INTRODUCTION
The title of today’s message is, “When the Trumpet Sounds”… and is part 1 of a 3-part series on the Fall Festivals.
In Leviticus 23, God institutes a series of 7 feasts or festivals that the people of Israel were to observe each year…
Each of those have great significance in Jewish faith and practice… but each of those 7 feasts like many things in the OT also prophetically point to Jesus…
Those feasts were divided into 2 seasons…
The first 4 feasts are known as the Spring Festivals… and all 4 Spring Festivals have already been fulfilled by Jesus during His first coming…
… The Feast of Passover was fulfilled by Jesus’ sacrificial death as our Passover Lamb
… The Feast of Unleavened Bread was fulfilled by His burial
… The Feast of Firstfruits was fulfilled by His resurrection
… The Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost) was fulfilled by the coming of the Holy Spirit
The final 3 feasts are known as the Fall Festivals… We’re going to be hosting our own Fall Festival here at the church a little more than a month from now… but that’s not the kind of Fall Festival I’m talking about…
The 3 Fall Festivals from Leviticus 23 will be fulfilled when Jesus returns a 2nd time…
What I find so amazing is how perfectly and completely Jesus fulfilled each of the details of the 4 Spring Festivals in His first coming… even down the very DAY specified centuries earlier in the time of Moses!
Just like His fulfillment of the Spring Festivals, I believe and anticipate that Jesus will also perfectly and completely fulfill each of the details of the 3 Fall Festivals in His second coming…
Many Christians may not realize it, but beginning at sunset today is the first of the 3 Fall Festivals this year… Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets…
In fact, roughly an hour from right now, shofars (trumpets made of rams’ horns) will be sounding off in Jerusalem to mark the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets…
Go ahead and turn with me to the Old Testament… to Leviticus chapter 23… Please stand with me as we honor the reading of God’s Word that was given to Moses…
Leviticus 23:23–25 (CSB)
23 The Lord spoke to Moses:
24 “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.
25 You must not do any daily work, but you must present a food offering to the Lord.”
[PRAY]
GAP OF THE CHURCH AGE
In Leviticus 23, God provides Moses with basic instructions concerning the Sabbath and all 7 feasts…
The first 3 verses of this chapter talk about the Sabbath, then verses 4-21 outline the four Spring Feasts / Festivals that I had mentioned earlier… with the description of the Feast of Pentecost ending in verse 21…
Then we come to verse 22, which seems a little out of place… Let’s back up and read verse 22 real quick…
Leviticus 23:22 (CSB)
22 When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap all the way to the edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the resident alien; I am the Lord your God.”
This verse doesn’t belong to the verses about the Spring Feasts… nor does it belong to the verses about the Fall Feasts that start in verse 23… which is where we read about the Feast of Trumpets.
But verse 22 is squeezed in between the listing of Spring and Fall Festivals… and it gives instruction concerning the harvest… that they are to remember the poor and the alien (or stranger / foreigner)… which is a word used throughout the OT to describe someone who is not of the nation of Israel… or in other words… a “Gentile”.
So why is this in there? And why is it placed between the feasts of Pentecost and Trumpets?
Remember that each of the 7 feasts are prophetically pointing to Jesus and to future events that Jesus would fulfill…
This verse that so conveniently lands in the gap between the Spring and Fall Festivals… that so conveniently lands in the 4 month gap between the feasts of Pentecost and Trumpets… is also prophetic…
Prophetically, I believe this gap refers to the Church Age that began at Pentecost and which will reach its conclusion at Trumpets.
So what did God do during this gap between the Spring and Fall Festivals? He did exactly what He told Israel to do in verse 22… He remembered (and IS remembering) the poor and alien (foreigner/stranger)… He is sending His word to the far ends of the earth so that the Gentiles can be saved.
This is the age on the prophetic timeline that we are living in today!
