PREAMBLE
As we approach the 2nd Trumpet I want us to take a closer look at one of the major reasons for Israel’s fall as declared in the 1st Trumpet. It came about when Israel desired a king like the nations around them; as a result, Saul was installed as king at Gilgal. In so doing the Tribes bowed their knee to a man, thereby rejecting the kingship of God. It was not until many generations later when the Prophet, Hosea revealed the depth of Israel’s error. By the Spirit of the LORD he said;
All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more. (Hosea 9:15)
We know from Scripture that after the death of King Solomon the Kingdom of Israel was broken in two. They became the House of Judah, which included the tribe of Benjamin, and the ten remaining tribes being the House of Israel. (The Levites were scattered among all the tribes.) The House of Israel was also referred to as, ‘Ephraim’ as the name, ‘Israel’ passed to Ephraim upon Jacob’s death. It is here we begin to see the dividing of those seeds as promised to Abraham.
Every tribe had a standard or crest. Each tribal banner reflected individual prophesies given to Jacob’s sons by the mothers who bore them; and by Jacob who said, Ephraim would become a multitude of nations. Prophesies were also given by Moses, who likened Ephraim to “the horns of a bullock” that would push God’s people to the ends of the earth. So it is Ephraim’s Tribal banner is an Ox with two horns. Israel’s tribal banners provide us an insight into the character and purpose ordained by God in each tribe; seeds if you like, that must bear of their own kind.(Deuteronomy 33:17)
The first king of the ‘House of Israel’ was Jeroboam, an Ephramite who ordered two brass bulls be forged in the image of his tribal insignia. These bulls of brass were placed within the borders of the ten northern tribes, in the cities of Bethel and Dan, to prevent his people returning to Jerusalem for worship. The creation of these idols gave rise to further idolatry. After, Ahab ascended the throne of the House of Israel, his wife; Jezebel wholly established the teachings of Baal. She put to death every prophet or priest who retained any part of Abraham’s faith, or Moses Law. Remnants that refused to bend their knee to her god.
It must be remembered however, that the root of Baal worship is found in Gilgal, when Israel bowed down to a man. It is in this backdrop that Elijah was sent to the House of Israel to turn the hearts of the people back to the faith of their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To declare; “The LORD, He is God.” The same precious faith that also sat at the heart of the testimony of Moses; who when he asked of the LORD his name, the LORD replied: I AM That I AM… the EXISTING ONE… (Exodus 3:14-15)
Hebrew scholars purposely hid this name to avoid it being blasphemed. Later scholars kept this convention by translating the name, YHWH (the EXISTING ONE) as ‘LORD.’ So, when Moses, and later, Jesus declared; “Hear O’ Israel; The LORD thy God is One LORD”; they were saying to Israel; “The Existing One thy God… is One Existing One.” While this Faith was not written upon Sinai’s Stones, it is the foundation of the city Abraham sought, and the cornerstone of Moses and Elijah’s Testimonies put to death in (Revelation 11)
Partly through inter-marriage, the House of Judah also succumbed to Ephraim’s idolatry. As the people turned to the gods of surrounding nations, the knowledge of the ‘Existing One’ was taken from the hearts of all but a few. In time, both the Houses of Israel and Judah, were led captive into the nations as foretold by Moses. He had earlier warned Israel that her tribes would rebel against God’s Covenant and be scattered to the four winds. So, in the seventh month of every seventh year of release, the Trumpets sounded to gather the congregation of Israel to hear the Levite priests read the Law, and to sing the Song of Moses. A song that witnessed against Israel, as declared in the Seven Trumpets of Revelation. (Deuteronomy 31: 9-30)
If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book… Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful …And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, even wood and stone… And the LORD shall bring you into Egypt again with ships… and there you shall be sold to your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen and no man shall buy you. (Deuteronomy 28:58-68)
ISRAEL’S TIME: Being the Generations that span Israel’s captivity in the Gentile Nations to the establishment of the Apostolic Church at Jerusalem; the dividing of time between the Old and New Testaments, and the Covenants of Sinai and Christ. (The Beast of the Sea: Revelation 13:1)
ISRAEL’S FEASTS & JOURNEY’S: Show Israel’s journeys through the Sea of Nations. From Abraham comes the seed promised in Isaac. While ‘Israel’ is typed as a virtuous woman that brings forth the Messiah; it is ‘Her Seed’ who keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus. (Revelation 12) It is this reference to the ‘Faith of Jesus’ that joins believers from the Gentile Nations to the Commonwealth of Israel, as witnessed by, Paul. And it is here that Israel begins to change in ‘shape’ from a people born of the flesh, to a people born of the Spirit.
