Happy New Year!

Introduction

Pastor have you lost your mind? New Years day is still three months away. Well if you use a modern calendar it is, but according to God’s calendar - which begins with the harvest, then it is today. The Torah (or the teachings of God) call this day Yom Teruah which means day of trumpets. Most bible translations translate it as Feast of Trumpets. It is one of the appointed seasons that God prescribes to the Israelites that they are to observe.

We understand from Scripture, that man was created in order for God to have someone with whom He could fellowship with. In other words, the whole purpose of you being on this earth is so that God can have an object of love. We have spoken about the agape love of God. Agape is a Greek word that describes the highest form of love, that is, love that exists for no other reason than to exist. There are no preconditions on that kind of love. But the key revelation regarding agape love is that you were created specifically to be loved! Collectively then, we are being built together so that God can have a place to dwell.

Ephesians 2:22 NKJV

in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

So God indeed created you to be a dwelling place for God, but He also created a dwelling place for you. He created the earth and all that is in it specifically for you to dwell in it. He created it for your pleasure. But He also created it for instruction. For example He created the sun and the moon as well as the stars in the sky with a very specific purpose, and that is to mark the passage of time. The different constellations in the sky along with the counting of the new moons allowed people to calculate seasons.

Genesis 1:14 NKJV

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

Psalm 104:19 NKJV

He appointed the moon for seasons; The sun knows its going down.

The Jewish year is divided up according to the new moons, and that is why Chanukkah, Passover and all the other Jewish holidays don’t fall consistently on our modern calendar. The original meaning of the phrase new moon was the first visible crescent of the Moon, after conjunction with the Sun. Astronomically speaking there is a new moon every 29.53 days.

The five appointed seasons or moadim were appointed by God in Leviticus (Vayikra) 23, so let’s go there together:

Leviticus 23:23–25 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “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. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’ ”

So the five seasons are Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Hashanah), Yom Hakippurim (Yom Kipur), and Succot (Feast of Tabernacles). These Moadim (or seasons) are times for His people to seek Him in greater intimacy.

These times were further proclaimed to be mikraei kodesh, or holy convocations. These were times of our being called together to worship God in the sanctuary. In Y’isra’el’s history, these seasons were always identified with renewal, and as such, they are God’s ordained times for seeking corporate and personal renewal.

To understand Yom Teruah, we must first understand the prophetic significance of the seasons in the yearly cycle and why our very nature as people necessitates these seasons, until the time when Jesus returns and redeems us once and for all.

First of all, let us take right from the mouth of Yeshua (Jesus) His view of the Law.

Matthew 11:13 NKJV

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

Matthew 5:18 NKJV

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

So the understanding that God has given me as I struggle to square the understanding I thought I had about scripture, and the insight that God is giving me is that since not all prophesy has been fulfilled, Torah must still be in the process of being fulfilled in Yeshua, who according to the Apostle Paul:

Ephesians 1:9–10 TLV

He made known to us the mystery of His will, in keeping with His good pleasure that He planned in Messiah. The plan of the fullness of times is to bring all things together in the Messiah—both things in heaven and things on earth, all in Him.

But we live under grace and so we are not under an obligation to observe the festivals as a prerequisite of our salvation, but rather we get to observe by virtue of the fact that we’ve been grafted into the nation of Israel.

But we can’t come up with random theories, we have to have have everything line up scripturally right?

Colossians 2:16–17 NKJV

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

But where does it say what you’re saying pastor? Right there verse 17! See it? These things are a shadow of things that happened? NO! It says they are a shadow of things THAT ARE COMING! But the body is of the Messiah! So that means, that while we know who the one is that is casting those shadows, there remains things undone, things that have not yet come, that are still in the process of being fulfilled!

So only by intimately knowing Torah AND Yeshua, are we able to correctly follow His commandments. Now listen to me carefully. Notice I did not say that only by FOLLOWING Torah can we GAIN SALVATION. I said, only by KNOWING Torah AND Yeshua, can we correctly FOLLOW HIS COMMANDMENTS. And this then should be our goal. But pastor, Paul says we are not under the curse of the law. You are correct in saying that and remember we have established that the curse of the law was the punishment that comes from not observing the law (eternal damnation). But what about the benefits of obeying God’s law? How about the significance of what obeying His commandments says about how you feel about Him?