It is the age of grace… but only until the day when the trumpet sounds… We’re living in the gap of time between the first coming of Christ, and His second coming…
Let's have a look at this exciting and important feast that gives us a glimpse into the second coming of Christ!
WHY TRUMPETS?
Trumpets played an important role in the life of the Israelites… One of the first mentions of the use of the trumpet is found in Exodus 19 in connection with the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. There, the trumpet was used to summon the people to the mountain.
In Numbers 10, God gave Moses instructions for using trumpets to:
… summon and assemble the people
… or to break camp and set out to a new destination
… or at the beginning of each month and during the appointed feasts as a reminder that the Lord was their God
… or to sound the alarm when battle / war was about to begin
I’m going to talk about what this means in a spiritual context later in the message, but first, let’s build a better understanding of this particular feast.
DAYS OF AWE
The Feast of Trumpets starts on the first day of the Jewish month of Tishrei… which is the seventh month of the Jewish calendar…
The feast itself was pretty simple… The people were to gather together for a day of solemn rest in which they took a break from their work… and they were to remember God with a blast of the trumpets and present a food offering to the Lord.
It's a two day feast (Tishrei 1-2) because it requires the sighting of the new moon… and when the new moon was sighted, then it had to be reported to the priests… Because of the uncertainty of when exactly this will occur, the Feast of Trumpets is traditionally celebrated over two days… the first 2 days of the seventh month… with the most important part of the observance being the blowing of the shofar (ram’s horn).
After those 2 days are completed, there is a period of 7 days between feasts, followed by the next Fall Festival known as the Day of Atonement on the 10th of Tishrei.
These 10 days are collectively called the “Days of Awe”… They are the most solemn and holy days in the entire Jewish year. In fact, preparing for this time starts in the previous month… the month of Elul…
Beginning on the first day of Elul, the shofar is blown each day, except on the Sabbath days that month… and it’s also not blown on the day before the Feast of Trumpets.
Then on the two days of Rosh Hashanah, exactly 100 notes of various types are sounded, ending with one long blast from the shofar.
Each day, the trumpet is blown to remind the people to repent and return to God in preparation for the upcoming “Days of Awe”… Everyone was to search their own hearts during this period and make sure they were right with God.
Rosh Hashanah literally means ‘head of the year’ and is the Jewish New Year. They will greet each other with the words, “Shana Tova,” or “Good Year,” which is the shortened form of the complete greeting, “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.” It is a greeting to wish one another good so that their names could be written in the Book of Life for the upcoming year.
However, this is not the biblical New Year. The biblical New Year for Israel is the first day of the first month called Nisan in the Jewish Calendar, which was commanded by God when He set them free from their Egyptian bondage, which has been celebrated ever since as Passover.
However, in Judaism there are two New Years Days, the biblical one, which is the month of Nisan, which is where the Spring feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits are celebrated... and then what is known as the civil New Year, or the month of Tishri, which is where the Fall feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles are celebrated.
It is a solemn day of soul-searching, forgiveness, repentance, and remembering God's judgment and His covenant, as well as a joyful day of celebration, looking forward to God's goodness and mercy in the coming New Year.
PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT
So what is the prophetic or spiritual significance of the Feast of Trumpets? How does this feast point to Jesus?
First… I want to give a word of caution… When we’re looking at Biblical prophecy (especially prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled), we need to be super careful.
It’s much easier to look backward and see how a prophecy was fulfilled than to try to anticipate the details of future events… especially when we’ve only been given glimpses and shadows and colorful metaphors of those future events.
Jesus literally fulfilled the spring feasts at His first coming, including the inauguration of the church age on the Day of Pentecost as He empowered His followers with the Holy Spirit.
So I have little doubt that He will literally fulfill the three fall feasts at His second coming.
However, just as the fulfillment of the spring feast was somewhat of a mystery until those events actually took place, for us there is also a bit of mystery concerning exactly how Jesus is going to fulfill the fall feasts.
