Question: 1 Cor. 15:52. Are We Necessarily to Connect “The Last Trump” With the Seventh Trumpet in Rev. 11, or With 1 Thess. 4? W
Answer: The seven trumpets of the Apocalypse are, in my judgment, entirely outside the trump mentioned in the Epistles, or even that which occurs in Matt. 24 and the Jewish Prophets. The Apocalyptic trumpets are symbolic, and must be interpreted in keeping with the rest of the book and their own context, as indeed the other occurrences must be also. Thus Paul speaks solely of the risen and changed saints, and the trump must be limited by his subject. And our Lord connects, as does Isaiah, the trumpet with the ingathering of the elect of Israel. The seven trumpet-blasts of the Revelation occur in the interval after the former and before the latter, unless the seventh be thought to synchronize with the summons to scattered Israel.
I am still of opinion that “the last trump” of 1 Cor. 15 is an allusion to what was then a most familiar sound in the Roman world—the final signal given for the march, after all the previous intimations for breaking up the camp had been made and complied with. The archangel’s shout, as being a word of command, confirms this, I think.