Date of message: 18 May 2003
Subject: The Feast of Trumpets - Rosh Hashana
Shalom, Boker-tov (good morning),
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!
The Lord reminded me that the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of First
Fruits are both celebrated during the harvest season. The Feast of First
Fruits normally falls in early spring while the Feast of Pentecost (50
days later) falls in late spring or early summer depending on the Hebrew
Calendar. Incidentally, the Hebrew Calendar runs on the lunar year (approximately
351 days) while our Gregorian calendar runs on the solar year with about
365 days. The Hebrew calendar would make the Feast of First Fruits to
be celebrated 11 days earlier every year and eventually the Feast Day
may be celebrated in winter. However, by custom, the Feast of First Fruits
has to be celebrated in spring and therefore there is a need to adjust
the Hebrew calendar by adding one more month to the last month of the
year in every three or four years. So according to the Hebrew calendar,
there is a second month of Adar when that happens.
The Feast of Pentecost, taking place towards the end of the harvest season,
also marks the beginning of the threshing of the barley crop and it is
during this Feast Day that the head of the household would read the Book
of Ruth when the family gathered together for the celebration meal. The
love story of Ruth and Boaz over the threshing floor reminds the Israelites
of the love story between Israel and their God and to us Believers in
the LORD, the Book of Ruth tells of the love that our Lord Jesus has for
His Bride, the Church. What a great love our Lord has for us and the out-pouring
of His love in the Person of the Holy Spirit is just a reminder to us
of that love. No wonder the apostle Paul reminded us that the Holy Spirit
was given as a seal of our salvation, a down-payment of our redemption.
The feasts we had reviewed over the past four weeks are all celebrated
in the springtime. Spring reminds us of regeneration and new birth. No
wonder the LORD chose to die for us in spring and I am excited about this.
After a long period of winter, it is always exciting to see the new leaves
on the plants and the trees and then the buds will start to shoot forth
and finally the full bloom of the flowers in late spring.
The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ was birthed in spring during the Feast
of Pentecost and it was a strong birth. Thousands of souls were saved
for the Lord in a short period of time. The Book of Acts of The Apostles
gave us many accounts of the early conversions and the miracles that accompanied
many of these conversions.
I mentioned that there are a total of seven feasts that the Israelites
celebrate in a year in accordance with the instructions given to Moses
by the Lord in Leviticus 23. The remaining three feasts fall in the seventh
month of the Hebrew Calendar and this corresponds to our fall or autumn
season and this is usually in September /October of our Gregorian year.
These three feasts have yet to be fulfilled in our modern day context
and it is widely believed that they will be fulfilled very shortly when
the End comes.
Leviticus 23: 23 - 25 gives us the setting for the feast.
23. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
24. "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month,
on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a memorial
of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
25. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering
made by fire to the LORD.'"
Rosh Hashana is the Jewish 'New Year' and it literally means the 'head
of the year'. It is the beginning of the civil cycle as opposed to the
spiritual cycle. The spiritual cycle falls in the Jewish calendar month
of Aviv (or Nisan), in the spring, with the Passover. Among the Jewish
people it is thought that Rosh Hashana is a celebration of the creation
of the world while the spiritual cycle's beginning in the month of Aviv
(or Nisan) could be viewed as God interfacing with man and the celebration
of its beginning.
During the celebration meal of Rosh Hashana, there are two portions of
the Torah that will be read - first portion is on the birth of Isaac (from
Genesis 18: 9 - 15 and Genesis 21: 1 - 7) while the second portion is
called the 'Akedah' or 'binding' and it is found in Genesis 22. It tells
of the long journey that Abraham took with his servants and his son Isaac
to a place three days journey from their home, which ended with Abraham
binding his son Isaac for the required sacrifice.
The power of the story is not actually that Abraham was asked by God to
sacrifice Isaac but the real power of the story is that God intervened
to prevent the sacrifice. The ensuing provision of the ram, whose horns
were caught in the bushes, for the sacrifice was the LORD's answer to
Abraham of the sacrifice and so during the festival, the whole episode
is remembered by the sounding of the ram's horn, or 'shofar'.
The sounding of the shofar is a kind of spiritual wake-up call. The shofar
is rather impressive looking and it serves several purposes. One of those
purposes is to remind us of the ram that God provided to be sacrificed
in Isaac's stead. The manner in which the shofar is blown is purposeful
as well. There are three cycles of sounding of the ram's horn in the Jewish
feast, and each has a different meaning.
