Tashlich 2015
September 13, 2015 Chester Riverfront Service Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A The Feast of Trumpets is the first Jewish Feast since Pentecost (June).
1 For the Jews, it has been three long, hot, dry months without a single feast.
a The Feast of Pentecost had celebrated the marriage between God & Israel.
aa Pentecost was when God showed up in majesty, glory, power at Mt. Sinai before
Moses & the Nation. (He gave them His love, law, promise, blessing, a plan.)
cc The Jews got two out of three . . . but failed with the last because their leaders
rejected Jesus as Messiah.
b When Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah, God turned His attention primarily
toward the Gentiles: the result is that for the last 2,000 years Israel has been
primarily in long dry spell in their relationship with God (and God’s relationship with Israel.)
aa God’s covenant with Israel is eternal, forever, unconditional . . .
however, for the last 2,000 years God has blessed the Gentiles due to Israel’s rejection of Jesus.
bb John 1:11-13 (NASB) 11 He came to His own, and those who were His
own (Jews) did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them
(Gentiles) He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who
believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the
flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
cc I believe we, the Church, have been blessed during the last 2,000 years,
but rest assured there will come a time, very soon, that God will turn
His attention back to the Jews and once again deal with them on a
national basis.
2 As we see Israel in the spotlight today, restoration as a nation/controlling Jerusalem,
we know that God has begun to deal with Israel as nation once more.
a Because we are aware of the signs of the season, we know that the return of Jesus is near, even if the nations force Israel to divide Jerusalem.
aa God has not forgotten the apple of His eye, His Chosen People, Israel. (Neither should we, the Church, the recipient of blessing forfeited by Israel’s rejection of Jesus.)
bb Even in the Leviticus, God seemed to be pointing to the fact that He has
a plan to bring the Jews and Gentiles in the framework of the prophetic
Feasts, especially when describing the last feast we celebrated,
Pentecost.
Leviticus 23:22 (NASB)
22 'When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the LORD your God.'" (We, the Gentile Church, are the aliens, strangers)
cc The church has been brought into the field of blessing, provided access
to certain promises of the covenant promises made to Israel through
Jesus.
B The church has filled the period of time from the first and second coming of Jesus. (Pentecost to Rosh Shoshana.)
1 He came the first time as the Paschal Lamb of Passover by dying on the cross for our sins, then the Holy Spirit was sent to initiate, ignite, and inaugurate the Church at Pentecost.
a Tonight, we stand 644 miles from this river begins, at Lake Itasca,
Minnesota.
aa For the last minute, nearly a half billion gallons of water has
flowed before you and it will keep traveling until it meets it
destination when it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico.
bb Its course has been set and the current put into motion a long
time ago (takes 90 days for a raindrop at Lake Itasca to reach
the Gulf)
b The feast that begins tonight, Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Shoshana, was
set in motion over 3,500 years, but was conceived in the heart of God in
eternity.
aa Leviticus 23:23-25 (NASB) 23 Again the LORD spoke to Moses,
saying, 24 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'In the seventh
month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by
blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 ~'You shall not do any
laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the
LORD.'"
bb The key purpose of the Feast of Trumpets was to announce the
arrival of the seventh month in order to prepare the people for the
Day Atonement (Yom Kippur.)
cc It marks the time that God would close the books on the previous
year with the people and start fresh with a sweet new year.
2 There is no special events with this feast, in fact, the Hebrews blew trumpets to mark the beginning of every month . . . but on this day, the trumpets were blown extra long, loud throughout the day.
a The trumpet that was blown was the shofar (made from a ram’s horn), in
remembrance of the ram God provided as a sacrifice in place of Isaac on
Abraham’s alter.
aa Jewish teachings speak that God blew a shofar at Mount Sinai at
Pentecost and will blow it again at the coming of Messiah.
bb The shofar is symbolic of God’s voice/shout/victory/worship.
b The shofar was blown amongst the Hebrews as a signal to assemble to
worship, to break camp, and as an alarm to prepare for battle.
aa Perhaps the clearest example of the power of the trumpet is in the
account of Joshua at the battle of Jericho. (Moses had died, the
leadership fell upon Joshua and he was now responsible for leading
the people into the Promised Land.)
bb We find Joshua talking to one who identified himself as “The
Commander of the army of the Lord” and the Commander gave
Joshua history’s most unique battle plan to overtake Jericho.
c The plan: 1) March around the city once a day in silence for six days with
the army out front, seven priests with shofars behind the army, behind
those priests were another group of priests carrying the Ark of the
Covenant, followed by a rear guard. 2) March around the fortified city and
the only sound is the priests blowing the shofars.
aa On the seventh day, march around the city seven times in silence . .
until Joshua gave the command for the priests to blow one long,
loud blast on the shofar, and then the army was to shout!
bb Just as the Commander had told Joshua, the walls came down
enabling the Jews to take the city.
C The Jews began to call God the “horn of their salvation.” (Meant that He was their deliverer who would fight their battles for them and save them from their enemies.)
1 Psalm 18:1-3 (NASB)
1 "I love You, O LORD, my strength."
2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies.
a
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My name is Mike Fogerson, and I pastor a Southern Baptist Church in Chester, Illinois. I have been a long-time user of Sermon Central and truly appreciate its content and contributors. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever preached have been reworked material from this website. As you use the material from my sermon bank, understand that it is work that has been done from not just myself, but from hundreds of other pastors as well. If you see part of your message, or a bunch of your message with my name on it and this upsets you, please email me and I will quickly respond and cite you as the main source. My intent is not to claim someone’s work as my own. I am disclaiming up front that I use the resources from Sermon Central and appreciate the tool. I simply want all those who use my work to know that some of these messages were inspired by the Holy Spirit working through other pastors. Because I do use the messages of other pastors I waive all claims of originality or origin of creativity for the messages posted under my messages. I pray God blesses your preaching ministry for the glory of His Kingdom.
Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
