Michael, Blow Your Trumpet!!

Matt. 24:29-31

"Michael, Blow Your Trumpet!!"

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Matt. 24:29 (Holman) Immediately after the tribulation of those days:

the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its

light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the celestial

powers will be shaken.

 

         God has often used sky-signs, astronomical happenings, to indicate His presence. He has used Nature dramatically.

England was spared from the Spanish Armada due to a miraculously timed, terrible storm in the English Channel. A medal commemorating the event had a Latin caption meaning, "Jehovah blew with His wind and they were scattered" (based on Job 4:9).

         When Washington was stymied outside Boston, God provided 300 miles of frozen tundra to transport 50 pieces of artillery on sleds to fortify Dorchester Heights. On the journey, Henry Knox kept praying for snow, and it kept falling, finally reaching three feet deep. The cold froze rivers and streams, making them highways rather than barriers. The night the Colonials fortified the hill, a haze and mist drifted over Boston and kept the work from British view. An inward breeze carried the noise of their work away from the British. The sounds of 300 teams of horses and oxen remained amazingly quiet throughout the night. By dawn, the British had in essence lost Boston.

         When Washington and his army were trapped at Brooklyn, on Long Island, he decided to use small boats to evacuate his army. This was suicidal because the river there is a mile wide. That night the wind blew out of the northwest, carrying sounds of the evacuating army away from the British army, and keeping the British navy from entering the river. At dawn General Washington knew he needed three more hours. Then it happened. Almost everyone who kept a diary that day mentioned it. A fog came off the river and settled over both camps. Visibility was less than six yards. Most who mentioned the fog credited God for it. Washington boarded the last boat to leave. As his boat crossed the river, the fog began to lift. The British rushed to the water's edge and began firing, but Washington was just out of range.

         Nature is God's handiwork and servant, available for His use however, whenever, and wherever He wants to use it. He definitely likes to use it to make His presence obviously known.

The examples in our text may have been figurative throughout the centuries, but will possibly be literal when Jesus returns. Through history, Jesus has often been coming and manifesting Himself in Nature. Thus it should be no surprise the whole Universe will be affected by His Second Coming. The cosmos will become topsy-turvy.

         Jesus' return will change everything. Everything in the heavens will run amok. The sun now gives us our days, but will no longer radiate.

The moon gives us our months, but will no longer reflect. Stars direct us at night, but will no longer be consistent guides. "Celestial powers", maybe referring to planets, will bounce from their orbits as gravity weakens.

         As a candle is darkened in the beams of a spotlight, even so the brightness of Christ's own person at His coming will darken the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Their light will no longer be required.

There will be no need for created lights when the Creator of lights comes (Rev. 21:23; 22:5). The Father of lights (James 1:17) is His own inherent light. All other lights have borrowed their glow from His essence.

         The sun rules the day; moon and stars rule the night (Genesis 1:16-18). They will no longer be needed, because the ruling of this world will be delivered up directly to God as its all-in-all King (1 Cor. 15:24,28).

There will be no need for any more of the God-delegated rule and authority. When all created dominion has been put down, we will see who the real Ruler always has been. Actually, we Christ-followers already know who it is. God made the sun stand still for Joshua, made it go backward for Hezekiah, and darkened it for Jesus. All control will fail as Jesus takes over.

         In the end we will realize Nature, despite its vast power, is but a stage. It shall be struck, but do not feel bad for Nature. Her greatest moment will happen when she becomes the backdrop for history's most important event.

 

Matt. 24:30  Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and

then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will

see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with

power and great glory.

 

         "The sign of the Son of Man" is probably His "coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Jesus left Earth in a cloud (Acts 1:9), and will return in clouds. Clouds symbolize God's presence. He rides on a swift cloud (Isaiah 19:1), and makes the clouds His chariots (Psalm 104:3). Jesus will come on the clouds of heaven "with power", an angel-army will accompany Him, and with "great glory", a visible display of divine majesty.

         In that moment, unbelievers "will mourn". All sinners at one time or another mourn over their sins. Some do so in this lifetime, in time to repent and be saved. Others wait too long to mourn over their sins, and end up doing so in despair. Mourning over sin here and now, and mourning over sin there and then, are two very different occurences, producing vastly opposite results. Those guilty of the latter will grieve lost opportunities, and mourn because they'll instantly know they deserve what is about to happen to them.

 

Matt. 24:31 He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet, and they

will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of

the sky to the other.

 

         Much of our music and folklore presents Gabriel as being the angel who will blow the trumpet. I doubt this. Gabriel is a messenger-angel.

