................................................................................................................................................
The Feast Of Trumpets
By ONE FOR ISRAEL (Messianic Jews In Israel)
On the first day of the Jewish month of Tishri
in the Fall, the Feast of Trumpets blasts its way into the new Jewish year.
Today it is known as Rosh HaShana, the “Head
of the Year,” even though it’s not really the start of the Biblical year at
all, according to Exodus 12:2.
The calendar year was supposed to start in the
month of Passover in the spring, and the Feast of Trumpets comes at the
beginning of the seventh month.
Like all the other “Feasts of the Lord,”
it is full of significance and meaning for us today, as well as prophetic
meaning about what is to come.
Rosh HaShana is the first of the three fall
holidays – the Feast Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of
Tabernacles.
The ten days between the Feast of Trumpets and
Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, are called the “Days of Awe,”
where people are encouraged to contemplate their position before God, and it’s
a very special time in Israel.
Just as the Spring feasts
of Passover, Firstfruits and Shavuot (or Pentecost) are all prophetically
related to the death, resurrection and ascension of Yeshua, and the sending of
the Holy Spirit, the Fall feasts pertain to his second coming.
The Feast of Trumpets
relates to the last trumpet that shall sound when he comes again in glory.
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
“For this perishable body must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable
puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come
to pass the saying that is written:
“’Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of
sin is the law. But
thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-57)
Here’s what the Bible
instructs about the Feast of Trumpets:
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak
to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of
the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed
with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary
work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord.”’ (Leviticus 23-25)
“On the first day of the seventh month you
shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a
day for you to blow the trumpets, and you shall offer a burnt offering, for a
pleasing aroma to the Lord.” (Numbers 29:1-2)
It was intended by God to be a day of rest, a
day to blow trumpets, and to offer sacrifices over and above the usual sacrifices
for the new month for making atonement for the people.
What does blowing a
trumpet mean?
Trumpets in Biblical times were either made
from rams’ horns (shofars) or from silver, and could be blown by the priests
and leaders.
There were different sounds for different
purposes:
·
Time to
pack up camp and move on, when the Israelites were traveling in the desert
·
Time to
gather the people and call an assembly
·
To mark
a sacrifice on a feast day
·
A
warning of war or danger
·
To
praise
·
To
declare a procession or feast
·
Proclaiming
a king
·
Assembling
the troops for battle
·
To be
used in battle
·
To
declare victory
It can be the sound of worship or a battle
cry. A practical device for the twelve tribes on the march, and makers of
special days and times of celebration.
The sound of the trumpet also has other
connotations in the Bible:
·
God’s
power to raise the dead (1
Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16)
·
The
proclamation of the gospel (Psalms
89:15)
·
The
bold and faithful preaching of prophets (Isaiah 58:1, Hosea 8:1, Joel 2:1)
·
The
latter day judgments (Revelation
8:2 and 13)
Shana Tova! (Happy New
Year!)
As we come into this new Jewish year, everyone
will wish each other “Shana tova!” and that their name would be written
in the Book of Life.
It is customary to eat sweet foods like
apples, honey and chocolate, and to give such gifts for a sweet new year.
Modern Judaism has a concept of your good and
bad deeds being weighed on the scales to see if you’re good enough to be
written in the Book of Life at this time leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of
Atonement.
I always tell people that I’m sure my name
will be in there because I’m good friends with the author of the Book!
The meaning of complete forgiveness and
atonement for sin due the sacrifice a sinless other has been lost somewhere
down the line.
The trumpets signal the sacrifice for
atonement which Yeshua fulfilled. They convey the preaching of the word and
victory over death.
The sacrifice has been paid.
The battle has been won.
We can freely enter into his precious rest and
feast with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Now that’s worth blowing a trumpet about.
We are an Israeli ministry
composed of Jewish & Arab followers of Yeshua (Jesus) who are all about
blessing Israel through sharing the gospel online, educating the new generation
of born-again believers through our one and only Hebrew-speaking Bible College
in Israel, and helping holocaust survivors by supplying humanitarian aid.
