Keep your ‘EARS OPEN’ to hear the ‘TRUMPET’ of GOD!
February
12 Bible Reading: Numbers Chapters 10-12
Keep your ‘EARS OPEN’ to hear the ‘TRUMPET’ of GOD!
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
"Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered
work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the
movement of the camps. When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall
gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. But if they blow
only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather
to you." (Numbers 10:1-4)
In the above
passage we read that Moses was instructed to make two trumpets. These trumpets
were made of beaten silver (18 inches
long, according to Josephus) and were to be used as a signal for five different
purposes: (a) to assemble the congregation at the door of the tabernacle of
meeting (vv. 3, 7), (b) to march forward (v. 5), (c) to assemble only the
leaders - only one trumpet was used here (v. 4), (d) to sound the alarm for
going to war (v. 9), and (e) to announce certain special feast occasions (v.
10).
These two silver
trumpets would actually coordinate the movements of the Israelites as they
marched through the wilderness. With the tabernacle in the middle of the camp
and the tribes situated in battle formation, the silver trumpets declared that
God’s people were in the army of the great King preparing for a holy war of
conquest. The cloud would guide them, but the trumpets would give more precise
means of control. They would actually complete and complement the means of
divine guidance to the Israelites (see Exodus 9:15–23).
Let us
understand that the priests used the two silver trumpets to communicate God’s will to the people.
The blowing of the silver trumpets would gather them together, move them
forward, summon them to battle, or call them to enjoy the feasts of the Lord. This
is the pattern that would follow: the cloud would begin to move, the trumpets
would sound, and the people would begin to break camp and move out within their
ordered ranks. Throughout their journey, the Israelites would always keep
themselves alert and their ears open to hear the sound of the silver trumpets.
The blowing
of the silver trumpets has a real significance
for us as well. Some day in the near future, the trumpet of God is going to blare
loud for summoning His children to the clouds for a great reunion. "For the
Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the
Lord." (1 Thess 4:16-17)
Can we ask
ourselves if we are ready when the trumpet of God will sound and the roll is
called out? Let us prepare ourselves and
others for that great reunion! Can we
boldly sing these words of this old hymn that was penned back in 1893 by a
Sunday school teacher named James Black?
"When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair; when the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there."
