Soon Shall the Trump of God

Soon shall the trump of God             Give out the welcome sound,
That shakes death's silent chamber walls, And breaks the turf-sealed ground.

You dwellers in the dust,            Awake, come forth, and sing;
Sharp has the frost of winter been, But bright shall be your spring.

'Twas sown in weakness here;            'Twill then be raised in power;
That which was sown an earthly seed Shall rise a heav-'nly flower.

Author and Translator: Anonymous
Composer, Arranger and Source of Tune: Norman L Warren, 1934-
(As cited in The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, Review and Herald
Publishing Association/SIGNS PUBLISHING COMPANY,
Warburton, Victoria, Australia 3799, 1985.)

Words, I've no doubt whatsoever, based upon the rendering given
uniquely in/by The Holy Bible, Authorised King James Version,
of two New Testament passages in particular, both passages dealing
exclusively with the end of all things - and the (associated) blessed fate
of God's elect, whether dead or living: i.e. 1 Corinthians 15:50-55
and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.


Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump;
(italics and emboldening all mine)
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 15:50-55)


But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with [H}im. (Capitalization supplied.)

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord
shall not prevent (sic) [i.e. precede] them
which are asleep.{modification again mine)

For the Lord [H]imself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the [A]rchangel,
and with the trump of God: (modifications again mine)
and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

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 4:13-18

Hey, the writer couldn't possibly - conceivably - remotely -
be envisaging our own day and age, could he? Surely not.
'Coz we're not living in the very last days of Earth's history,
are we, and the old *Anglicism 'trump' has no real meaning
(either in King James' own age - or ours for that matter)
does it? And anyhow, the Almighty certainly doesn't have
a sense of humour - either subtle or overt - does He?

Hey, forgive me, I was only thinking aloud -
as I have an unfortunate habit of doing from time to time...

*'an English idiom or peculiarity' (Chambers Concise
Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988)