As we approach the
prophetically significant Biblical Feasts of the Fall month of Tishrei, I
wanted to share with you a series of essays that Brenda wrote a couple of years
ago. These are compiled and published in our book titled “Reasons for
Christians to Celebrate the Biblical Feasts”.
It is available from Amazon.com, our web site at moedministries.com and
from www.elshaddaiministries.us.
This year the Feast of
Trumpets, more commonly known by it's modern name of Rosh Hashana, begins at
local sunset on Sunday September 16th.
The Feast of Trumpets is one
of the seven Feasts of the LORD spoken of in Leviticus chapter 23.
Leviticus 23:1-2 And the LORD
spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, The feasts
of the LORD, which you shall proclaim, holy convocations, even these are My
appointed feasts. (MKJV)
The Feast days belong to
God. He says in this passage that they
are “My appointed feasts.” They are not
just for the Jewish people to observe, but for all who call on the name of the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
This coming Sunday, Sept. 16th at local sunset
is the first day of the month of Tishrei and the Feast of Trumpets. The Bible
tells us that this day is to be a memorial of blowing trumpets or the shofar.
(Lev. 23:24) The shofar is a trumpet made of a ram’s horn.
Like all the Feasts of the
LORD, it is a Mo’ed, an appointed time, which is to be observed with a holy
convocation.
The watchman blows a shofar
to call the nation to repentance. God appointed Ezekiel as a watchman over the
house of Israel.
He was to warn them of their error and call them to repentance. If the watchman
did not warn, he would be held accountable for those who were lost in their
sins.
Ezekiel 33:6 MKJV 6 But if
the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet and the
people are not warned; if the sword comes and takes any person from among them,
he is taken away in his iniquity. But I will require his blood at the
watchman's hand.
This time of year starting one
month before the Feast of Trumpets on the first of Elul is observed as a time
of repentance and return to God. It coincides with Moses’ second forty days on Mt. Sinai
during which he achieved the atonement for Israel’s sin of worshiping the
golden calf.
On the Feast of Trumpets, the
shofar is blown 100 times in a series of blasts consisting of three different
sounds. The first is the tekia, a long blast of alarm, the second is the
shavirim, three medium blasts of wailing. The last type is the teruah, nine
short blasts like a broken sob. The alarm is sounded for the repentance,
return, and mourning for sins committed.
Like John the Baptist called
for the people to repent and return making the way for Jesus, we need to call
for repentance and return to make the way for the return of Jesus.
Matthew 3:1-3 MKJV 1 In those
days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
2 and saying, Repent, for the kingdom
of Heaven is at hand. 3
For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, "The voice
of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His path
straight."
Paul warns us Gentiles not be
puffed up in our pride that we were grafted into Israel while many of the natural
branches were cut off.
Romans 11:21-22 MKJV 21 For
if God did not spare the natural branches, fear lest He also may not spare you
either! 22 Behold then the kindness, and the severity of God; on those having
fallen, severity; but on you, kindness, if you continue in the kindness.
Otherwise you also will be cut off.
He then goes on to call us to
live holy lives as of a sacrifice dedicated entirely to God.
Romans 12:1 MKJV 1 I beseech
you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.
The Feast of Trumpets is a
call to remember God and to live lives that bring honor and glory to Him.
Matthew 5:14-16 MKJV 14 You
are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15
Nor do men light a lamp and put it under the grain-measure, but on a lampstand.
And it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine
before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in
Heaven.
As we gather together on the
Feast of Trumpets and hear the shofar sound out our cry of mourning for all the
ways we have fallen short, we have confidence that He hears our cries and
forgives.
יבורך שלום
Shalom and Be Blessed,
Dan and Brenda Cathcart
© 2012 Moed Ministries
Good day! In this blog post did you base on any extra researches or here are only your personal reflections? Can't wait to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. We have done extensive research on the Feasts of the LORD and written an in-depth study on them. This blog post is an excerpt from our book titled "Reasons for Christians to Celebrate the Biblical Feasts." This book is just a brief overview of the shadows of the Messiah in the Feast days. Our in-depth study goes into much more detail. The Spring Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Shavuot are all about His first coming; His death, resurrection, ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Shavuot). The Fall Feast days are a shadow and dress rehearsal for His return and millennial reign from Jerusalem. The Feast of Trumpets (the name used today is Rosh Ha Shannah) is a dress rehearsal for Yeshua’s return!
When we study and begin to understand the Apostle Paul’s epistles from the cultural, historic and linguistic perspective in which they were written, then his message becomes much clearer. Then we can recognize the linguistic imagery contained in passages such as 1Co 15:52 “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” It becomes abundantly clear that Paul was speaking of this event happening at the Feast of Trumpets! Of course, we do not know in what year this will happen, but Paul teaches us that we can know the “seasons”; we can discern the times and be prepared so that we are not surprised and the Messiah comes to us as a “Thief in the Night.”
Shalom and be blessed