The Gospel Trumpet.
xxvii. 13. And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet, &c.
The Jews had been scattered everywhither—some wandering in Assyria, and some exiled in Egypt; but their coming back, as by the call of a trumpet, is here predicted. The passage is strongly descriptive of the exiled and perishing condition of sinful men, and of their return at the trumpet-call of the Gospel.
I. The sinner’s condition. He is—1. An exile. 2. He is ready to perish.
II. The gospel trumpet.
It was not fashioned by man. 1. It is great in its power. In a still night you may hear a brazen trumpet two or three miles away; but this is so mighty that it is not only heard from heaven to earth, but it is to arrest the attention of all nations. Men with physical hearing all gone catch the first strain of it. Men buried half a century in crimes have heard it. 2. It is great in its sweetness. 3. It is a trumpet of alarm. It puts us on our guard against the foes who are advancing to destroy us. 4. It is a trumpet of recruit. It summons us to join the standard of the Son of God. 5. It is a trumpet of retreat. It warns us against the fool-heartiness of entering into temptation. 6. It is a trumpet of victory. It tells of victories achieved, and of others still more glorious yet to be won. 7. It is a trumpet of awakening.
As chaplain I was a little while in the army. Early every morning we were awakened by a trumpet sounding the réveille. At that sound all the troops arose from the tents, hastened to their places in the line, and answered the roll-call. That done, they went to their morning rations. We who are the soldiers of Christ cannot always be marching and fighting. The evening will come. The shadows will gather, and we must go to the white tents of the grave. There we shall sleep soundly. But the night will pass along, and the first thing we shall hear will be the trumpet-call sounding the réveille of the resurrection; and we shall come up and fall into the long line of light, the trophies of Christian conflict gleaming in the unsetting sun. The roll shall be called, and we shall answer to our names; and then we shall go to the morning repast of heaven (1 Cor. xv. 52–55).—De Witt Talmage, D.D.: Christian World Pulpit, i. 410.
England’s Crying Sin.
xxviii. 1–4. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, &c.[1]
Ephraim one of the most important of the tribes. It occupied some of the richest land, about the middle of Palestine. When the ten tribes formed a separate kingdom, Ephraim was the principal tribe in it. Hence the new kingdom was sometimes called Ephraim. Its capital Samaria, here called “the crown of pride.” It was a position of great natural strength. Its situation exceedingly beautiful. The sides of the hill on which it was built sloped down to rich valleys, covered with beautiful flowers and fruit-bearing trees. “Glorious beauty.” “Fat valleys.” No wonder the people were proud of it. When this prophecy was written, it was at the height of its pride. But it was doomed. The glorious beauty was a fading flower. The crown of pride was to be trodden under feet. Samaria was a delicious morsel for the invader, plucked and eaten as soon as seen. Shalmanezer, with the Assyrian host, invaded, overcame, carried the people away, never to return. Unlike Judah in this respect. An unsolved problem to this day, where are the ten tribes? do they still exist, or are they entirely extinct?