Day 142

“They will no longer hunger nor thirst, nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any scorching heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” Rev 7: 16-17 NASB.

The descriptions of heaven in the Book of Revelation are mostly negative. Rather than telling us what heaven will be like, it tells us what it won’t be like. It won’t be a place where we will be tired, hungry and thirsty. It won’t be a place of oppressive heat. There won’t be any more tears or death there. The life of heaven means the absence of everything that harms or makes us miserable. Note the reference to Ps23.

The sixth seal is past, the 144,000 have been sealed. With the opening of the seventh seal we have the sounding of the seven trumpets. The trumpets are an illusion/reference to the Feast of Trumpets that occurred in the 7^th month of the Hebrew calendar, 10 days (called the ten days of awe,) before the annual Day of Atonement. This was a time of preparation. The Day of Atonement was the Hebrew judgment day which prefigured the work of Christ both as the sacrifice and the High Priest.

In Exodus chapters 19 and 20 we read the account of God’s appearance on Mount Sinai and the initial giving of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 19:5 depicts God inviting the children of Israel into a covenant: In a spectacular revelation, God manifested His presence in the smoke and fire on Mount Sinai—as He came to covenant with His people amidst the sound of a trumpet (rams horn) that caused the people to tremble.

Every year, at the Feast of Trumpets, those same-sounding trumpet blasts reminded Israel that they were a people under covenant; a nation who had accepted the responsibilities of being God’s people. By doing so, the nation also prepared herself for the Day of Atonement, the most solemn time of their calendar.