With that in mind, I’ll do my best this morning to shed light on the significance of the Feast of Trumpets.
I believe the evidence points to the Feast of Trumpets finding its fulfillment in the Rapture of the Church! So let’s take a look…
YOM HADIN (THE DAY OF JUDGMENT)
There are several other names for the Feast of Trumpets… One is Yom Hadin, or the Day of Judgment…
According to the Talmud, three books of account are opened on Rosh Hashanah and the fate of each person for the next year is sealed. The names of the righteous are immediately recorded in the book of life, those of the wicked are blotted out of the book of life and they are appointed for death and then there are those in between, the ‘intermediates’, who are given ten days until Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement / 2nd of the Fall Festivals) to repent and become righteous.
In connection with the Feast of Trumpets beginning this period of judgment is the fact that the Jews also associate this feast with something called the “time of Jacob’s trouble”.
Jeremiah 30:7 (CSB)
7 How awful that day will be! There will be no other like it! It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it.
They see that the “Days of Awe” or the days of tribulation are going to be an incredibly difficult time for Israel… You see, there are 7 days between the completion of Rosh Hashanah and the Day of Atonement… and many Bible scholars believe these 7 days indicate the 7 years of tribulation as also prophesied in Daniel and Revelation… the 7 years between the rapture of the church and the day that Christ returns.
This is one reason why it is believed that the Feast of Trumpets ushers in the rapture of the church, as those who are ‘wholly righteous’ due to the imputed righteousness of Christ that has been given to us are called to assemble together when the trumpet of Rosh Hashanah sounds…
1 Thessalonians 4:15–17 (CSB)
15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
The Day of Judgment for a believer happens after we are raptured and experience the Judgment Seat of Christ...
Romans 14:10–12 (CSB)
10 But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
11 For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.
12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
This is NOT judgment to determine whether we receive heaven or hell… As believers, we have already been found “innocent” and our heavenly destination set… Instead, this is where the accounting of our lives results either in rewards and crowns that we get to place at the feet of Jesus, or whether we stand there empty handed.
As believers, we won’t face the wrath of God because this has been taken by Christ. But those who have rejected Christ will face the wrath of God starting with the days of awe… According to Jewish belief, in the days of awe, some will be ‘wholly wicked’ and will not repent even with clear evidence of God… But the ‘intermediates’ will choose in this day which way they go… and they will have either until death or the Day of Atonement to repent and turn to the Lord before it’s too late.
YOM HAKESEH (THE HIDDEN DAY)
In Jewish thought this feast was also known as Yom Hakesh, or ‘the hidden day.’
It was said to be hidden from Satan… because they didn't know the exact day it would begin due to the fact that they had to first sight the smallest part of the new moon. This is why it was a two day feast because they didn't want to celebrate it on the wrong day.
Concerning Rosh Hashanah, the Jews would typically say "Of that day and hour no one knows."
We see a similar statement from Jesus in Matthew 24:36:
“Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels of heaven nor the Son—except the Father alone.”
While us Gentiles read this to mean that nobody knows when Jesus will return, the Jewish mind could likely see Jesus referring to the Feast of Trumpets in making this statement.
There is also a concept of believers being ‘hidden’ at this time of the Hidden Day, which many believe is talking about the rapture of the church… verses like
Psalm 27:5 (CSB)
5 For he will conceal me in his shelter in the day of adversity; he will hide me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock.
Zephaniah 2:2–3 (CSB)
2 before the decree takes effect and the day passes like chaff, before the burning of the Lord’s anger overtakes you, before the day of the Lord’s anger overtakes you.
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the Lord’s anger.
Isaiah 26:19–21 (CSB)
19 Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and close your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.
21 For look, the Lord is coming from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal the blood shed on it and will no longer conceal her slain.
