FEAST OF TRUMPETS-ROSH HASHANAH
-JEWISH NEW YEAR
By Stephen Yulish
FEASTS LEVITICUS 23
FIRST FOUR ARE
SYMBOLIC OF LORD'S FIRST COMING
PASSOVER-DEATH OF LORD
UNLEAVENED
BREAD-BURIAL
FIRST FRUITS-RESURRECTION
PENTECOST-HOLY
SPIRIT
LAST THREE ARE SYMBOLIC OF HIS SECOND COMING
FEAST OF
TRUMPETS-RAPTURE, WEDDING,
DAY OF ATONEMENT=SECOND COMING
FEAST OF
TABERNACLES-WEDDING SUPPER OF THE LAMB
Feast of Trumpets. It
only began on new moon when two witnesses said so and the head of the
Sanhedrin agreed thus each year nobody knew the exact day or hour (Matthew 24:36).
Leviticus 23:24-32 says that the"first day
of the seventh month, Tishri, will be a day of rest, reminder, and blowing
of the shofar-a holy convocation.
Season of teshuvah, return or
repentance, begins 30 days before on the first of Elul and ends 40 days
later on the 10th of Tishri or sundown -Yom Kippur the Day of
Atonement. Last 10 days
between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called the Days of Awe. Each
morning for these 40 days the shofar is blown at the Morning Prayer
service to call everyone to repent and return to God. Psalm 27 is recited after each
morning and evening service. "The lord is my light and my salvation; whom
shall I fear?"
Rosh Hashanah is the head of the year in the civil
calendar (Nissan is the New Year in the religious calendar- Passover). It
is the birthday of the world.
Early rabbis said, and this was agreed upon by early church
fathers, that there would be 6000 years or six days of creation and then
the seventh day of millennium peace would come. According to scripture
there were approximately 4000 years from Adam to Yeshua. Add 2000 years
and we should be coming to the time of the millennium! BTW, the rabbis were looking for
the Messiah after 4000 years and Yeshua came right on schedule (see Daniel 9:25). After the
destruction of the Temple, the Jews changed the date of the creation of
the world from 4004 to 3761 BCE- 3761+2006=5767 (Jewish Year this Rosh
Hashanah Sept.23) instead of actual 6006! We are very near the seventh day
of millennial peace, very near the rapture of the church which will take
place on the Feast of Trumpets when the last trump sounds. No one can know
the exact day or hour, as one cannot know the exact day or hour of the new
moon signaling the beginning of the festival, but one can know the
season!
1Corinthians 13:9 says
“for we know in part and prophesy in part.”
1Corinthians 13:12 says “for now
we see in a mirror dimly.”
Rosh Hashanah also called Yom
Hazikaron-Day of Remembrance and
Yom Teruah- Day of Awakening.
"Awake you sleepers from your
sleep! Raise yourselves you slumberers! Examine your deeds and unto god in
repentance abandon your evil ways, your unworthy scheming - every one of
you."
Who said this? Was it Paul? He did say to the church at
Ephesus "awake, sleeper and arise from the dead" Ephesians 5:14.
Was it Paul to
the church in Rome? "Awaken from sleep, for salvation is near", Romans 13:11.
No! It is from
“The Gates of Repentance”, a Rosh Hashanah prayer book that cites
Maimonides "call to awakening".
According to Judaism, on Rosh
Hashanah, the Books of Life and Death are opened by God in heaven. They
are shut by him on Yom Kippur 10 days later. It is also believed that the
gates of heaven are opened on Rosh Hashanah and closed on Yom
Kippur.
"Open to me the gates of righteousness. I shall enter through
them. I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The
righteous will enter through it." Psalm 118:19-20, Isaiah
26:2.
During this period, Jews seek forgiveness for their sins
so that they may be written in the Book of Life for the coming year.
A
popular greeting is "lashana tovah tiketavu". May you be inscribed (in the
book of life) for a good year.
Each person is accountable for sins committed first against fellow
man (guilt offering in Temple) and then to against God (sin
offering).
Matthew 5:23-24
says "If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and
there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your
offering there before the altar and go your way; first be reconciled to
your brother and then come and present your offering."
The problem
is that it says in Leviticus
17:11 that the life is in the blood and only through shedding of blood
is their remission of sin. As long as the Temple sacrifices existed they
could do blood sacrifices but with the destruction of the Temple what
could they do? Rabbis said do 'prayers, fasting and charity'.
Part II-The Rapture
Moses Maimonides stated that
the thirteenth article of the Jewish faith was, "I believe with perfect
faith that there will be a resurrection of the dead."
The Talmud
states that the resurrection of the dead will take place on Rosh Hashanah.
Many Jews therefore put shofarim (trumpets-rams horns) on their
tombstones. "Your dead will live, their corpses will rise... you who live
in the dust awake and shout for joy...the earth will give birth to the
departed spirits" Isaiah
26:19.
"The messianic hope, resurrection and immortality of
the soul are intertwined with the shofar on Rosh Hashanah." This is from
the Machtzur, the Jewish
prayer book for High Holy Days.
