Places 39: The Trumpet Call
This is not a theological statement about the end times or a personal prediction of the earth’s destruction; it is a poem based on my reaction to scripture and today’s news.
Pray now,
before they lift the trumpets,
draw breath to sound the call,
before pure metal’s pressed on angels’ lips.
Then, watch for hail, and fire, and blood
hurling against earth.
Look to see
if great and burning mountains
will be cast into the sea.
Wait, while living creatures die,
ships destroy and wormwood
brings a bitterness to men
as prophesied before time’s end. [1]
Listen, O warriors of the earth,
men poised for battle
over territories that will burn,
melt, and dissolve before the living God.
Listen! Hear His call.
Leaders of nations,
riding ancient hatreds—
hiding stockpiles of destruction,
listen now—
Two silver trumpets call out, “Come!”
Assemble now, to worship God!
Assemble now, before God’s face!
Cry out for mercy,
plead for grace,
find safety in His Holy Place. [2]
Worship Him in trust and praise
before the trumpet blast will sound
to close the ancient book of days.
God’s ear is ready, fully turned.
When Israel sounds the alarm
and cries out, “Jesus, come!”
the Lord, the one and only God, will hear—
this world we know will be undone. [3]
Woe. Woe. Woe.
For the final blasts to sound.
Hide in the heart of God
Watch without fear.
Listen—and repent.
Join in, as God’s faithful
lift one voice to sing
highest praises to their King.
Pause, O nations,
in your flight to destruction.
Pause and ponder.
The final ring of battle is not yours.
The time of trumpets is here.
Two trumpets, three, then four—
who will live to wait for more? [4]
Fear God,|
Not what’s in store.
Silver sounds,
hammered blows from heaven,
history in the loins of Abraham comes round. [5]
as kingdoms change
and God, our God, eternal reigns. [6]
Endnotes
[1] The imagery is drawn from the Book of Revelation
Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.
Then the second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven and landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter like wormwood oil, and many people died from the bitter waters.
Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun and moon and stars were struck. A third of the stars were darkened, a third of the day was without light, and a third of the night as well.
And as I observed, I heard an eagle flying overhead, calling in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the remaining three angels!” Revelation 8: 7-13
[2] God directed that these trumpets be sounded to call the people to meet before the place of His Presence.
“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out. When both are sounded, the whole congregation is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.” Numbers 10: 2-3
Safety was promised to the worshippers around the altar that is inside the temple of God
“Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” Revelation 11:11-3
[3] See footnote 1
[5] The line, “History in the loins of Abraham come round” is an intentional echo and refusal of the cyclic view of history so well expressed in William Butler Yeat’s fine but (by my faith) deceptively inaccurate poem, “The Second Coming.”
[6] Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven:
“The kingdom of the world
has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of His Christ,
and He will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 11:5
At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 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 the heavens to the other. Matthew 24: 30-31
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
