all Israel shall be saved,” he means that all Jews living on the earth when Jesus Christ comes back, after “ the times of the Gentiles” have run their course, will be saved. That holy convocation will be the final fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets. H. K. Downie writes, “We have already hinted at the chronological harmony of these feasts, point ing out that the actual dispensational fulfillment was on the very same day, and about the same hour of time as the typical incidents took place. The Crucifixion cry, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit,’ took place almost at the same moment that the priest slew the paschal lamb. The offering of the first ripe sheaf was on the same morning Christ rose from the dead. The descent o f the Holy Spirit was actually on the anniversary morning of the giving of the law. The same chronological har mony which characterized the fulfilled feasts will also characterize those awaiting fulfillment. Al though we cannot predict the exact year o f their fulfillment, we expect the chronological harmony to be maintained.” Look now at the idea of blowing trumpets. In the life of Israel as a nation the blowing of trum pets was an established institution regulating the nation’s worship, walk, work, and warfare. This is set forth in Numbers 10:1-10. Those Old Testa ment saints heard the trumpet call many times. The first mention of the trumpet was at Mount Sinai where God called the people together at the nether part of the Mount and where He gave to Moses the Ten Commandments (Ex. 19:13-20). The trumpet was employed symbolically as the voice of God. In times of peace and in times of war the trumpet blast was a familiar sound among the children o f Israel. In the New Testament John also heard the voice of the Lord as of a trumpet (Rev. 1:10; 4 :1). Now for two thousand years the sound of the trumpet has not been heard, but we may be cer tain that, just as the first four Feasts have found their anti-type in the Person and work o f our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God shall come again with trumpet sound. We believe the application of this type is in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We understand the Second Coming o f Christ to be in two phases, namely, His coming for His church, and His coming with His church, the latter phase being the time of Israel’s salvation and restoration to the Land of Palestine. The next trumpet sound to be heard will be at the first phase of our Lord’s return for His church, when “ the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:16, 17). This will be the “ last trump” of the Church Age (I Cor. JANUARY, 1969
15:51, 52). The Church’s battle against the gates of Hell will have ceased, and the redeemed will be summoned to that holy convocation in the air with Him who loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own Blood. But what about Israel? The Scriptures clearly teach the gathering again of that nation. Christ preferred to gather that nation for a holy convoca tion when He was here the first time, for He said, “ 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy chil dren together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not” (Matt. 23:37) ! But the people rejected Him. As a consequence, in Matthew, chapter twenty- four, He told of the awful destruction and perse cution to befall the nation. Then He concluded the prophecy with the following, “ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be dark ened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:29-31). Such a prophecy as given by Jesus Christ is no new thing to the Jew who reads his Old Testa ment. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the streams of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem” (Isa. 27:12, 13). “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God” (Amos 9:15). See also Psalm 81:3, 4. Israel’s hope as a nation is a bright one. Her long-lost glory will be restored, and she will, with genuine repentance and remorse, receive Him to rule over the people. The regathering o f scattered Israel nationally will result in national conversion in the Land which God gave unconditionally to Abraham and his posterity. That day will be a glorious day for the whole earth when sin will be banished forevermore, and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Even so, come quick ly, Lord Jesus. Indeed the hope o f this age is Christ’s Second Coming. HU 13
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