What does "at the last trumpet" mean in 1 Corinthians 15:52?

How suddenly will this be accomplished! Think of it, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump!" The last trump was that which in its military sense stood for departure. It was the signal to march, and that is the thought here. God is taking us into another place, and at the last trump, which sounds for this, we shall be changed into a condition corresponding with that which is implied in it. The trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living shall be changed. The "corruptible must put on incorruption." There he is speaking of the dead. "The mortal" (here he speaks of the living) "must put on immortality." Here will be every way the complete triumph over death. "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then will come to pass the word that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Everything here applies, as we see again, to the resurrection or transformation of the saints simply. There is no thought of anything besides.

This is entirely confirmed by the context (ver. 52), which besides furnishes somewhat more to the believer. We shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. The glorification of the saints will be effected, immense as it is in itself, and from every spot of the globe, sooner than the mind can reckon, or the eye discern, when the final summons is given to the heavenly host to quit its halting-place. The allusion is to the signal last given on the breaking up of a camp, at that time too familiar a figure to escape the nations of Europe and far beyond it, which had been welded into the empire of Rome. "For it shall sound," however little man may expect it, "and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed;" not, remark, we shall rise then, nor they only, but "we" too shall be changed, in exact accordance with the true and common text of verse 51, and in opposition to the changes of both rationalists and Romanists.

p417 [To the same.] [From the French.] Dr. Rossier, The "last trump" is but a military allusion, neither more nor less. There were three trumpets for breaking up the camp among the Romans. At the first, they folded the baggage; at the second, they fell into rank; at the third, they started all together. The trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52 is simply that of the resurrection of the dead, not that of the change of the living. 1 Thessalonians 4 confirms the above explanation: κέλευσμα, a word of command, is the military word for recalling the scattered ones (it applied, in its primary sense, to those who rowed in the galleys); the archangel gives the word, then the trumpet sounds, and each takes his place.

As little does the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11 decide the question of rapture before or after the tribulation. In fact, there is not the slightest allusion to the act of grace in the passage, and therefore no warrant for confounding "the last trump" in 1 Corinthians 15 with it. The trumpets in Revelation are a symbolic series peculiar to the book, consisting of judgments and the last three of "woes" even, the last of all bringing in the closing scene of divine judgment, and of course, therefore, the reward of the righteous. In 1 Corinthians 15, on the other hand, the reference is solely to the saints risen or changed, and the origin is a military allusion drawn from the final signal when the legion sets out on its march from the old encampment. It would be a mistake to confound with either of these the blowing of the great trumpet (Isaiah 27) which gathers in the elect of Israel to the land of their inheritance. Each must be interpreted by its own context.

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.

We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall be changed. It will be a sudden thing. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. It will be at the last trump. This trumpet has nothing whatever to do with the seventh trumpet in Revelation. Before any trumpet has sounded, before the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, opens the seals, He comes for His Saints "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." The trumpet is a military term. The first trumpet bade the armies to arise and be ready; the last trumpet commanded them to depart, it was the signal to march. When that shout (1 Thess. 4:13-18) comes from the air and He comes for His Saints, the dead (the dead in Christ, only those who believed) will be raised incorruptible. And "we shall be changed." The Apostle did not write "they" shall be changed. He expected not death, but the blessed Hope for himself and the Corinthians was the change in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, which means translation and not death. He speaks of the dead when he writes "for this corruption must put on incorruption." He speaks of living believers in these words: "this mortal must Put on immortality." This gives the true meaning of Romans 8:11. The coming of the Lord is the Hope of the church. And then we have the shout of victory. And what manner of lives we should live and what manner of service should be ours in view of such a destiny, such glory, which in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, may burst upon us! "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord."

"The last trumpet" in connection with the rapture (1 Cor.15:52) will be sounded much before the trumpet to regather Israel; but it is called "the last trumpet" because it will be the last public testimony on earth as to the Church of God. Her being suddenly taken away will be a most striking testimony. But as regards Israel there are other trumpets following this great event.

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.

I am still of the opinion that "the last trump" of 1 Corinthians 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.

A. The figure of the trumpet sounding, and of the final one, is common to both; but the connection of each is wholly different. In Revelation 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 Corinthians 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.