The blowing of the first trump or
shofar, was the left horn of the ram Abraham sacrificed instead of Isaac
at Sinai, Exodus 19:19. The last trump, the right horn of
the ram sacrificed at Sinai, and spoken of in 1Corinthians 15:52 will be blown
at the rapture of the body of Messiah and the resurrection of the
dead.
Jews read the 27th Psalm and Ezekiel
33 on Rosh Hashanah
"For in the day of trouble (the tribulation,
Jacob's trouble), He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret
place of His tent, He will hide me." Psalm 27:5
Ezekiel 33 speaks of a sword
coming upon the land and the blowing of the trumpet to warn the people to
repent of their sins.
Besides Psalm 27:5 other scriptures
showing a pretrib rapture:
Zephaniah 2:3,"Perhaps you will
be hidden in the day of the Lords anger."
Isaiah
26:20, "come, my people, enter into your rooms and close the doors
behind you; hide for a little while until the indignation runs its
course."
Isaiah
26:2, "open the gates that the righteous may enter".
1 Thessalonians
1:10, "who delivers us from the wrath to come."
1 Thessalonians
5:9, "for God has not destined us for wrath".
Revelation
3:10, "I also will keep you from the hour of testing"
"In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last shofar (trump), for the
shofar will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be
changed", 1Corinthians
15:52.
"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the shofar (trumpet of
God); and the dead in Christ shall rise first. then we who are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air and thus we shall always
be with the Lord". 1Thessalonians
4:16-18.
I wrote a novel, The Great Harpazo Deception where
I developed the idea that those left behind would rather believe that we
were abducted by so called extraterrestrials than that we are in heaven
with Jesus.
"God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they
might believe what is false" 2
Thessalonians 2:11
wedding of messiah and his
bride
Shavuot (Pentecost) was to be the marriage of Israel and
God.
Jeremiah 2:1-3 speaks
of “the love of your betrothals”. Hosea 2:19 speaks of "I will betroth you to me
forever". The ketubah, the
Jewish wedding contract were the tablets of stone. Israel accepted -Exodus 24:3
Israel sins with
golden calf. Moses smashed tablets- wedding off, Exodus 32:19.
The Church
is now the bride, but it still follows Jewish wedding tradition. Ephesians 5:22-23, "As Christ is
the head (husband) of the church."
2Corinthians 11:2, "For
I betrothed you to one husband...Christ".
We love bridegroom even
though we have never seen him
1Peter 1:8, "though you have not
seen him you love him"
Bride bought with a price "knowing that you were
not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold...but with the
precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of
Christ"1Peter 1:18-19
1Corinthians 6:20 "you have been
bought with a price"(Christ's death on the cross).
When you accept
Messiah into your heart you become betrothed to Him. This is prior to the
wedding. Ketubah or marriage contract has all promises God has promised
for believers.
2Corinthians
1:20 "for as many as may be the promises of God in him they
are
yes."
But Bride has to say yes to betrothal. To give her
consent
"The word is in your mouth and in your heart. If you confess
with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead you shall be saved", Romans 10:8-9.
Then bridegroom
gives free gifts to the bride of eternal life, and the Holy Spirit to
reside in us.
1Corinthians
12:4, varieties of gifts but the same spirit
Bride
needs to be purified by immersion as God did Israel.
"I (Lord God)
entered into a covenant with you (Israel) so that you became mine...then I
bathed you with water washed off your blood" Ezekiel 16:8-9. We are baptized with the Holy
Spirit, Acts 1:5
John 14:2-3, "I go and prepare a
place for you in my Father’s house". When father approved of new quarters,
bridegroom could claim the bride at any time usually at night with a shout
and blowing of shofar, Matthew
25:6, Revelation 4:1.
But only the Father knows the time, Matthew 24:36
Isaiah 62:5, "as the bridegroom
rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you."
Ephesians 5:27, "having no spot
or wrinkle...holy and blameless."
On day of a Jewish wedding, all sins
are forgotten-stand pure without spot or blemish as they are
united.
Revelation
19:7, “for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made
herself ready." also Matthew
22:2. Biblical Jewish couple, (Yeshua and his bride), celebrate
marriage for 7 days in his Fathers house while 7 years of the tribulation
rage on earth. Noah and family told to get into ark seven days before the
doors closed, Genesis
7:10
Matthew 24:37.
Friend of bridegroom was at the door listening for
consummation of the marriage, John
3:29, (Jewish tradition also).
After 7 years (days) in fathers
house the bride (the church) and the bridegroom (Jesus) will leave the
fathers house and return to earth.
Joel 2:15, "blow a
shofar in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly"
Joel 2:16 ,"let the bridegroom
come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber!
The gates
of heaven will be closed.
It will be Yom Kippur which is the Day of
Atonement., the Day of Judgment, the Day of the great fast. The day when
Yeshua returns to earth to rule and reign with an iron rod!
Marana,ta!
(maranatha)" our Lord, come!