Yom Teruah
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Introduction
Introduction
Play “Selichot” clip: (1) Beautiful 20,000 Jews Praying Selichot At The Western Wall 🇮🇱 - YouTube
Tonight we are beginning a series on the “Fall Feasts” of Israel, as we see in Leviticus 23. If you would, please, go ahead and turn there with me. Our intention in doing so, is to see the prophetic significance of the Feasts, and how they inform the way that we see the prophetic timetable.
Read Leviticus 23:1-4.
First a foremost, I want to point out that these are “appointed times” and assemblies for the nation of Israel. They are of such great importance to the Jewish People, that we see their entire calendar is governed by them.
As you probably well know, the common calendar, or the Gregorian Calendar, is a solar calendar. It is based on the reckoning of one single circuit around the sun. The day is determined by one full rotation of the earth on its axis, with the median point of the sun being the highest in the sky being “high noon” and the other median point being when the sun is on the opposite side of the earth from you, being “midnight”.
The Hebrew Calendar is a Lunar Calendar, based on the different phases of the moon. This determines the Jewish Day, the Jewish Month, and the Jewish Year.
It is primarily based on how we see God reckoning the day in Genesis 1. For instance Genesis 1:5 says, “God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening, and there was a morning: one day.”
The Jewish Lunar Calendar
Nisan—>March, April—>Pesach (Passover & Unleavened Bread), First fruits.
Iyar—> April, May.
Sivan—> May, June—> Shavuot, or Pentecost.
Tamuz—> June, July.
Av—> July, August—> .
Elui—> August, September.
Tishri—> September, October—> Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot.
Cheshvan—> October, November.
Kislev—> November, December.
Tevet—> December, January.
Shevat—> January, February.
Adar —> February, March.
While there are several other Holy Days that have propped up over the centuries for the Jewish People, the 7 that are on the calendar before us tonight are considered the 7 Biblical Feasts or Appointed Times.
Jesus fulfilled the first 4 already. We don’t have time to go into great depth on them but:
Jesus is the Passover Lamb: 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Jesus is the firstfruits of the Resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15:20-28.
Jesus gathered in the first harvest on Pentecost (Shavuot): Acts 2, the birthday of the Church
Today is Elul 12, 5783.
The Next Holidays are:
Rosh Hashanah—> September 16 & 17, or the 1st of Tishri.
Yom Kippur—> September 25, or 10th of Tishri.
Sukkot—> September 29, 30th, or 15th of Tishri.
In this series, our intention is to consider how Jesus is going to fulfill these, because He hasn’t yet. He may have in someways “spiritually” for us as the Church, but in terms for the Jewish People, for whom they were given, He has yet to fulfill them.
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah
You will not find that name in the Bible, in fact, it didn’t show up in Judaism until about year 200 A.D. What you find in the Bible is Yom Teruah, or the Feast of Trumpets.
Lets look at Leviticus 23:23-25.
A reminder of things past.
Exodus 19:16-19.
The loud piercing cry of the Shofar was to gather the people and remind them of God’s presence on Mount Sinai when He gave them them the Torah.
Give a Shofar Blast.
Nehemiah 8:1-12.
It is a reminder of the times of repentance in the past.
Similar to Ezra 3:1-5.
Ezra 3:12-13 “But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple, but many others shouted joyfully. The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from that of the weeping, because the people were shouting so loudly. And the sound was heard far away.”
The People were both grieved and overjoyed at the fact that they had the Torah again, and as they were being taught its meaning for the very first time, they were moved to repentance because they finally understood why they were in Captivity in the first place.
Currently, it acts a preparation for the 10 days of Awe, or the 10 days of Repentance, leading up to Yom Kippur, or the day of atonement.
There is a Shabbat Service dedicated to repentance. There are 10 blows of the Shofar, each followed by a specific repentant prayer.
The Shofar in Judaism, is meant to get God’s attention, so that He will see how repentant their hearts are.
This is accompanied by throwing a piece of bread, or a rock, into what is called “living water” in Judaism, usually a river.
The river will take the rock or bread away from the thrower, signifying:
Psalm 103:8-12 “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Traditionally they also eat Apples and Honey, and other sweet things to remember God’s lovingkindness mercy during that time. Also, it is meant to start out the new year with sweetness.
Remember the video I showed at the beginning? That is 20,000 Jewish men and women kicking off Rosh Hashanah at the Western Wall, by singing prayers of repentance together.
Play it again: (1) Beautiful 20,000 Jews Praying Selichot At The Western Wall 🇮🇱 - YouTube
A pointing to things future.
Isaiah 27:12-13. In this context, the Lord has just waged war against those who came against His Chosen People. When that happens, we get to what takes place in these verses.
We see here two different things happening.
Notice the Great Trumpet that’s blown? Literally Gadol Shofar. Great Shofar or Trumpet. God gathers His people.
All of God’s People are then gathered at God’s Mountain. Remember Sinai? The Great Shofar blows and the People gather and tremble.
God is Worshiped by His People in Jerusalem.
Zechariah 12:10.
Repentance and Worship follows.
The Day of Blowing, Yom Teruah, points to the Return of the King.
An Appointed Day.
Jesus says 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.”
I’m NOT declaring to you today that Jesus is returning this year, September 15, on Rosh Hashanah. What I am saying is that I would not at all be surprised if Jesus would return on Yom Teruah, or Rosh Hashanah in the future.
The day of Rosh Hashanah is incredibly hard to determine.
It is the first day of lunar month.
I don’t know the science behind it, but every other Holy Day is in the middle of the month, so it is quite easy to determine when it will be.
Leviticus 23:5 “The Passover to the Lord comes in the first month, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the month.”
If you look at most Jewish Calendars, they put two days for it, because they want to be super sure that they are celebrating it on the correct day.
It is because of this difficulty that the Chief Priest and the Levites would send out riders to all areas of Israel to declare when Yom Teruah was here.
Because of the travelling distance, it would be in the middle of the night when you found out it was here, and they would have to pack up and go the next day.
They would need to live with expectancy for Yom Teruah.
Similar to Jesus’s parables:
The Faithful Servant: Matthew 24:45-51.
The Ten Virgins: Matthew 25:1-13.
Matthew 25:13 ““Therefore be alert, because you don’t know either the day or the hour.”
We need to be ready for when the Lord comes.
Romans 13:11-14.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
Or maybe you haven’t trusted in Christ yet:
Ephesians 5:14.