Is the last trumpet of 1 Thessalonians 4 the same as the seventh trumpet of Revelation?

The shout may be the single word "Come!" "Come and see" He spoke to the disciples who followed Him and inquired for His dwelling place. Before Lazarus' tomb He spoke with a loud voice, "Come forth." John, in the isle of Patmos, after the throne messages to the churches had been given, saw a door opened in heaven and the voice said "Come up hither" (Rev. 4:1). "Come" is the royal word of grace, and grace will do its supreme work when He comes for His own. But there will also be the voice of the archangel (Michael) and the trump of God. The archangel is the leader of the angelic hosts. As He was seen of angels (1 Tim. 3:16) when He ascended into the highest heaven, so will the archangel be connected with His descent out of heaven. All heaven will be in commotion when the heirs of glory, sinners saved by grace, are about to be brought with glorified bodies into the Father's house. Some teach that the voice of the archangel may be employed to summon the heavenly hosts and marshal the innumerable company of the redeemed, for "They shall gather His elect together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:30-30. (Prof. W.G. Moorehead, Outline Studies.) But this is incorrect. The elect in Matthew 24 are not the Church, but Israel. Dispersed Israel will be regathered and angels will be used in this work. Furthermore the angels will do this gathering after the great tribulation and after the visible manifestation of the Lord with His saints. The coming of the Lord for His saints takes place before the great tribulation.

The trump of God is also mentioned. This trumpet has nothing to do with the judgment trumpets of Revelation, nor with the Jewish feasts of trumpets. It is a symbolical term and like the shout stands for the gathering together. In Numbers 10:4 we read, "And if they blow with one trumpet, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee." The shout and the trump of God will gather the fellow-heirs of Christ. "The dead in Christ shall rise first." This is the resurrection from among all the dead of those who believed on Christ, the righteous dead. All saints of all ages, old and New Testament saints, are included. This statement of the resurrection of the dead in Christ first disposes completely of the unscriptural view of a general resurrection. As we know from Rev. 20:5 the rest of the dead (the wicked dead) will be raised up later. He comes in person to open the graves of all who belong to Him and manifests His authority over death which He has conquered.

"With the voice of the archangel" is added here. Only Michael is referred to in Scripture as "the archangel" (Jude 9). Whether there may be others we cannot say. Since Michael is called Israel's "prince" (Dan. 10:21), and the dispensation of law was "ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator" (Gal. 3:19), it has been suggested that the archangel's voice may have some connection with the raising of Old Testament saints at the coming of the Lord. Whether this is so it would seem unwise to judge, however, without more solid grounds. But at least the occasion is seen to be one of great angelic rejoicing.

"The trump of God" is also heard, and this is a divine, declared testimony. It will be "the last trump" (1 Cor. 15:52) so far as the assembly on earth is concerned. The seven trumpets of Revelation are of a different order, for they are those of judgment, bearing a clarion testimony to a world in rebellion against God. This "trump of God," however, is to be heard by saints, who by this are to be gathered together unto the Lord. It seems clear that, as others have pointed out, this connects with Numbers 10:4, where the blowing of one trumpet was the signal for gathering the princes of Israel unto Moses. The saints so gathered, of course, are to reign with Christ, and for this reason are represented as princes. The gathering of "all the assembly to Moses at the door of the tabernacle, on the other hand, by the blowing of both trumpets would speak apparently of the regathering of Israel for millennial blessing (Num. 10:3).

No doubt, "the trump of God" (1 Thess. 4), and the "last trump" (1 Cor. 15), denote one and the same signal of the resurrection and translation of the saints at the coming of the Lord. But we have seen that the Holy Ghost authoritatively associates these events with the fulfilment of a prophecy assuredly premillennial: and unless there be mention made of the sound of a trumpet in some passage undeniably treating of post-millennial events, this declaration of the apostle ought surely to over-rule all objections founded on the expression "the last trump."

It is of course evident that these two passages describe what will take place at the same time, at the rapture. We have already seen that the time cannot be after the man of sin is revealed. Mr.Nee connects "the last trump" with the seventh trumpet of Revelation, because it is the last he reads of chronologically in the Bible. But this does not decide the matter. For instance in 1 John 2:18 we read, "It is the last time." But this does not mean there will be no more time in the future. It does mean that we are to expect the church's history on earth to terminate very soon. "The last trump" similarly, as we have before remarked, is the last declared public testimony in reference to the church, towards the world. The seven trumpets of Revelation have no reference to the church at all, but are God's public, declared testimony in reference to His judgements of the world.