" The first is called the tekiah, which means 'blast'. It is a long,
clear note of the shofar that some claims it sends shivers down their
spine. The intent is to cause the worshipper to pay attention.
" The second is called shevarim, and means 'broken'. This is three
short notes blown together and held to equal the length of the tekiah
blast.
" Teruah or 'alarm' is a rapid series of very short blasts, numbering
at least nine, whose duration should also equal one tekiah.
" The final sounding of the shofar is called the 'tekiah ha-g'dolah'
and is a long note held out - the duration of which is determined by how
much lung power the shofar blower can produce.
In a spiritual sense, the shofar-blowing formula symbolizes the falling
of mankind and the world plunged into chaos as a result. It is to remind
us of our sinful nature and our need for the provision of our Creator,
through the blood of the sacrifice, to make us whole again. The final,
symbolic, conclusion of the shofar blowing is encouraging as it announces
to us that the broken world is made whole again - and the ram's horns
is the instrument by which we are reminded of God's redeeming plan to
bring healing to a broken world, through His great mercy.
As believers in Yeshua the Messiah (Yeshua Ha'Mashiah), we are awaiting
the sounding of the last trumpet (shofar) to announce His coming. The
Bible is filled with descriptions of this event. The Scriptures liken
it to a harvest, in fact, the 'final' harvest. When you hear the blowing
of a shofar, it is an arresting of one's spirit that creates a sense of
alertness. When that 'Great Trumpet' sounds, signaling the coming of the
Messiah and the end of time as we know it, I'm sure we will recognize
it as a heavenly shofar blast that points to God's chosen, eternal sacrifice,
the Lamb upon the Throne. All the earth will come up to worship Him.
Have you received Jesus into your heart? It is not difficult. All that
is needed is for you to believe in Jesus, the One Who had died for you
and taken away all your sin. He will come into your heart and give you
eternal life. By believing in Jesus and receiving His Holy Spirit into
our lives, God confers on us the position of sons and daughters in His
Family, special positions reserved only for those whom He loves dearly
(John 1: 12). Rejection of what Jesus had done for us on the cross signifies
the rejection of God's gift of salvation and if one rejects the Gift,
there is therefore no more hope.
The Lord cannot lie. For Him, whatever He speaks come to pass and He had
promised us in the Bible that those who have put their trust in Him will
not be condemned but have passed from death into life (Romans 8: 1).
Pray this simple prayer of faith and invite Him into your heart and immediately
you will experience the peace of Jesus coming your way.
O God our Heavenly Father, thank you that You are ever merciful and so
full of love for us in that while we were still far away from You, You
loved us and sent Your only Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ into this
world, to take on a human life so that He can be the Sacrifice that You
had wanted all along. Thank you that You have prepared a new heaven and
You are waiting to show it to us.
Lord Jesus, thank you that You loved us so much that You were willing
to die for us on the cross. Thank you that You became that Sacrificial
Lamb for us and because of Your death, the judicial righteousness of the
Father had been satisfied. And now, because You rose from the dead, we,
who believe in You as our Lord and Savior, will no longer have to die
but we receive Your eternal life. Thank you for coming into my heart and
making my heart Your home.
Thank you that what You have accomplished for us on the cross has qualified
me to become a child of God the Father. Thank you that I am now eternally
forgiven, greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved and completely
protected in the Lord and in Your most precious Name, Yeshua Ha' Mashiah,
I pray. Amen.
If you have prayed this prayer for the first time, welcome to the Family
of the Father (and it is a very large universal family). It is important
that you are not alone facing your personal trials but that you can obtain
good help wherever you are. Why not take the time to find your own local
Christian family (local church) and worship the Father together? You will
be greatly encouraged when you meet together to worship the Father, for
fellowship and for the study of the Word of Christ.
Start receiving the blessings of the Father as you walk with Him in faith.
It is your inheritance in Christ and He wants you to start enjoying these
blessings right now and there is more from where they come from.
The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all
your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 -26
Have a blessed week ahead, Shavrou-tov
Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee
This and other archived messages can also be found
on the following URL
http://www.oocities.org/fibredrive/index.htm