The King’s Day Of Gathering
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Introduction
Introduction
We have come to another High Holy Day season and Rosh Hashanah is upon us.
Over the past few weeks we’ve introduced the importance of this day from a biblical and traditional perspective.
As a reminder, the God Israel has special appointed times called feasts or festivals that are listed in Leviticus 23 and are special times of gathering and worship on God’s covenant calendar.
These speical appointed days are community events that recognized God’s work and presence with His people.
Each of them recognized a specific aspect of God’s saving work and also contains a prophetic picture of God’s salvation history.
As we’ve said over the past several weeks this is a season for deep introspection heading into the most sacred time of the Bilibcal calendar.
A story to share:
It was back in 2019 we were going on a caribbean cruise with the family - Harmony of the Seas. A massive ship.
My family and Alexis’ parents.
These trips are not cheap and there is no money back guarantee if you miss it.
Flew to Florida and stayed at a relative’s apartment ready to head out the next day.
We prepared the night before, counted the kids, counted the passports, and went to bed with brewing excitment.
We arrived at the Cruise terminal the next day, stood in line, got to the immigration counter, pulled out our stack of passports, counted them, recounted them, and instant panic - we realized there was one missing.
Gabriel’s passport.
How could this be? It must be somewhere back at the apartment 20 minutes away. A decision had to be made.
Can you please hold the cruise ship for us? No sir.
So I kissed Alexis goodbye and said I’ll take Gabe and we’ll see if we can make it.
We raced back in a panic trying to find it, searched the spot where we had counted the passports the night before, looked under the counch, and voila found it.
Called the cab, got back in, clock is ticking, cabby driving slow, clock is ticking, traffic is slow, clock is ticking, pulled up to the cruise terminal and could hear the trumpet - broooooooooo brooooooooo.
The sound of the horn calling everyone to gather at the appointed time - don’t be late, don’t be caught off guard.
And there Gabe and I were sitting in that car with the Cabby who was taking forever to get that credit card machine wroking.
Broooooooo Broooooooo! Warning! The time is near! Broooooooo!
A Prophetic Type - Zephaniah (צְפַנְיָה)
A Prophetic Type - Zephaniah (צְפַנְיָה)
We have spoken about Biblical “types” and the relationship to prophecy.
Biblical typology is a form of symbolism where a “type” functions as a prophetic symbol—a representation of something yet to come.
More precisely, a type in scripture is a person or event which foreshadows a future person or event.
This is why Yom Teruah is an appropriate time to read a prophet like Zephaniah as the events in this book form a type of the future events we eagerly anticipate.
The prophet Zephaniah was a descendant of King Hezekiah and probably prophesied in Jerusalem around the time of Josiah, king of Judah.
He would have probably been active around 622BC to 609BC.
As we know the first wave of Babylonian captives were taken away around 605 BC.
You may be wondering what the conenction is between Yom Teruah and the Prophecy of Zephaniah.
The answer relates to what the Torah says about Yom Teruah.
“Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a Shabbat rest, a memorial of blowing (shofarot), a holy convocation.
We see that the day is to be understood as a memorial of blowing. It is a mysterious holiday with little description other than it reflects a ‘teruah’.
The custom is to blow a shofar to create the ‘teruah’ and this becomes the connection to Zephaniah’s message.
You see the shofar is a sound that can tear apart or it can bind together - it all depends on the hearer’s relationship and response to the one blowing it.
It was the teruah of the shofar that tore apart the walls of Jericho.
But it was also at the teruah of the shofar that Moses brougt the people out of the camp to meet God.
The King’s Day - He Gathers His People אָסֹ֨ף אָסֵ֜ף
The King’s Day - He Gathers His People אָסֹ֨ף אָסֵ֜ף
Zephaniah starts his orcale with immediate doom.
God as king of creation will “asoph aseiph” - “gathering I will completely sweep”.
It’s a forceful message from the Word of the Lord - He will gather to sweep away everything on the face of the ground.
