(September 8, 2010) Tomorrow the Jews will celebrate Rosh Hashanah as the beginning of the New Year on the Jewish civil calendar. Rosh Hashanah begins on the first day of the Jewish month of Tishri (which occurs during September-October of the solar calendar). The Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah with the blowing of shofars or trumpets. That is because this holy day is actually the biblically ordained Yom Teru’ah or Day of Shouting or Raising a Noise. God commanded the Jews to blow trumpets (shofars) on this day:
“24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.” (Leviticus 23:24)
The seventh month in this passage refers to the religious calendar and the month of Tishri. Tishri is also the first month of the civil calendar. Thus, the Day of Blowing the Trumpets (Numbers 29:1) is celebrated on the same day as Rosh Hashanah. This day is one of seven biblical Jewish days/feasts that God commanded the Jews to observe every year. God gives no reason for the observance of the Feast of Trumpets except to say it is a “memorial of blowing of trumpets”. However, it is possible that this holy day has an End-Times prophetic significance.
The apostle Paul in his letter to the Church at Colossae may have given some insight into the holy days God commanded the Jews to observe:
“16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17)
Paul says that the feasts and holy days were a shadow of things to come or in other words Christians can learn something about God’s purposes and plans. There are seven feasts/holy days that God declared the Jews had to observe every year. The first three are Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits which occur in the Jewish month of Nisan (also called Aviv) in the spring months of March-April. The fourth is the Feast of Weeks or Harvest (also called Pentecost) which occurs in the third Jewish month of Sivan or May-June. The final three feasts occur in the autumn during the seventh Jewish month of Tishri. They are the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and the Feast of Tabernacles.
What is significant in regards to the Feast days is that Jesus fulfilled the first four feasts on the exactdays of their observance. He was crucified on Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread, resurrected on the Feast of Firstfruits, and baptized the disciples with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. This means that it is possible that Jesus will likewise fulfill the final three autumn feasts on the exact days of their observances.
The first is the Feast of Trumpets which, as mentioned above, is to be observed on the first day of Tishri and begins with the first sighting of the New Moon. In modern times, the Jews celebrate Tishri as the first month in their calendar. The first day of Tishri is now called Rosh haShanah which means head of the year. Hence, the Jews celebrate it as their New Years Day. In biblical times though, they called it Yom Teru’ah which means the day of the sounding of the shofar or trumpet.
Jews actually celebrate the Feast of Trumpets on the first and second days of Tishri. This is because the Jewish calendar is based on the lunar cycles. Each month begins on the new moon. In times past the Jews declared the new moon by observation. When the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council) saw the new moon they declared that a new month had started. They then sent out messengers to tell people when the month began. However, they could not always notify those Jews who lived in distant communities in time to tell them that the new month had started. Since sending out messengers took some time these distant Jewish communities might not hear the announcement until the second day of the month. Therefore, the Jews celebrated the holidays on both days so that they would be faithful in obeying God’s Law.
All God says about the Feast of Trumpets is that it is to be celebrated as a memorial by the blowing of trumpets. The Bible gives no other reason as to why God told the Jews they must observe this holy day. I believe the answer could lie in prophecy.
Why then did God order the blowing of trumpets on the first (and now second) day of Tishri for a memorial? I believe it was foretelling of the day that the Messiah would appear in the sky and sound the trumpet to rapture and gather together His followers in the sky:
“13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (I Thessalonians 4:13-17)
If this is so then the Rapture may take place on the first or second day of Tishri. For two reasons this does not violate Jesus’ statement that “…of that day and that hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” (Matthew 24:36) The first is that we still don’t know the year in which the Rapture will take place and therefore wouldn’t know the date. The second is that the Feast of Trumpets is celebrated on two successive days of Tishri. Thus, we would not know which of these days the Rapture would occur.
The second fall feast is the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur which occurs on the 10th of Tishri and is the only day every year when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple and atone for the sins of the Israelites by offering a sacrifice to God on their behalf. As a result of this offering God would forgive the Jews of their sins. Jesus’ second coming could therefore occur on the Day of Atonement. The prophet Zechariah speaks of that day as being a time of Jewish recogniton of Jesus as their Messiah and God then pouring out His saving Spirit upon them:
“9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced.” (Zechariah 12:19-10)
The apostle Paul may also be speaking of that Day in his letter to the Roman Christians:
“25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Romans 11:25-27)
The final autumn feast is the Feast of Tabernacles and occurs on the 15th of Tishri. That day the Israelites were to dwell in booths or tabernacles/tents in the care of the Lord. After Jesus’ return to earth He is going to enter into the rebuilt Temple/Tabernacle of God in Jerusalem and reign over the renovated earth from His throne. Thus He will be tabernacling with His people and thereby possibly fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles.
Of course Jesus could fufill these feasts in a different way than the ones I have speculated about here. For that reason Christians are always to be watching because we do not know when our Master will return.
