Winter 1984
Voices and Trumpets
Roy Jacobsen
Taken from a message given in Pinecrest Chapel

“Now, Brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.” I Corinthians 14:6-11

These verses are significant scriptures about voices. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me” (John 10:27). We live in an hour when God wants us to become more acquainted with the voice of the Great Shepherd, not only to comprehend what He is speaking in this hour, but to have ears that are anointed to hear the voice of the Shepherd and to follow Him.

Paul says there are many voices in the world. It may be a religious voice, but that does not necessarily mean that its source is from God. We are not to be deceived by the many voices that are speaking in this hour. Not only does the Lord desire to anoint our ears, but also to anoint our spiritual eyes with eyesalve that we might see by the Spirit, and our understanding that we might know experientially what is the “hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power.” This same power that raised the Son of God from the grave will also quicken us.

We live in the transition hour of the closing of the second day and the ushering in of the third, which Hosea 6:3 speaks of as the time in which God will raise us up. The third day, the Millennial Kingdom of God, is close at hand. So let the buffetings come! And though we are buffeted, persecuted and perplexed, through all these things the Lord is bringing us to death that the life of Jesus Christ may be made manifest in these mortal bodies in which we dwell.

The tenth chapter of the book of Numbers deals with the importance of God’s people knowing the meaning of the blowing of the trumpets. Each trumpet blast had a spiritual significance. One purpose of the blowing of the trumpets was for the assembling together of the congregation and for the journeying of the camps. Another blowing of the trumpets was for the calling of the leadership together; another was for the going forth of the camps of the east; yet another was for the going forth of the camps on the south side. Then there was the gathering together of the congregation in the time of war, in the time of gladness, and in the time of solemn days. Each event had a certain sound, different from other blastings of the trumpet in that day. God’s people had to become acquainted with each sound so that they would know what to do so there would not be confusion in the time of the blowing of the trumpets.

Not everyone was to blow these trumpets, but only the priests, the sons of Aaron. They had to understand what sound to blow, when it was to be blown, and when it was not to be blown. There are many alarms being blown today by those that God has not chosen to arouse His people, and so there is confusion in the camp of the Lord. God is not the author of confusion. He is training those in this hour who will know what to blow, when the Lord calls.

The Lord has His watchmen on the walls who know what to trumpet, because they have ears that are spiritually turned. One of the qualifications of the watchman is that he hears what is spoken in his ears, and speaks only what God tells him to speak. He is to stand upon the walls and blow with a clarity so that God’s people know how to prepare themselves for the battle.

In Jeremiah 23:29 the Word of God is likened to a hammer: “Is not my word . . . like a hammer? Do you wonder why the Lord is hammering on you with the hammer of His Word? He is hammering upon you, endeavoring to make you into a trumpet voice. Back in the Old Testament the trumpets were literal, but in the New Testament there is a different kind of trumpet: God is making us voices. He is fashioning voices like Stephen of old who will be consumed with a passion to do the will of God; those that He will enable to stand before an angry multitude with words of wisdom that cannot be resisted, because they come from the mouth of God; those who are willing to pay a price with their life if need be.

The Word of the Lord is going to triumph in this hour, and He’s raising up men and women to be spiritual voices—trumpets that will know what to blow and when to blow: trumpets that will not speak their own mind, but speak the mind of the Spirit of God.

The Kingdom of God is at hand, and He is working to get His people ready. He’s not coming for a backslidden church, but for a church without spot, wrinkle or blemish. A glorious church washed in the Blood of the Lamb! A Spirit-filled church! A triumphant church! The Lord is moving upon us that we may rise up and be as minutemen that are vigilant and know the seriousness of the hour in which we are living.