OTHER NAMES
There are several other names used for the Feast of Trumpets… names like Yom Teruah - 'Day of Awakening Blast'
… another name is the “Last Trump”… and Yom Zikaron - 'Day of Remembrance'
… and Yom Hamelech - Day of Coronation of the King
… it’s also referred to as “The Opening of the Gates of Heaven”… and the “Wedding of the Messiah”…
While we don’t have time this morning to go into each of these other names for the Feast of Trumpets, they too point to (I believe) the rapture of the church… and each of these are based in Jewish teaching and traditions.
TIMELINE
We see the Church Age coming to a close soon… The signs are all around us…
and I personally believe that the Church Age… or the prophetic time between the Spring Festivals and the Fall Festivals… will come to a close When the Trumpet Sounds… with the rapture of the Church in fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets.
Which then ushers in the time of tribulation… coinciding with the time between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, which I hope to talk about next week.
THE PERSONAL ASPECT
So how should this impact us today? For a believer, the feast of trumpets centers on us being watchful and ready.
Trumpets were used to alert the people of God.
Because trumpets were also used in the battles that Israel fought, the personal aspect also speaks of the spiritual warfare that a believer experiences.
These two aspects are related and are beginning to converge in our age.
The 'attacks' upon the believer are increasing in our age... Spiritual warfare is increasing.
Persecution of Christian believers has been common outside of the Western countries but as we approach the time of the fulfillment of the feast of trumpets I don't believe it will be at all easy to hold to a true Christian faith in any part of the world.
Believer, you need to watch! Watch and be aware of what is happening in this world... Watch for the coming of the Lord... Watch and guard your own heart.
Is worldliness choking your fruitfulness and passion for the Lord or are you growing in the Lord and desiring to help others?
Are you staying alert or getting sleepy?
The warning of the Lord concerning the difficult days that lie before us can be found in Matthew 24:12:
“Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.”
Don't allow that to happen in your heart!
Understand that there is a full, real time battle going on for your heart and life.
We must search our own hearts and make sure we are right with God… and the Feast of Trumpets is our reminder calling us to evaluate ourselves and repent and turn to the Lord.
CONCLUSION
Earlier, I gave you 4 purposes for sounding a trumpet according to Numbers 10… Here they are again:
1. Assembling the whole congregation together
2. Setting out to a new destination
3. At the times of rejoicing at the appointed feasts and festivals
4. To sound the alarm when battle/war was about to begin
Can you see now how these will all be fulfilled at the rapture? The blowing of the heavenly trumpet will be a call for the entire, true, bride of Christ to assemble together. That place, according to 1 Thes 4, will be in the air!
And when I say 'the whole congregation' that is what I mean. God will not leave one true believer out of this. Not even those that are already dead, for the amazing thing is that the dead in Christ will rise first and then we which are alive will meet them in the air. That is one big assembly! But that is what the Lord will do... He will assemble the entire congregation together for the first time.
Secondly, the heavenly trumpet is a call to set out to our new destination… the heavenly Promised Land.
And because we’re being assembled together and setting out for our heavenly destination, we see how the third aspect is fulfilled… the rapture will be a time of rejoicing just as there was rejoicing around the feasts.
And lastly we see that the heavenly trumpet will signal a time of battle and war for those still on the earth. It is the sound of alarm for those left behind. As the prophet Joel spoke about:
Joel 2:1–2
1 Blow the ram’s horn 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—
2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and total darkness, like the dawn spreading over the mountains; a great and strong people appears, such as never existed in ages past and never will again in all the generations to come.
We are approaching the time when the heavenly trumpet will be heard. Jesus is coming soon!
Repent and turn your hearts toward God… and then run your race well... Finish your race well...
For the trumpet could sound quicker than you think!
[PRAY]
***
*** With appreciation to the following for insights and some expressions used in this sermon:
*** “The Feast Of Trumpets” by Pat Damiani on Jan 30, 2018 on SermonCentral.com
*** “The Rapture - Jesus in the Feast of Trumpets Bible Study” by I Gordon on JesusPlusNothing.com
***
