The Gospel Trumpet Not Muted
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:52-55 KJV)
From the steeple of St. Mary’s Church in Cracow, Poland, a bugle has been sounded every day for the last seven hundred years. The last note on the bugle is always muted and broken, as if some disaster had befallen the bugler. This seven-hundred-year commemoration is in memory of a heroic trumpeter who one night sounded a blast on his trumpet and summoned the people to defend their city against the hordes of the invading Tartars. As he was sounding the last blast on his trumpet, an arrow from one of the Tartars struck him and killed him. Hence the muffled note at the end.
No muted note shall muffle the sounding forth of the gospel. Christ has been given all power over every enemy. No satanic arrow can reach or harm Him. He will continue to sound forth the trumpet call of salvation loud and clear until the very end of the age. Then, with an omnipotent blast from the last trump, Christ will raise the dead and bring all men into judgment before His throne. No, we need not commemorate a dead Hero, whose final trumpet call was muted by an enemy. We can celebrate the fact of a living Savior, and the mighty crescendo of His final trumpet call will rock the entire universe and usher in His eternal kingdom!
