31 "In the days of the voice of the seventh angel."

This expression "the days of the voice" suggests to us that the seventh angel speaks over a period of time before he actually sounds the trumpet: "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to [is about to] sound [the trumpet]."

Some of the "angels" of the Book of Revelation, and also of those described in the four Gospels, may at one time have been human beings; for the term angel means messenger—nothing more.

Even in the event that the seventh angel is a spirit-angel and not a human-angel, it is likely that this messenger will sound his trumpet through people.

The seven angels that sound the seven trumpets may refer to periods of utterance and action that God will bring to pass through the saints of Christ. Attempts to force a literal interpretation (an interpretation that corresponds to our ordinary understanding of "angels" and "trumpets" for example) on the Book of Revelation can cause us to develop fables.

The Book of Revelation is a vision in which the history of the Lord’s working is portrayed in symbolic form.

We know, for instance, that the Beast (Antichrist) coming out of the sea represents a charming person, an able administrator coming from the ranks of mankind. He will seduce the world into believing that he—a human being—actually is God Almighty.

If we visualize, in connection with this symbolic vision, a grotesque monster rising from the depths of the sea and standing on the beach, we are thinking in terms of a fable. We have missed the point entirely.

God beholds a beast having seven heads and ten horns. What we will see is a likable, agreeable human being who expresses a deep concern for the welfare of all peoples, including Christians.

The difference between what God sees and what we see may be true also of the sounding of the seven angels. This symbolic portrayal may have nothing to do with beautiful, white-robed, winged creatures raising golden horns to their lips and blowing fanfares over the marble balconies of Heaven.

What could be meant here are plain, rough, human preachers attempting to deliver the burden of their soul to uninterested congregations that are more attracted to the charming ways of Antichrist than they are to the unvarnished timbers of Calvary.

Something to think about! Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us the meaning of the Book of Revelation.

The "voice" of the seventh angel will announce that "there should be time [delay] no longer." During the days of this proclamation the two witnesses will testify, will be slain, will stand up again on their feet, and then will ascend into the heaven in a cloud in the full view of their enemies.

In the case of Gideon’s three hundred men (one of the strongest of the scriptural types of the coming of the Lord), it was the soldiers who blew the three hundred trumpets.

Again:

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. (Isaiah 58:1)

Paul taught that the resurrection from the dead will take place "at the last trump" (I Corinthians 15:52). The seventh trumpet of Chapters 10 and 11 of Revelation is the last trumpet; for as soon as it sounds "the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ" (Revelation 11:15).

If the seventh angel is the "mighty angel" of Revelation 10:1, he appears first with an open book that is to be eaten by the prophet. Then, the preaching of repentance follows. This takes place "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel" (Revelation 10:7; 11:3).

Perhaps the "voice" of the seventh angel is the prophesying of the two witnesses as they lift up their voices like trumpets and declare to God’s people their sins and self-seeking.

As soon as the witnesses have ascended up to the heaven in a cloud, the seventh angel sounds. This final, climactic blast heralds the triumphant appearing of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Now we behold:

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