I do not think these two are the same. The last trump has been explained to be a military allusion. In the Roman armies three trumpet blasts were given when they had to move. The first blast meant "pack your baggage"; the second, "fall in"; and the third, "March." If this is the true explanation of the expression, and I believe it is, how significant it is. The Christian is to be standing ready for the final trumpet call. Already he has heard the call of the Gospel, and if he has given a true answer to it he has separated himself from the world, has packed his baggage, and is looking for the Saviour. He is waiting, eagerly, expectantly for the last trump, when in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, the whole triumphant and blood-washed company shall be changed into the glorious likeness to their Lord, and death shall be swallowed up in victory.

I do not think these two are the same. The last trump has been explained to be a military allusion. In the Roman armies three trumpet blasts were given when they had to move. The first blast meant "pack your baggage"; the second, "fall in"; and the third, "March." If this is the true explanation of the expression, and I believe it is, how significant it is. The Christian is to be standing ready for the final trumpet call. Already he has heard the call of the Gospel, and if he has given a true answer to it he has separated himself from the world, has packed his baggage, and is looking for the Saviour. He is wait­ing, eagerly, expectantly for the last trump, when in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, the whole triumphant and blood-washed company shall be changed into the glorious likeness to their Lord, and death shall be swallowed up in victory.

Some have thought, that because "the mystery of God," being "finished," is accompanied with the last or seventh of the apocalyptic trumpets, it must necessarily be the time of the changing and the taking up of the saints, and identical with 1 Cor. 15, where we get the "mystery" of the living saints changed, the dead raised, and "the last trump." Appearances are certainly much in favour of such a thought; but for reasons before assigned, it cannot be the Church which is referred to in Rev. 10:7. Nor are "the last trump" of 1 Cor. 15:52, and the "voice of the seventh angel" of Rev. 10:7, identical; for the former is connected with the saints being raised and changed, the latter with the Lord's return from heaven with His saints. Neither are we to understand, that by "the last trump" is meant the last that will ever be sounded, any more than "the last day," or the day when we shall be raised up (John 6), is the last period of time. In both cases we are clearly to understand, that they are the last to us in relation to this present time. That "the day of the Lord," so often spoken of in Scripture, will have its course for a thousand years after we have been raised up "at the last day," that is, after we have our "last day," is certain, and also there can be no doubt but that after the raising of the saints "at the last trump," another "great trumpet will be blown" to gather Israel — those who are now scattered to the four winds. (Isa. 27:13; Matt. 24:31.) It is evident, also, that this trumpet of Isaiah and Matthew is after the seven apocalyptic trumpets have sounded, because the last of their actions ushers in the personal return of Christ. Some one has said, that "the last trump" of 1 Cor. 15 is properly termed the last, because it announces the close or termination of the course of the Church's pilgrimage on earth. In 1 Thess. 4 it is called "the trump of God," but it is blown with an entirely different action and history from that of Isa. 27, or the apocalyptic. We might put the trumpet of Isaiah 27 in company with that of Matt. 24:31, and it is blown in a scene of action which succeeds that of Rev. 8:9: 11:15, where we have the trumpets of the Apocalypse. Among the several actions of the trumpets in Numbers 10, we find that the last in order was for the gathering of the congregation together.

The trumpet here isn't the seventh trumpet that we have in Revelation (Revelation 8:2; 10:7; 11:15). The seventh, the last trumpet in the series in the book of Revelation, is connected with judgment. The trumpet here is rather connected with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, in 1 Thessalonians 4.

And we have in this chapter “the last trump”, and in 1 Thessalonians 4 “the trump of God”. That's how we can synchronise the two events and know that Paul is speaking about the same period.

But the last three trumpets and vials are so very parallel that we are forced to the conclusion that they may be at least contemporaneous.

But seeing the seventh trumpet finishes the mystery of God, and the vials are called the seven last plagues, there is only one conclusion possible, that the two sevenths coincide in point of time.