Michael, the warrior-angel, will probably blow the final trumpet. (I will be happy with whoever blows it.) When the trumpet blows, it will be a victory blast, signaling the legitimately reigning King has come, and wants to gather His royal court and loyal subjects (Isaiah 27:13; 1 Thess. 4:16-17).

         Trumpets are a wind instrument dating back at least to 1500 BC. They were at first oxen and ram horns, and soon progressed to metal. King Tut's Tomb contained bronze and silver trumpets; this means they are over 3000 years old. In the ancient world, trumpets were straight, eighteen or so inches long, and had an end shaped like a small bell. They were not as much musical instruments as they were signaling devices, like our bugle.

         In our text, Jesus was using imagery the Jews would understand. Trumpets were used to call people together (Leviticus 25:9; Numbers 10:2; Judges 3:27). Assemblies were gathered in this way, much like believers in our country used to gather when they heard church bells.

         Michael's horn will be loud. How loud? Loud enough to wake the dead, rouse a spiritually sleeping world, and gather all believers and unbelievers everywhere. As Jesus' person will be seen instantaneously all over the earth, even so Michael's horn will be heard simultaneously in both hemispheres of earth.

         Believers will be everywhere on this planet, thereby showing how far the Gospel will have been carried, but none will be missing in the end. They will come "from the four winds", that is, the four points of the compass, from every place under the heavens, in all nations (John 11:52; Romans 7:9). Distance will not matter. Angels, living people, and dead people will come together for the first time.

 

I Love Thy Law (PS 119:97a)

Psalm 119:97a

O How I Love Thy Law (NAS)

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

         Some of us are old enough to remember the Southern Baptist struggle to lift high the inerrancy of Holy Writ. Younger ones among us can read about it in history books, but to those of us who lived it, the contest has taken on the status of beloved folklore, legend, and legacy. We savor it.

         But one danger of worthy causes won is; what one generation fought for, another generation can take for granted. For instance, our forebears died to win religious liberty; now an alarming number are nonchalant about it.

We remember the story of the ruler in India who built a massive mausoleum to honor his dead wife. After years of construction had gone by, he one day ordered a box to be taken out of his way. It was his wife's coffin.

         The Bible has won a place of primacy in our theology. The question is; will it win a place of primacy in our hearts? Believing it is not the same as loving it. My goal for today is simple: I want us to love the Bible more.

         Love it in the private place. Studying the Bible is not enough to bring us victory in our spiritual lives. We must weave it into the warp and woof of our innermost being. We must be in the Word for the Word to be in us.

          I ask us, "Do we love the Bible? Are we in the Word, reading from it daily, reading all of it yearly?" Beware the religious person's downfall. Many preachers and laypeople can trace their spiritual failure to having let studying and hearing about the Bible substitute for being in the Word.

I made this near-fatal choice in seminary. I was attending religion classes and studying theological books. I decided I did not need daily private devotional time. As my brain filled with facts, my spirit bled dry. I was dying on the vine. I am glad I learned this painful lesson in early adulthood.

         I love to read. I am addicted to it. I love to read books, newspapers, magazines, obituaries, and tombstones. Mud Island in Memphis boasts a one-mile scale model of the Mississippi River. On the walkway are placards telling about significant events that happened on the river. One day, when the temperature was over 100 degrees, I read every marker while Ruth and the children writhed in the heat. Dearborn Village has acres of vintage cars, each one having an explanatory placard. When we entered the museum, Ruth grabbed my arm and said, "You are NOT going to read every sign!"

I love to read anything, but above it all, I try to stay in the Book. 2015 will mark the fortieth consecutive year I have read the whole Bible. This custom is the most helpful single discipline in my spiritual walk before God.

         Much good literature is available. Beware, dear saints, best's worst enemy is always second best. In the private place, love the Bible most of all.

         Love the Bible in your pulpit. In sermons, don't quick-read passages. Take time. Let people hear and absorb God's precious words. Google Margaret Thatcher's funeral and hear her granddaughter masterfully read the Bible. She treated it like it mattered. In your preaching, always remember YHWH's question, "What does straw have in common with grain?" (Jer. 23:28 NAS). Never forget which is straw and which is grain. Wheat, what matters most, is God's words; chaff is ours. Don't act like it's the other way.

Christianity has no authority apart from the Bible. Spurgeon rightly said, "The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is our religion."

Believers have no right to speak of absolute truth apart from God's written revelation. Without Scripture, a preacher's thoughts are merely guesswork, anyone's opinion is as valid as any other person's; swampy subjectivism muddies the water. Only the Bible is eminently trustworthy.