I will totally sweep away everything from the face of the earth, declares Adonai. I will sweep away man and beast, I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea— also the stumbling blocks—the wicked.
I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth, declares Adonai.
This language has echos of the flood where Adam (mankind) was swept away from the face of the Adamah (ground).
Man, besat, birds, and fish - nothing will be left. Complete destruction is boomed by the King.
The king gathers to make a complete purging of evil from his land.
Sing for joy to God our strength, shout to the God of Jacob! Lift up a song and sound a tambourine, a sweet lyre with a harp. Blow the shofar at the New Moon, at the full moon for the day of our festival.
For it is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. He set it up as a testimony in Joseph, when He went throughout the land of Egypt, I heard a language I did not understand.
The Pslamist Asaph here tells us that teruah of the Shofar on the festival day is supposed to be a time of gathering to worship and celebration for the House of Israel, His people, The apple of His eye.
The king set the sound up to be a testimony - a memorial sound - that was meant to bring to mind how the Lord heard the cries of His people and went through the land of Mitzrayim and struck down Pharoah and his army.
But what is the prophetic picture Zephaniah declares?
“I will stretch out my hand upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place —the names of the idolatrous priests along with the kohanim,
The very people who are meant to be in covenant with God are in danger of becoming the object of His wrath.
The priests represent the ministers of God. They are the ones who are supposed to teach the people the ways of Yah and facilitating their purity. Yet instead they are idolators defiling the sanctuary of the living God.
Be silent before Adonai God. For the day of Adonai is at hand! Adonai has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated his guests.
This is the King’s coming Day - Yom Yahweh - Yom Adonai - The Day of the Lord!
Stand in reverent silence in the face of that day. This is the Day of the Lord’s sacrifice and guess what is on the menu?
It says in verse 8 that on that Day He will punish the princes, king’s sons. In other words there will be no escape because of rank or title.
Look with me at verse 10 the imagry is so powerful once you see the connection.
On that day there will be a cry - צְעָקָה֙ - from the fish gate to the new quarter of the city to the hills to the market area - in other words not a corner of the city will be spared.
There will be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, the likes of which has never been before nor will ever be again.
But not so much as a dog will growl against any of Bnei-Yisrael, neither man nor beast—so that you may know that Adonai makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.
The cry - צְעָקָה֙ - that was meant to be for Egpyt has come upon God’s people in a great reversal. Where there was to be a distinction there will be no distinction for the disobedient in Zephaniah’s warning.
The name Zephaniah צְפַנְיָה derives from a Hebrew root meaning “to conceal, hide, treasure,” and the most common translations are “the Lord hides” or “the person hidden or sheltered by the Lord.”
And the irony is on that Great Day nothing will be hidden.
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men whose spirits have hardened, who say in their hearts, ‘Adonai will do neither good nor evil.’
It’s based on this passage that the tradition for the kids to take a lamp on passover and search for the last hidden leaven crumbs hiding away.
That Day will be a time when all the leaven in the hearts of men is reaveled by the light of the Lord.
It will be a day when the Lord’s anger is poured out— a day of terrible distress and anguish, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet calls and battle cries. Down go the walled cities and the strongest battlements!
The Day of the Lord is a holocuast. That is what is says here in the Hebrew - Yom Shoa - and the modern Hebrew name for the holocuast is Yom HaShoa - the day of the catastrophe.
The Day of the King is a day of shofar and teruah shown in the verse as trumpet calls and battle cries.
So as we come to Yom Teruah next week this is what we are rememebring - the warning of the King.
The king gathers to destroy - “asoph aseiph”.
But remember - this is a prophecy - Zephaniah is a prophet and the very purpose of the prophets are to deliver messages from God because He loves manking.
His prophets act as watchmen for us.
But if the watchman sees the sword come and does not blow the shofar, the people are not warned.
Then the sword does come and takes a person from among them—he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
“You, son of man, I have set you as a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear the word from My mouth, warn them from Me.
