Revelation

While the apostle John was exiled on Patmos, God showed him through a vision His end-time program for the world, specifically His righteous wrath being poured out on all creation in three cycles of judgments—the seven-sealed scroll (chs. 6, 8), the seven trumpets (chs. 8–9, 11), and the seven bowls (ch. 16). In Hebrew numerology, the number seven speaks of totality, completion, and perfection. The number seven is used more than fifty times in the book of Revelation (see 1:4, 12; 5:1, 6; 8:2; 15:7). The trumpet judgments, the second cycle of divine judgments (chs. 8–9, 11), culminate in resounding praise in heaven when the seventh trumpet is sounded (11:15–18). In the Bible, the trumpet is sounded to rally God’s people for worship or for war (Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 10:5–10; Joshua 6:16; Judges 3:27). Elsewhere, Paul said that the resurrection of the dead would be preceded by the blast of the trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16).