The Feast of Trumpets

God's calendar is a lunar calendar based on the phases of the moon. Each month starts with a new moon, reaching a full moon in the midst of the 28 day cycle. Thus Passover always falls on a full moon - the first full moon of spring (usually April).

Passover is the feast of salvation from sin (1). For the Hebrews it was deliverance from bondage (Exodus 12), and for the Christian, deliverance from sin (1). Jesus was sacrificed on Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7. John 19:14). The Jews marked their houses with the blood of the lamb, and the Christian marks his house (his body, 2 Corinthians 5:1. 1 Corinthians 6:19;3:16) with the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:22, Ephesians 1:7. Revelation 1:5. Romans 5:9. Ephesians 2:13. 1 John 1:7. 1 Peter 1:18,19. Acts 20:28. Revelation 12:11). We do not keep the feast in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt, since that was a shadow of the greater redemption to come. We take communion, a part of the original Passover feast, in remembrance of the Lord (1) (Matthew 26:27. John 1:29).

II. The feast of UNLEAVENED BREAD (Leviticus 23:6)

The second feast begins on the next night after Passover. God told the Jews to eat only the pure unleavened bread during the week following Passover. Leaven in the Bible typically symbolized sin and evil (1 Corinthians 5:7,8). Unleavened bread, eaten over a period of time symbolized a holy walk with the Lord. In the New Testament, the unleavened bread is the body of our Lord (John 6:33). The piece of bread, Jewish matzo, used by the Jews during this week of Unleavened Bread was striped (just like Jesus' body, Isaiah 53). The Passover ceremony of breaking and burying and then resurrecting a piece of this bread presents the Gospel in the midst of the modern Jewish Passover celebration.

God performed this exact ceremony with the burial of Jesus (1) on the exact day of the feast. Men have speculated how Jesus died so quickly on the cross. Crucifixion normally took three days but Jesus died in 6 hours. Our Lord died in time to be buried at sundown that day. He was placed on the cross at 9:00 a.m. and taken down at 3:00 p.m. There was time enough to wrap the body and bury it at sundown. Jesus said that no one could take His life from Him - "I lay it down and I take it up again." (John 10:17,18)

III. The feast of FIRST FRUITS (Leviticus 23:10,11)

Held on the Sunday following Unleavened Bread. God wanted a special feast during which the Jews would acknowledge the fertility of the fine land He gave them. They were to bring the early crops of their spring planting (first fruits) to the priest at the Temple to be waved before the Lord on their behalf. This was to be done "the morrow after the Sabbath" or Sunday. Since the feast of Unleavened Bread was seven days long, one of those days would be a Sunday.

We have come to call this feast Easter after the Babylonian goddess, Ishtar, the goddess of fertility. But the celebration was to be over God's replanting of the earth in the spring. We miss an important truth by not using the term "First Fruits" because "first" implies a second, third, etc... We celebrate the resurrection of the Lord as First Fruit (1 Corinthians 15:20,23) and the resurrection of the rest of us as we each follow Him (1) in our own time to Heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).

Jesus celebrated the Sunday of the week of His crucifixion by rising from the dead (1). It was not some other day He chose but the very day of First Fruits. First Fruits was the last of the feasts that the Lord was seen personally fulfilling on earth. But His ministry to the Church was to go on of course, in the feasts to follow, each on their appropriate days.

IV. The feast of PENTECOST (Leviticus 23:17)

God gave very specific directions for counting the proper number of days until the Feast of Harvest, which we refer to as Pentecost. It was to take place exactly 50 days after First Fruits (usually late May or early June). It actually marked the summer harvest. Here two "wave loaves" of equal weight were baked with leaven, representing sinful man and called "firstfruits" thereby representing redeemed or resurrected men. God was predicting that the Church would be comprised of two parts, Jew and Gentile.

Jesus rejoined His disciples after His resurrection and taught them for forty days. Then He told them to wait at Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit would come. And He did (1), exactly on the day of the feast (Acts 1:3). It was a great "harvest" of souls as 3000 people joined in that day (Acts 2:1. Exodus 32:28). Of course that is only a token of the harvest that will occur at the rapture of the church.

Four coincidences are hard to explain away, especially when each one is so completely appropriate to its purpose. Because we have not yet seen the fulfillment to feast number five, we remain under the orders of Pentecost, continuing the summer crop cultivation, as we work in the field until the great harvest marked by the next feast.

Now, today we are going to look at the first of three fall feasts of Israel each in order of their occurrences starting with the Feast of Trumpets.

The feast of TRUMPETS (Leviticus 23:23-25)

Leviticus 23:23–25 NKJV

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.’ ”

In the seventh month (usually in September), they had a memorial of blowing of trumpets. This year 2019 this holy day happens on Sep 30-Oct 1 M‑Tu this will be The Jewish New Year.

This jump in time from the last feast represents the Church Age, since the trumpet represents the Rapture of the Church.

The Feast of Trumpets marked the beginning of ten days of consecration and repentance before God. It is one of three feasts that occur in the autumn.

In the Leviticus passage, the words trumpet blasts are a translation of the Hebrew word teruah, which means “a shout” or “a blowing.”

It appears that the shofar (ram’s horn) was to be blown at this time.

The Feast of Trumpets, along with the other six festivals of the LORD, foreshadowed certain aspects of the ministry of Jesus Christ. The prophets linked the blowing of trumpets to the future Day of Judgment: “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand” (Joel 2:1; see also Zephaniah 1:14, 16).

In the New Testament, we see that the Lord’s Second Coming will be accompanied by the sound of a trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). So lets take a closer look at these texts.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 NKJV

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 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. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Corinthians 15:51–55 NKJV

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”

The trumpet blowing was a signal for the field workers to stop harvesting and leave immediately for worship at the Temple. Imagine a Jew and Non-Jewish person working side by side in the field. The Jew would leave and the Non-Jewish person would stay. (Matthew 24:40)

Matthew 24:40 NKJV

40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.

And this would be the sound they would hear...

((PLAY SOUND TRACK OF TRUMPET OF YOM TERUAH))

Each of the judgments in Revelation 8-9 is also signaled by a trumpet. Just as the shofar called the Jewish nation to turn their attention to the Lord and ready themselves for the Day of Atonement, so will the “trump of God” call us to heaven and warn the world of coming judgment.

For the Israelite people, the blowing of the trumpets on first day of the month heralded a solemn time of preparation for the Day of Atonement; this preparation time was called “Ten Days of Repentance” or the “Days of Awe.” The trumpet sound was an alarm of sorts and can be understood as a call to repentance.

Don’t linger and nor wait for God’s judgement to fall upon this world. Repent of your sins now, and “turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into His wonderful face, and things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.”

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