And so we read from Zephaniah’s warning.
Gather together! Gather together, O shameless nation— before the decree is brought forth, before the day passes away like chaff, before Adonai’s burning anger comes upon you,
before the day of Adonai’s anger comes upon you! Seek Adonai, all you humble of the land who have executed His judgment.
Seek righteousness; seek meekness! Perhaps you will be hidden on the day of Adonai’s wrath.
Before king gathers men have an opportunity like dry sticks to gather ourselves.
God gives mankind an opporunity to gather in repentance before Him - before the Day of the King is made official.
This is of course the story of Jonah - God sent him to warn the city of Ninevah to escape the coming Day of the King - and they repented.
This is the way to be hidden on The Day of the Lord’s wrath.
The King’s Day - He Gathers The Nations
The King’s Day - He Gathers The Nations
Many look at the ferocity that God Judges His people Israel with and mock them. But they do so at their own peril.
The remainder of zephaniah’s warning in chapter 2 reminds us that all are judged - there is no partiality with God.
Why is that? It’s because the King of Israel is constantly reminding us that He is actually the King Through Israel.
You see it is Through Israel that the King has determined to rule the earth. The whole earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.
And so Zephaniah announced that the Lord is sovereign over all peoples, and would judge the nations and Judah for their wickedness and evil (Zeph 2:4–3:8).
Nations from all points of the compass—Philistia to the west, Moab and Ammon to the east, Cush (Ethiopia) to the south, and Assyria to the north—to demonstrate the encompassing nature of the King’s judgment (Zeph 2:5–15).
The Philistine coast will become a wilderness pasture, a place of shepherd camps and enclosures for sheep and goats. The remnant of the tribe of Judah will pasture there.
They will rest at night in the abandoned houses in Ashkelon. For the Lord their God will visit his people in kindness and restore their prosperity again.
That’s the King’s anger against the nations on the East.
And now we begin to see the theme of the remnant.
And this is the pattern - the surrounding nations celebrate the fall of Israel but it’s the remnant of Judah that ultimately possess those nations.
Why? Because He is the king through Israel. The King’s Day is a day where all peoples of the earth bow their knee and acknowledge Him as God.
And with that Zephaniah warns the nations on the West.
“I have heard the taunts of the Moabites and the insults of the Ammonites, mocking my people and invading their borders.
Now, as surely as I live,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, “Moab and Ammon will be destroyed— destroyed as completely as Sodom and Gomorrah.
Their land will become a place of stinging nettles, salt pits, and eternal desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them and take their land.”
What is the purpose of all of this? Is it to destroy? No, the purpose of judgement is produce the honour fit for the King.
Adonai will be fearsome against them. For all the gods of the earth He will make waste away. To Him will bow, each from its place, the islands of the nations.
What we are learning is that on the King’s Day - the Day of the Lord - the nations will finally truly honour Him as befits the King of all the earth.
And to make that point the south and the north also receive a word from the Lord by His Ruach through Zephaniah.
“You Ethiopians will also be slaughtered by my sword,” says the Lord. And the Lord will strike the lands of the north with his fist, destroying the land of Assyria.
He will make its great capital, Nineveh, a desolate wasteland, parched like a desert.
It is a grave mistake for the nations to think only Judah is gathered for judgement.
He is the King of Israel and will be King Through Israel for the Lord has made Zion His dwelling place.
The prophet Joel also shouts a message about the Day of the King saying
“At the time of those events,” says the Lord, “when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will judge them for harming my people, my special possession, for scattering my people among the nations, and for dividing up my land.
and again
Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of Adonai is near in the valley of decision.
And Zephaniah echoes the same blast of warning
“Therefore wait for Me,” declares the Lord, “For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them My indignation, All My burning anger; For all the earth will be devoured By the fire of My zeal.
The King’s Day - He Gathers The Remnant
The King’s Day - He Gathers The Remnant
The King’s day is a day of fire and purification.