Reformation fires ignited John Calvin's heart. He destroyed the idols in his cathedral, and built an elevated table to set the Bible on. Henceforth the Bible retained the highest place in his building. A preacher entered the pulpit by a stairway. To discourage distractions, the preacher wore a robe, and the only sound coming across the top of the pulpit was the voice of an almost hidden preacher, whose words floated over God's Word. The Bible was love-number-one. My boyhood church called the pulpit the sacred desk. From it God's man heralded God's truth from God's Word to God's people.

         Love it in your pulpit for the sake of our nation and churches. We all yearn for revival. Only God can bring order out of our social chaos. I am pleased with calls to prayer I repeatedly hear and read. These encourage me.

         I am appalled at the dearth of preaching I hear about the six great Old Testament revivals. This troubles me because by ignoring them we miss a profound truth; all six were begun, not primarily in prayer, but in response to God's written Word. Revivals under Joshua (JS 8:32), Asa (2 CH 14:4), Jehoshaphat (2 CH 17:9), Hezekiah (2 K 18:6), Josiah (2 K 22:8), and Ezra (EZ 7:10) were "Bible revivals". God's conviction came on people from a re-discovery of His written Word. If revival comes in our corporate life, it will descend on the wings of prayer and ascend from the pages of the written Word. Revival hinges on both/and not either/or. Keep preaching hard about prayer. At the same time, ratchet up a notch your preaching about the Bible.

         Love the Bible in the parsonage, in our homes. We must teach our families to love the Bible. Encourage your spouse, and teach your children, to love this book. Keep one on the coffee table. Read from it to the kids every day. Give them Bibles when they leave home. Tell them you love it.

         Ruth and I host about 40 college students in our home for Bible study, food, and fun on Thursday nights. We break into six groups: 3 guys, 3 gals.

Ruth and I grieve over the lack of Bible knowledge the kids who grew up in church have. They can be ignorant of the most rudimentary Bible truth.

If I had my way, every high school sophomore would be taken under wing by a mature believer who would stay with them, meet regularly with them, through thick and thin, till they became at least sophomores in college. They have to stay in the Word. If someone does not pressure them in this Bible quest, we feed lambs to wolves. We must teach them to love the Bible.

I remind you, Pastors and staff members, of a vital truth. You, not your church, are responsible for the spiritual development of your children. You must teach them to love the Bible. It is the only tangible thing you can give them to take with them to aid their spiritual walk when they leave you.

Many of our own children are driven to ruin by seeking life's answers in the wrong places. The only right place to look is to the sacred Scriptures.

We Pastors are devastated when our people, and especially our own families, come to us with tales of unspeakable woes that can be traced directly to not loving the Bible. The Bible is our children's friend. Teach them to love it. Emil Brunner well said, "The fate of the Bible is the fate of Christianity." Do our children know this? Have they heard us talk like this?

         My Grandpa Marshall called the Bible "The Book," as if no other book deserved to be ranked with it. When he lay a corpse, my grandma said he did not look right. After she had his Bible brought and placed under his hands, she said, "Now he looks like himself." "God, help me love the Bible like that. Let no discernable distinction separate Holy Writ from holy life."

         Love the Book. It will carry us when nothing else will, all the way through the valley of the shadow of death. And then, once we have passed into the light casting the shadow, the Bible will remain behind to comfort our loved ones left here in the dark valley. At my wake, I want people to hear in the background my recorded voice preaching the Bible.

On my tombstone, I want an electric eye that will activate my voice preaching the Bible. Late some night, I hope a drunk will stagger past my grave, trigger the preaching, and get saved from hearing the Bible preached.

         Is our love for the Bible waning? Has the infallible inerrant Book become less important to us in private, in the pulpit, and in our parsonages?

Never take it for granted. In persecuted lands, visitors see handwritten copies of the entire Bible. In the Middle Ages, Bibles were chained to poles to keep them from being stolen. It is the most amazing book ever, worthy of our saying in private, in the pulpit, and in the parsonage, "I love Thy law."

 

FDR Died

Today in 1945 President Roosevelt died. He was a President liked and disliked by my grandparents. The Hill’s had no use for him; being teetotalers, they had no love lost for him because he repealed Prohibition. They never did appreciate anything he accomplished.

The Marshall’s worshiped the ground FDR walked on. They listened religiously to his fireside chats, and felt he could do not wrong. My great grandmother Isabella died on election day in 1940. Her dying words were, “Vote for Roosevelt.”

For better or worse, FDR probably stands out as the most influential USAmerican of the 20th century. He calmed us during the Depression, and gave us resolve in WW2. He also did us the service of having picked a Vice President who did a good job succeeding FDR. Harry Truman, Mr. Missouri, followed well in the long shadow of Roosevelt.