Q. What are we
to understand by the sounding of the trumpets, mentioned in the 8th chapter of
Revelation?
A. We are to
understand that as God made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he
finished his work, and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of
the earth, even so, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the
Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all
things, and shall redeem all things, except that which he hath not put into his
power, when he shall have sealed all things, unto the end of all things; and
the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and
finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years—the
preparing of the way before the time of his coming. (D&C 77:12)
Upon running into this verse, I noticed
it said that on the seventh day God
finished his work and formed men from the dust, and I said to myself, “Wait! That’s not what Genesis says; Genesis
says God formed man in the sixth day
and rested on the seventh!”
And I thought, “Did Joseph Smith get his
creation days mixed up when he was writing this revelation down?” It certainly
seemed like it. And I was
embarrassed by this.
But then, I realized something else. In this verse, the bit about creation
is being used as an analogy to explain the bit from Revelation 8 that Joseph
Smith was interested in learning about.
So I began to wonder if maybe the “mistake” was actually meant to teach
something. What was really being
compared?
Our idea of the seventh day of creation
is that God rested and refrained from creation. But the “mistake” of Joseph Smith tells us that on the
seventh day God was finishing his work and sanctifying it and forming man out
of the dust. So maybe this is
supposed to hint to us that during the beginning of the seventh thousand years
(as described in Revelation 8) it will seem like God is resting, but that He is
really finishing His work, sanctifying and refining and forming man—those who
have faith in Him—into the kind of perfected beings He meant them to be. This is supported by the imagery in
Revelation 8—the silence in heaven for half an hour as though heaven were at
rest, and then the angels sounding trumpets, which bring great tribulations on
the earth (and which would certainly refine those who remain faithful
throughout).
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