The result of gathering Israel and the nations for judgement is that a fire of purging happens.
And the result of purifcation is a remnant - that part left over wihch is truly valuable.
“For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, That all of them may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him shoulder to shoulder. “From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, Will bring My offerings.
the remnant will have mouths that declare true honour of the king. pure worship will come from their mouths.
the ones left over after the judgement will come - honour the King on His holy mountain in Zion.
Pure offerings of praise and worship and glory will be dedicated to Him.
This is the story of the Bible - the King who deserves the glory and honour of creation ultimately receiving that.
The story of the Bible is not man centered. The story of the Bible is God centered. Specifically - the honour of the King.
“But I will leave among you A humble and lowly people, And they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.
“The remnant of Israel will do no wrong And tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue Be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down With no one to make them tremble.”
It’s ultimately this remnant that will be able to shout a teruah to the King - a shout of joy and rejoicing!
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! For the Lord will remove his hand of judgment and will disperse the armies of your enemy.
And the Lord himself, the King of Israel, will live among you! At last your troubles will be over, and you will never again fear disaster.
Indeed our King is faithful to HIs covenant. He will gather the remnant and the outcast.
Those who were scattered into the nations as a resulf judgemnt and exile will hear the teruah of the King and return to Him. This is the prophetic picture.
“I will gather you who mourn for the appointed festivals; you will be disgraced no more. And I will deal severely with all who have oppressed you.
I will save the weak and helpless ones; I will bring together those who were chased away. I will give glory and fame to my former exiles, wherever they have been mocked and shamed. On that day I will gather you together and bring you home again.
I will give you a good name, a name of distinction, among all the nations of the earth, as I restore your fortunes before their very eyes. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
This is the heritage of those who seek the Lord before the Day of the Lord.
And it’s with this prophetic picture in mind that we can better appreciate Yeshua’s message.
We have a king who is not passive in preserving that remnant, but He is active.
It is through Yeshua, the king who was on High and became low so that we might hear the teruah of the shofar and listen to the warning.
“God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
Just as joseph was thougth to be a slave, yet became king to preserve a remnant, so was Yeshua thought to be a worthless outcast so that we might be preserved through his kingship.
How can this God not be worthy of Glory and Honour! What kind of King is this?! He is unlike any other.
As the remnant of King Yeshua we escape his wrath of God.
But since we are of the day, let us be sober-minded—putting on the breastplate of faithfulness and love, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
For God did not destine us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He died for us so that, whether we may be awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
We are not children of the night, but of the day. The Day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night - but only for those who do not hear and act upon the Teruah of God.
It will come about in that day, Adonai will thresh from the channel of the River to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, Bnei-Yisrael.
It will also come about in that day, a great shofar will be blown. Those perishing in the land of Assyria and the exiles in the land of Egypt will come and worship Adonai on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
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.
Then the remnant will be gathered. This will be the fulfilment of the prophetic words that the Spirit gave through His holy prophets.
“But immediately after the trouble of those days, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory.
He will send out His angels with a great shofar, and they will gather together His chosen from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
“Now when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on His left.
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Conclusion
Conclusion
the Day of King Messiah is coming and the festival of Yom Teruah is meant to be a time of remembering the sounds that gather.
we listen to the blast of the shofar and remember the judgments on egypt and believe in the judgments to come.
The King’s Day is a time of Gathering - of His people and the nations alike.
The choice is up to each person if they want to be amongst the remnant and the way to do that is through repentance, teshuvah, turning to God as you hear the sounds of warning.
And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.
You may be wondering if Gabe and I made that trip.
We did. Our hearts were beating and the family on board had cotton mouth. But we ran up the galleyway and stepped inside and the ship doors literally closed behind us.
The sound of the Teruah blast is a sound of gathering. A call to assemble.
We can either gather now in repentance or we can gather later in the valley of the King’s decision. That is what Yom Teruah is about. That is what this festival season points toward.
