Jeremiah 4:5
Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
Declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem to blow the trumpet in the land and cry to gather together into the defenced cities, for the sound of the trumpet is the alarm of coming war and destruction upon the land. That destruction is total, with destruction upon destruction cried and the whole land laid waste, every city fleeing for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen and left forsaken, the fruitful field become a wilderness and all the cities broken down before the fierce anger of Jehovah. This desolation answers moral corruption, including widespread prostitution, adultery with troops assembling at harlots' houses, murder, and foolishness in doing evil, for which Jehovah will visit and avenge Himself on such a nation.
The prophecy belongs to warnings marked by awful denunciations against sin, sorrow of heart over transgression, and most touching appeals to return to God, met with utter lack of response by the mass of the people. Its setting in Jeremiah 2-4 portrays union of God's church with the world as fornication and spiritual adultery, and the call to assemble is part of the warning against that union. The account of Jerusalem's destruction points forward to the greater desolations of the last days, with the ancient warning to Judah and Jerusalem applied as an example and warning to the church and the world. As prophecy of the time just before Christ's second coming, it describes widespread wickedness with cities facing destruction at the personal visitation of Jehovah.
It predicts military preparations just before the day of the Lord, when all the nations of the earth shall be prepared for battle for the great battle of Armageddon and the destruction of earthly kingdoms. That prediction is fulfilled by unprecedented modern spending on armies and battleships, with governments burdening the people to support tremendous war burdens while peace congresses cry peace. Naval and military preparation promoted as a guarantee of peace does not bring peace, because a nation counted well prepared stirs boasting and aggressiveness in its people and drives other nations to prepare likewise, delaying the crash only until rivals feel ready and making it worse for the time and money spent.
The trumpet sounds among the nations and the war cry is heard everywhere, plunging nations that claimed to stand for peace into the awful maelstrom of strife. Superhuman agencies take possession of men gone wild in unprecedented endeavors to prepare for human slaughter, discussed by everyone from the small boy to the gray-haired man until all grow pale before the incoming tidal wave of war. Peace societies and kind-hearted and noble-souled men and women seek to raise a standard to turn aside the threatened flow of blood, but all to no purpose before the swelling tide that bears everything down, for the cry is war, and even the minister claiming to represent the Prince of Peace joins in swelling the battle din and call to arms.
The desolation is the earth left without people after the wicked are slain at Christ's coming, leaving Satan and his fallen angels with no one on earth to tempt during the thousand years. It points to awful confusion and trouble on the earth when people are no longer worthy of God's favor, in contrast to the regular seasons that continue while people live in probation.