The Feast of Trumpets

Introduction

Illustration: Social experiment, I want you to raise your hand if you love finding a really cool stick. I just want to see how many, if any, guys there are here who don’t love finding a cool stick. I know I do. When it looks like a really cool sword or something it gets me super jazzed. Why is that? I think guys are all kind of yearning for a battle to fight and a cool sword looking stick makes you feel like a knight finding your chosen weapon. I mean even Jon Foreman, the lead singer of switchfoot who is always talking about and advocating for peace and is a surfer guy, wrote a song called “War in My Blood” about the drive to fight a battle that’s inside the heart of every man.

Of course we don’t really want to live in times of war, but what do you do with the drive to battle when you’re living in times of peace? I believe our drive to fight is actually a God given one, and one that can be properly channeled and used by God for great purposes. This is perhaps why God called Israel to celebrate a holiday every year that evokes times of battle.

This is the Feast of Trumpets, the most briefly described of all the seven Feasts. We read about it in

Leviticus 23:23–25 CSB

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a day of complete rest, commemoration, and trumpet blasts—a sacred assembly. You must not do any daily work, but you must present a food offering to the Lord.”

That’s it, that’s the whole description. To those of us living thousands of years later, the implications of this festival may be a bit lost on us. Yet if you were living in their context you would know about Ram’s Horn Trumpets, and how they were used most frequently to communicate on the battlefield. For that reason I see this Feast as God’s reminder to the Israelites that there are wars to be fought. We see that for them in the original context this was a reminder that God is fighting for them, and that their victories come from being on the side of the Lord of Heaven’s armies. We see that now for us we still have wars to fight, but they aren’t against nations or people but against the powers of the forces of evil. Finally we see that the trumpets foreshadow the day that is one day coming when the trumpets will sound announcing the final battle where God will once and for all overthrow the forces of evil.

What it Was: Lord of Heaven’s Armies

Illustration: What do you do if you need to get the attention of a large group of people? You make a lot of noise, right? You might yell, at Circle Square we had a big metal triangle we’d hit when we wanted to gather the kids together. In emergencies they blast a siren. Have you ever heard an air raid siren? Super loud.

In ancient times often commanders and kings had to not only get the attention of their armies, but also give them all commands. In the heat of battle you couldn’t exactly just shout “t” and have a group huddle, they needed a way to communicate in code to their troops all at once. The tool most often used for this in the time of the foundation of Israel was a trumpet. Specifically a Ram’s horn trumpet. This was used to make loud blasts which could be heard by thousands of warriors and which they would use to communicate different messages depending on how loud and how frequent the blasts from the trumpet were.

Israel like the other nations around them also used the ram’s horn to go to battle. Even in their more ordinary battles they would blow the trumpets horn to communicate, but I can think of one particular battle in their history that stands out for its use of the Ram’s Horn, and that would be when the Israelites marched against Jericho. Let’s take a look at that account in Joshua chapter 6.

Joshua 6:1–5 CSB

Now Jericho was strongly fortified because of the Israelites—no one leaving or entering. The Lord said to Joshua, “Look, I have handed Jericho, its king, and its best soldiers over to you. March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark. But on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the rams’ horns. When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the troops give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the troops will advance, each man straight ahead.”

There’s a lot of the number seven there, isn’t there? Seven priests, seven trumpets, seven days, seven times. Interestingly, the Feast of Trumpets was in what month? The seventh. So there is one connection at least with the Feast of Trumpets. In the case of Jericho when the trumpets blasted and they gave a loud shout it was not the warriors of Israel that took down the wall. No it seems a lot more like the trumpets were calling the armies of God Himself to tear down the walls of Jericho, which of course they did.

But did you know that war was not the only purpose that the Ram’s horns served in Israel? They also served to call the Israelites together to worship God, especially of course at the feast of trumpets. Psalm 81:3

Psalm 81:3 CSB

Blow the trumpet on the day of our feasts during the new moon and during the full moon.

Consider the implications of this. This means that if you were a man in Israel the same sound that summoned you to war also summoned you to worship God. What sort of a connection do you think that formed for people? What sort of message was God trying to send by connecting His worship with warfare? I think it sort of goes both ways, informing both how they worship and how they do warfare.

Now I know the conquest of the promised land is something of a controversial topic, but God had promised the land of Israel to His chosen people and they needed to conquer it. There was no easy homecoming for them, but a fight to take over the land for themselves. Yet God didn’t want them just to fight for their land. See the people of Canaan also worshipped other gods. So for the Israelites conquering the promised land also became an act of worship, proving that their God, Yawheh, was the with them and was the God above every other god. The conquest of Canaan was also the definitive proof that God is God and the others are all just little statues that can’t do anything to help their people.

Now just like when the Israelites faced down the city of Jericho, it can seem sometimes like God is calling us to do the impossible. Yet we can know that because God is on our side we can do what He has called us to do. The trumpets the Isrealites blew at Jericho weren’t magical, God was the one who moved at the blast of the trumpet and He was the one to tear down the walls. That’s what it looks like when we rely on God’s strength instead of our own. Yet when the walls came down the Israelites were to charge into battle with God. God calls us to action, but not on our own strength. So when we go about our lives do we do so on our own strength, or on God’s? How about I ask more directly, when you go about your day how often do you pray?

Yet today we are not called to bear the sword in battle to conquer a promised land. Our battle is a different kind entirely, which brings us to our next point.

