I Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

 

Since I first was shown the blessed hope, here in I Thessalonians 4, I’ve been taught that only the Christians hear the three things in that line.

I’ve been taught that for it to be a “secret”, then the world cannot know about it until after it happens.

I was wondering if there any other places in the scriptures where there is a silent shout, a silent voice, and a silent trump (i.e. trumpet blast) ?

 

Acts 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

 

In Acts 9:7, we are told that the other men were hearing a voice.

 

Acts 22:9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.

 

Yet in Acts 22:9, Paul said that they heard not the voice of him that spoke to Saul.

Is that a contradiction? Did they hear a voice or not hear the voice?

No, I do not believe that this is a contradiction.

By hearing a voice, yet heard not the voice that spoke with Saul, to me seems like the following:

They all heard something, and knew that there was a voice, but only Saul heard the words of that voice and understood what was said.

To Saul the voice spoke words he understood, but to the other men it was but sound without distinction:

 

I Corinthians 14:7 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?

9 So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.

 

Also, for the other men it said that they heard but “a” voice, but to Saul, it said it was “the” voice that spoke with him.

The “a”, possibly implying sound without distinction, whereas “the” possibly implied that which was directed solely to Saul.

Also, in a spiritual sense, we can hear, and yet not hear:

 

Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

 

It is because of:

 

Matthew 11:15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

 

So, is it possible that for I Thessalonians 4:16, the world only hears sound, but not the distinction of the shout of the Lord, nor of the voice of the archangel?

So that the bride, who has ears to hear, hears and understands what the Lord shouts, and what the voice of the archangel says, but the world only hears sounds?

Also, the same could be said about the trumpet:

 

I Corinthians 14:8 For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?

 

To the world it could be that they only hear an uncertain sound, but the bride will hear the trumpet

It could be similar to:

 

Numbers 10:2 Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.

3 And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

 

Israel knew & understood that sound, which called them out to assemble.

It would seem that in a similar fashion, that the bride will hear the trump, as she is called out to assemble in the air with the Lord.

The world may only know that there was a sound without distinction.

 

Shout - voice - trump

 

The bride will hear these and understand them.

Will the world only hear sounds without distinction, or will they absolutely hear nothing, because it is to be “secret”?

If the world absolutely hears nothing, then I was wondering where are other scriptures that show a silent shout, a silent voice, and a silent trump?

 

                        Thank you,

                                    Gino