1 Corinthians 15:52 to Isaiah 27:13

NT Text: 1 Corinthians 15:52

OT Source(s):

• Isaiah 27:13 ("In that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost will come")

Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Reference Type: Echo

Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment + Longitudinal Theme

Significance: Paul's reference to "the last trumpet" (en tē eschatē salpingi) in 1 Corinthians 15:52 echoes Isaiah 27:13, where "a great trumpet" (shofar gadol) signals the eschatological ingathering of Israel's scattered exiles from Assyria and Egypt to worship the LORD in Jerusalem. Paul transforms this prophetic expectation: the great trumpet no longer gathers exiles to the earthly Zion but raises the dead and transforms the living at Christ's return. The trumpet motif runs through Israel's liturgical and military history — from Sinai's theophanic trumpet (Exod 19:16), through the silver trumpets of Numbers 10, to the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah, Lev 23:24), to the eschatological trumpets of the prophets (Joel 2:1; Zech 9:14). Paul's "last trumpet" represents the climactic fulfillment of this entire trajectory. The qualifier "last" (eschatē) indicates that this trumpet consummates what previous trumpets anticipated: the final ingathering of God's people, now including resurrection and glorification.