What it Is: Spiritual Warriors

Illustration: How would it change your life if you knew you were living in a war zone? It would make you a lot more careful, right? I feel like a lot of us might start carrying weapons for self defence. You might invest in some tactical armour for your day to day. Basically you probably wouldn’t do anything without considering the danger of the battle going on all around you.

Well what if I told you that you actually are living in the middle of a war zone? In the last point we were talking about Israel conquering Canaan. That was a literal war with swords and fighting and everything. This war is different. We aren’t fighting physically.

This is what we would call today ‘spiritual warfare.’ Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 6:12

Ephesians 6:12 CSB

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.

Let that sink in for a moment. We are at war, it’s just not a war fought with guns and tanks and fighter jets, but a war against the forces of evil at work in this world. This can be tough to wrap your head around, but the Bible is unapologetic in its view of the world as more than meets the eye, that angels and demons really exist and are really in a struggle against one another unseen to naked eyes.

We are born in this battle whether we like it or not, and when we follow Jesus we are taking up arms to fight on the side of heaven. Thankfully this is the winning side and we already know that the Battle has been won, amen? But in the meantime the war rages on. So what do we do now that we know we are living in a war zone? We take up our weapons and put on our armour. That verse from Ephesians is the opener to what Paul calls the armour of God. Let’s read the rest of this passage.

Ephesians 6:10–18 CSB

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.

Studying that list could be the focus of a whole weekend, but it boils down to this; have a real relationship with the living God and rely on Him. Every one of these pieces of armour can be put on by loving God and living for Him. Never before have the instructions to read your bible and pray sounded so cool as when Paul tells us to take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. If you have a Bible I want you to pick it up like it’s a weapon, because it is. That’s your sword to fight the enemy. And the cross is the salvation that protects us and our faith is what keeps the attacks of the enemies at bay.

My brothers and sisters are we living like we’re at war? Because when you’re at war you don’t do it casually. You fight like your life depends on it, because it does. In this case though we know the enemy can never take us from Jesus’ hand, lives are really at stake. The enemy wants to stop the gospel from reaching people, wants to frustrate our efforts and make our lives less fruitful. Are we going to let them get away with that? Not on Jesus’ watch. So let’s gird ourselves and pick up our swords and fight for the God of Heaven’s armies in the spiritual war.

What it Will Be: God’s Final Judgment

Illustration: In every war there comes a decisive final battle that decides the whole thing. Often by the time this final battle comes about it’s pretty obvious who is going to win, even if the enemy is holding out. I want you to imagine you’re a warrior standing on a hill ready to charge the enemy city, already knowing you’re going to win. Then those trumpets call out the signal for the charge.

That’s the picture the Bible wants in your mind when you think of the end times. Throughout the old and new testaments there are a number of references to trumpets sounding at the end. For example in Joel 2:1

Joel 2:1 CSB

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the residents of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; in fact, it is near—

and in Zephaniah 1:14-16

Zephaniah 1:14–16 CSB

The great day of the Lord is near, near and rapidly approaching. Listen, the day of the Lord— then the warrior’s cry is bitter. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and total darkness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities, and against the high corner towers.

And this is no different in the New Testament. In fact, there are even more references to trumpets sounding at the end of times, such as 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, and there’s two chapters in Revelation describing the seven trumpets blown by the seven angels standing in the presence of God. Chapter seven starts this way:

Revelation 8:1–2 CSB

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God; seven trumpets were given to them.

After this the trumpets are blown one at a time to announce seven different attacks against the earth, all of which I should add take place after the multitudes from every nation and tribe are brought to God’s throne, marking the decisive final battle between the forces of good that are with God and the forces of evil that have taken the side of the battle.

Of course like many final battles in history the victor is clear before the battle has even begun. This is even more true in the case of the battle of God verses the devil, because we don’t believe in two equally power forces of good and evil like some religions do. God is all-powerful, the creator of the entire universe. The devil is just a prideful angel, whose brief position of power was overturned by Jesus’ victory on the cross.

So when we think of this feast of trumpets we can look forward to the final trumpets sounding in the end to announce the day the Lord comes back to finally decisively win the battle. The day of final judgment against the forces of evil and the vindication of all who have followed Jesus.

So then I think we have all the more reason to make sure that in this life we are working for the right side. Which Kingdom do you want to fight for, the one that is doomed to lose and only seeks to ruin everything it touches? Or will you fight for God’s Kingdom, the one that will win the victory and last forever in peace and prosperity? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Conclusion

And so we see that even the most briefly described of God’s prescribed festivals for the Israelites is full of theological depth. We see from the images of trumpets on the seventh month a reminder of the God who led Israel victoriously into their promised land and who fights our battles for us. We see a reminder that we are fighting our own battle, but one against the spiritual forces of evil rather than against other people. And finally we are reminded of the climactic final battle that will come in the end at the sound of the seven trumpets, and the need to be on God’s side when those trumpets sound.

My friends there’s a reason why proverbs says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We need to remember who God is. Yes He is our loving Father who saves us and wants to be with us, but He is also the God of Heavens armies who will fight the forces of evil and destroy them. So then how could it not be wise to walk with Him with a reverent fear? The same sort of respectful fear we should have for any more powerful person in authority over us. So as we continue on through this weekend let the sound of God’s trumpet call rally you to battle with your armour and sword in full assurance of our future victory.