The Trumpet Will Sound Series

Stuart Briscoe, former senior pastor at Elmbrook church in Milwauke, talked about his running days. He said:

I taught all my kids to enjoy running. Then they taught me how not to enjoy it. While I could keep a pace ahead of them, it was great. But when they began to haul me out of bed early… on a frosty morning to run, or when my daughter had me running a 10,000-meter race, I started asking, “What in the world am I doing?”

I asked the question even more when we got to the start. There were 24,998 others. Being Milwaukee, some of them were dressed as beer bottles. One guy dressed up as a banana, another as a bunch of grapes. The gun went off, and everybody was laughing and waving. The banana was shaking hands with the crowd. And then it got rather interesting after about a quarter of a mile. The banana and the beer bottle were hanging over a garden fence—didn't look good at all.

After about a mile there was no chattering or laughing. And after the second mile, the only sound was labored breathing. After the fourth mile, it was so quiet you could hear the birds singing. At 6.2 miles, people were dribbling in one at a time, and not many of them. The moral of the story is this: You get all kinds of people goofing off at the start, but that doesn't count. To finish does, and disciples of Jesus Christ keep on going (Stuart Briscoe, “Ordinary Folks Make Great Disciples,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 47; www.PreachingToday.com).

The question is: How? How do you keep on going when you feel like giving up? How do you persevere through the pain and uncertainty that life brings? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 15, where the Bible tells us how to finish well, how to persevere to a victorious end.

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality (ESV).

Whether you’re asleep or awake when Jesus comes, i.e., whether you’re dead or alive, He will change your body to make it fit for heaven. So, if you want to finish well…

ANTICIPATE THE CHANGE TO COME.

Look forward to the transformation of your body when that trumpet sounds gathering all believers to meet their King.

In Numbers 10, God directed the priests to blow a trumpet to gather His people together (Numbers 10:7-8). In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul says the Lord will descend with the sound of a trumpet, gathering all believers together to meet Him in the air. Then they will always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). That’s why it’s called the “last trumpet” here. There will be no other call to gather God’s people, because after that, they will always be together with the Lord.

It’s the last trumpet for God’s people, but the first of many trumpets for the people of this world. Joel 2 talks about a trumpet announcing the Day of the Lord, which he describes as “a day of darkness and gloom” (Joel 2:1-2ff). The Bible later describes that “day” as a 7-year time of tribulation (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 11:3; 12:6). And during those seven years, angels will blow 7 trumpets announcing 7 rounds of judgment on the inhabitants of this world (Revelation 8:6—9:7; 11:15).

If you don’t know Jesus, heavenly trumpets will grate on your ears, because of the judgments they announce. But if you do know Jesus, the next heavenly trumpet will be music to your ears, since it will announce your gathering with Christ. Then He will transform your old, decaying body into a brand new one, which will never experience any pain or sickness again. He will clothe you with a perfect body fit for heaven, which will last forever!

Lee Eclov says, “These mortal bodies must be changed because they won't work in God's eternal kingdom. They can't breathe there. They can't move there. They can't last there. The beauty there is too bright for these eyes, the fragrances too intoxicating for these noses, the feasts too sumptuous for these taste buds, the hymns too musical for these voices, the sounds too delicate and thundering for these ears, the leaves, stones, friends, and Savior too holy to touch with these hands (Lee Eclov, in his sermon It Doesn’t Sting Anymore, www.PreachingToday.com).