I went to hospital the other day for a procedure. They were going to inject some steroids into my neck. While there, one of the nurses heard that I was a minister and asked me whether I hear the trumpets. On the surface that seemed a rather strange question to ask. But I understood the question to be about the end of times.
In both Jewish and Christian prophecies of the end of days, we are told that there will be trumpets. Judaism has a Feast of the Trumpets linked to the turning of the year festival (Rosh Hashanah) when the shofar is blown. In Christianity, 1 Corinthians 15:52 talks of the trumpet which will raise the dead and signal the transformation of those still alive to their spiritual bodies. In Revelation 8.2, there are the seven angels blowing their trumpets.
So, when the nurse asked me if I heard the trumpets, I knew exactly what they were asking. Did I think this was the end of days? Well, there are wars a-plenty, and rumours of wars (Matthew 24:6). Alongside, we might see famines and earthquakes as well as seeing the arrival of false prophets and the decline of the church…but all this is just the beginning and we’re a long way from the day of the Lord in Matthew’s
retelling.
The day of the Lord is a time for us to reach out to Jesus. A time to reflect on our own lives and on his love for all. A day to stick close to faith and to our Saviour. Matthew 24:32 gives us a warning “from the fig tree”. On the one hand, this is a simple image that when you see the leaves budding on the fig tree you know summer is at hand. Therefore, when we see global disturbances, you might think the end of days is at hand. The response though is not to start panicking, the response is to draw closer to God who can protect us through the storm, who loves us and shelters us (Psalm 23, among many others). A God who cares for the sheep who is lost and not just those running about in panic.
I think I can hear trumpets. The trumpet call of God calling us to witness to Jesus. The trumpet call of the messiah calling for all to be saved. The trumpet call of justice seeking to save the lost. And if, in his mercy, God brings about the day of the Lord, then my hunch is that’s something to be welcomed not feared, in any case.
Pete Phillips
Minister, High Street Methodist Church