Connection Between the Last Trumpet and the Last of the Seven Trumpets

From: Questions and Answers on Scripture: From the Bible Treasury

Narrator: Chris Genthree

1 Corinthians 15:52; Revelation 11 • 1 min. read • grade level: 9

Question: 1 Cor. 15:52⁵²In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52). What is the connection, if any, between the last trumpet here, and the last of the seven in Rev. 11¹⁶And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: (Revelation 13:16)? M. A.

Answer: The figure of the trumpet sounding, and of the final one, is common to both; but the connection of each is wholly different. In Rev. 11 it is the culmination of God’s loud warnings of judgment, after both Judaism and Christendom had run their sad, sinful, and apostate course. The day of Jehovah follows. In 1 Cor. 15 it is the close of the Christian testimony in the triumph announced by that figure when the risen Lord not only raises the dead saints but changes the living at His coming. “The last trump” seems to be drawn from what all in that day knew so familiarly, the final signal when, after preparatory tokens to guide, the last sound was given for a Roman legion to quit their old encampment and march.

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