THE 2nd TRUMPET: Sinai In The Nations…
[And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed] (Revelation 8:8)
[And As It Were A Great Mountain Burning With Fire Was Cast Into The Sea] The ‘Great Mountain’ burning with fire is Sinai. Having shunned the correction of God, the sevenfold vengeance written in the Law now rains down upon Israel. As the Tribes are scattered, they take both Sinai’s Law, and God’s Testimony with them. In essence, Sinai’s Covenant of Life and Death is cast into the sea; ‘waters,’ which Scripture says are nations, peoples and tongues. Moses’ Law and God’s Testimony now dispersed, is sown into the nations. (Revelation 17:15)
[And The Third Part of The Sea Became Blood] The waters turning to blood is a sign the LORD gave to Moses, which shows the people had rejected ‘the signs and the voices’ of the ‘serpents rod’ and the ‘leprous hand.’ While a succession of kingdoms, from Babylon to Rome, adopt Sinai’s Law as a legislative foundation; like Israel before them, these kingdoms reject the third part of God’s Testimony, which declares God is One LORD! These kingdoms were not only political empires, like Rome, but religious kingdoms like the Church of Rome. (Exodus 4:1-9) (Deuteronomy 6:4)
[And The Third Part of The Creatures Which Were in The Sea, And Had Life, Died] As God’s Word is taken into the nations, it is mixed with the traditions of men. Things declared by Daniel, who saw a Lion with eagles wings, symbolic of Gods Law and Testimony, standing on its feet and given a man’s heart. In the same way, Israel is changed, and becomes like the nations they are led captive into. Things shown to the Apostle, Peter in a vision, which likened the Gentile nations, and their beliefs, to creatures and four footed beasts. (Daniel 7:4) (Acts 10)
Assimilated into the nations, that part of ‘Abraham’s faith that joined Israel to God, is destroyed; put to death. Things foretold by Ezekiel, who spoke of the destruction of Israel in three parts. (Ezekiel 5:1-17)
[And The Third Part of The Ships Were Destroyed] In this last portion of the 2nd Trumpet we hear the end of the curse of the Law as sung by Moses. A song that foretold Israel would be sold to their enemies as bondmen and carried back to Egypt in ships. Having rejected the LORD’S Covenant, and having desired the gods of others, Israel’s Tribes are scattered into the nations to worship gods of wood and stone. (Deuteronomy 28:68)
The ‘ships’ are religious ‘systems;’ beliefs and traditions of the nations who carry Israel away. Their merchants are those who buy and sell their doctrines and beliefs. Things not only seen during the time of Israel, but also, in the seven times of the Gentiles. That a third part of these ships are destroyed also refers to the knowledge of the ‘Existing One’ being destroyed by the LORD, in those denominations and sects that denigrate the LORD’S people and His Word.
This 2nd Trumpet declares Mount Sinai, with its Law and Testimony, is cast into the sea; which ‘waters’ pertain to the nations, their peoples, beliefs and traditions. Israel’s Tribes having rejected God’s call to repentance are led captive into the nations. As they go, they sow God’s Testimony and Sinai’s Law, into the nations they enter into. In time God’s Testimony is changed, and Israel’s Faith in the ‘Existing One’ is once again rejected. However, in the coming Trumpets, we shall see Sinai’s Testimony, rise up in the very nations Israel was scattered. In the end, Sinai’s tenants and statutes will reside within every society on earth.
Moses song was a witness against those in Israel who rejected God’s Testimonies or tampered with them. This songs curses and plagues have witnessed against every church and nation since.
THE BEAST OF THE SEA: The Law in The Nations
In the 1st Trumpet, I shared how ‘beasts’ in Scripture represent God’s Covenants, and portions of the Law and the Gospel. The Dragon in Revelation, with its ten horns and seven heads, symbolize Sinai’s Covenant, the Ten Commandments, and Satan’s authority within the Law. This Dragon, this Law corrupted in the hearts of men, seeks to devour the Messiah. Things seen in those religious sects who demand Christ’s death, in contrast to those true Israelites who believe; Jesus is the Christ.
In the same Chapter of Revelation, we see a ‘Bride’ crowned with twelve stars and clothed with the sun, symbolic of the Covenants we associate with God’s promises to Abraham, Moses Law and Jesus Gospel. This ‘Virgin Word Bride,’ brings forth the Messiah. (Revelation 12)
In this 2nd Trumpet, we see the Dragon’s Covenant, this ‘Mount Sinai’ cast into the sea and mixed with the ‘laws and traditions of men’. Next, we shall see the Dragon’s Law, rise as the Beast of the Sea with its ten horns and seven heads in the nations of the Gentiles; a ‘Beast’ that receives its power from the Dragon. This ‘Beast of the Sea’ is Sinai’s Covenant, in the seven times of the Gentile nations. (Revelation 13)
The Beast that ‘was and is not and yet is…
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the Dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (Revelation 13:1-2)
When the Prophet Daniel saw ‘four winds’ that strove upon the sea, he saw four beasts rise from the sea. While I write in detail about Daniels Beasts in the 6th Trumpet, these beasts are the political and religious powers that grow out of the Dragon’s authority and Law. Like the Church of England established in Law by an Act of Parliament. Daniel’s four beasts relate to the desecration of God’s Law and Testimony unfolding in ‘four stages.’ For instance, the Lion with eagle’s wings is later seen by Daniel as a Leopard with the wings of a fowl. The LORD’S Testimonies having been altered, its glories are thus lessened. These beasts not only relate to those kingdoms from Babylon to Rome, but also, to the seasons of God’s Word as it rises and falls in every nation, and in every Church Age. (Daniel 7)
Furthermore, Daniel’s 4th Beast is the corruption of God’s Word in its fourth stage; a Beast with seven heads and ten horns. Daniel sees the first three of these horns ripped out and replaced by a ‘little horn.’ As I shared in the 1st Trumpet, these ten horns represent the Ten Commandments and the first three Commandments testify of the LORD. So, when Daniel saw these three horns ripped out by the roots, and replaced by a ‘little horn,’ he foresaw the first three Commandments, would be ripped out and replaced.
We shall see this ‘little horn’ in the 3rd and 4th Trumpets as it makes war with the ‘woman’s seed’ who keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus. Seeds divided in Abraham as a multitude of nations and a line of kings.
Finally in this 2nd Trumpet we see God’s people, those cast into the nations, pass through the midst of a second Beast, the Beast of the Sea. As Israel is led captive into the nations we begin to see those prophesies laid over, Ephraim unfold, as they pertain to Ephraim becoming a ‘multitude of nations.’ And as Ephraim’s Tribal banner foretold, their idolatry would flourish in the nations, just as it did in Israel’s time.