No one recalls exactly when he took up his post. There was so much rejoicing and celebrating at the time for the Holy One Christ Jesus had returned and was enthroned at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Daniel 7:13-14). Sometime during all of that jubilation the angel quietly took up his place outside the throne room as instructed.
He is no different from any other angel. He is dazzling and formidable in appearance, a minister who serves the Almighty and His saints like all other angels. But his task is unique, similar to no other. For, you see, at one side he firmly holds the trumpet of God. And his sole responsibility is to listen for the voice of God Almighty and blow that trumpet when he is commanded.
Now, everyone in the heavenly realms understands what is to happen when that trumpet is sounded. It will be the end of the age on earth, the end of time that was spun into motion “in the beginning.” The Lord Jesus will descend from heaven for the great day of judgment (Acts 17:30-31), to take His people home. The spirits of the dead will again inhabit bodies, and these will rise from their scattered resting places on the earth. The earth and all its works will be burned, and “new heavens and a new earth” will be ushered in. It will be the great and awesome day of the Lord!
Through the years on earth as events unfolded, many thought that surely the signal would come. When whole populations were being enslaved, when famines and pestilence raged, when armies marched and madmen ruled - “Surely,” some thought, predicted and even hoped that “the end must come soon.”
But the word has not come yet, as we all can attest. We are still here, and life continues on Earth with both the good and the evil. In fact, not even this angel knows when he is to sound the trump, nor even the Son of God (
). Only the Father.
In the meantime, the angel faithfully stands his post, listening for the voice of God.