John 14:15–16 TLV

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper so He may be with you forever—

So those are some pretty strong motivators to not only want to know Jesus, but His commandments as well aren’t they?

Today is one of the holiest days in according to scripture – Yom Teruah or The Feast of Trumpets. The time when we mix both happiness and joy with humility and contrition. The shofar blast sounds an alarm to “wake up” and look at your deeds to do battle with the enemy where necessary and get back on the straight and narrow path. No matter how good we may think we are, God says we have all missed it in part and that we need this season of revival and renewal after the long summer months. This starts with the realization that every one of us will have to give an accounting of himself before God.

Romans 14:10–12 NKJV

But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

Now is the time to seek the Lord’s correction in our lives so we can serve Him more perfectly.

The blowing of the Shofar at this season is also a reminder of the coming judgments upon the earth, each of which is preceded by shofar calls.

The sounding of the Shofar aids us in overcoming the enemy because the sound of the horn itself routs the enemy. Numbers 10:9-10 tells us:

Numbers 10:9–10 NKJV

“When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Of course something that is even more exciting and near and dear to the heart of all believers is the last shofar blast. And in fact, the word for convocation is mikra and it literally means “rehearsal”. So when we blow the shofar, the last Tekiah Gedolah or grand blast, we are rehearsing that great day.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 TLV

For the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of God’s shofar, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air—and so we shall always be with the Lord.

But isn’t it a stretch to link this passage up with the Yom Teruah – a time for repentance with this triumphant return of God? Why would we equate the two?

Well to understand that we need to go to the beginning. What does scripture say about Yom Teruah itself?

Leviticus 23:23–25 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “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. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’ ”

All it says there is that this is a day of remembrance. Remembering what? Well, it is a convocation announced by the Shofar blasts. Let’s see if we can find a place in the scripture where Shofar blasts were a significant part of Israel’s history worthy of remembering.

Exodus 19:9–20 NKJV

And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.” So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.” Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

What an intense story! God wanted these to be His people! What better way than to meet them Himself; than to show His power to them all? God asked them to get ready to meet Him. God Himself blew the shofar and descended to earth, and when He descended Moses went up! Oh man! God came down, and the man of God went up!!!!

What are we seeing saints? Do you see why the festivals are so important? God calls them mikraei – rehearsals. What are we rehearsing when we do them? What is it that we are practicing? We are having a rehearsal tonight saints! It is a time to practice the calling away of the bride of Christ! Yeshua is coming back some day and taking us with Him. Just like the first time, He is going to announce His arrival with the sound of the shofar! What is the season? Know the season! God told Moses to make sure the people were ready to meet Him. Are you ready? Have you made preparations? We are celebrating Yom Teruah today to sound the alarm! We are sounding the alarm to wake us up. We are waking up from the hypnotic effect that the World has on us, and we are blowing the shofar as a call to battle, knowing that where the shofar is blown, God comes and fights for us! Bless God, one day we will be blowing the shofar and we will be having our mikra- our rehearsal, and one day we will blow the shofar, and God in heaven will respond to that shofar blast with one of His own, and we are going to get caught up in the air to be with Him. Thessalonians says that the time is coming and God is going to sound that last trumpet call! Are you ready saints?

Conclusion

Every eye closed and every head bowed please. I want us all to take a few moments to inspect our lives. I want us to look at the things that God has been telling us need shoring up. I want us to lay them at the feet of the cross and allow Jesus to deal with them. Now I want us to all imagine, to rehearse that glorious day when that shofar sounds and we are caught up with Him.

Ten days from now is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The command of this day is “you shall humble yourself.” I strongly recommend that you observe a day of introspection upon the coming year. Five days after that is Succot (or tabernacles) the last of the appointed seasons, a time when we anticipate and look forward to the return of our precious savior, to take us away to tabernacle and dwell with Him forever!

Isn’t God good? He gave us these appointed times, not because He likes making rules for us to abide by, but because we need them! They are His appointed times for us to meet with Him and get back on the course from which we so easily stray.

Whether you choose to observe the Biblical Holy days, or stick to the traditional Easter and Christmas observances, the point is to take time to really look at your life. Become circumspect about how you are living, and how and or if you are obeying the commands of God.

Let us pray.