When the Trumpet Soundeth Long (Exodus 19:13)

2023-08-22

There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. (Exodus 19:13)

Right before the receiving of the Ten Commandments, we read this. The people were to wash and sanctify themselves, but on the third day be ready to go to the base of Mount Sinai. The trumpet sounded loud that day, with thundering and lightning together with thick clouds, far more fearsome than any storm. The mountain quaked as the LORD descended on the mountain. “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Exodus 19:18). When this happened, the people remained at the bottom, but Moses ascended the mountain.

Do not skip over the theme of the third day, which is the resurrection day. They were made pure on that third day and met their LORD. When Jesus rose, He made us pure and we met Him.

Also see how a trumpet sounded. The Lord’s return will also sound with a trumpet. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). With the sound of the trumpet in Exodus, God’s people were brought near, but only to a degree, as they could only go so far. They did not go all the way up to the Lord. This is only a figure of the trumpet to come when we will see the Lord face to face and be brought near to Him. “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).