Trumpets and the Raptures

The rapture of the Gentile Christians is not associated with the sound of a trumpet:

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 and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NASB unless noted)

Here the angel had a trumpet, with no mention of blowing it, but, having it with him ready to blow perhaps?

Throughout Israel’s history trumpets were very significant and for that reason I believe they should be interpreted in the light of Israel’s role in end times. The rapture of Israel is associated with the last trumpet sound a we read in these passages:

*Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will 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 will be changed. (1 Corinthians15:51-52)

"And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Matthew 24:31)

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." Immediately I was in the Spirit (Revelation 4:1-2)

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. (Revelation 8:2)

Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,... “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign..." Revelation 11:15-17

Trumpets play an important role in the events of end times event pertaining to Israel, as can be seen from these verses and others. The selection above from 1 Corinthians was taken to before and about Israel because of Paul's frequent reference to Jewish things, conflict in that letter appears to be between those Jewish and those Gentile, and because Chapter 10 wherein he opens with, "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea...," clearly directed to the Messianic Jews in that Corinthian body.

Are the trumpet blasts a wakeup call? A call to attention? To action? Yes, all of these, depending on the timing and the context.

The Seven trumpets of Revelation, I believe, are a wakeup call for Israel and a metronome counting out God’s plans with the last trumpet call announcing the fulfillment of God’s wrath and the redemption of Israel.

We see this in Jesus discussion with the discipline in Matthew 24 where He refers to wars, rumours of war, famines, earthquakes, etc. as birth pangs increasing in frequency and intensity, announcing His return to Israel.

The rapture may well precede the first trumpet call as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4 above. The rapture of believers is associated with Jesus' shout, with an angel’s voice, and a trumpet sound. The later gathering of the “elect” (Israel, see Invitation or Election) in Matthew 24:31 above, will occur following the sending of His angels having a great trumpet.