus returns to earth with the armies of Heaven to deliver the final judgment of God on the disobedient and rebellious nations.
“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.”—Revelation 19:11-14 (NKJV)
The sounds of trumpets are mentioned more times in the book of Revelation than in any other book of the Bible. It is significant that we see trumpets accompanying the events of the end times more than any other events in the history of the world. These trumpets will accompany the most monumental transition in world history as the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: ‘The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.’”—Revelation 11:15 (NLT)
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