73 Feast of trumpets | nazareneisrael2house

The Feast of Trumpets.

We commence by reading from Leviticus 23: 23 – 25: ‘Again YHVH 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 (Sabbath), a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy (set-apart) convocation. (25) You shall not do any laborious work, but shall present an offering by fire to YHVH.’”’ The Feast of Trumpets, also known as Yom Teruah is the only feast day that is celebrated when the moon is in its concealment, on the first day of the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar, namely (תשרי) transliterated as Tishri.

We understand from the Scriptures that king Saul of Israel had a custom to observe the New Moons because of the yearly sacrifice (at the beginning of Tishri) with a special celebratory meal on both the days during which the moon was in concealment, as witnessed in first Samuel 20: 5, 6, 27 & 34, as follows: ‘So David said to Jonathan, “Behold tomorrow is the new moon, and I ought to sit down to eat with the king. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field until the third evening. (6) “If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city, because it is the yearly sacrifice there for the whole family.’ (Many who follow the crescent moon calendar mistakenly used verse 5 to prove that King Saul as well as David kept the New Moon, and rightly so, but notice that this was for the yearly sacrifice, meaning the Feast of Trumpets on the 1st and 2nd of Tishri, whilst the moon was in concealment. David obviously feared that King Saul wanted to kill him, so he hid himself for two days – why two days? Because of the New Moon of Tishri that was kept for two days, and because the third day when the crescent of the moon becomes visible, it is not the New Moon any longer, as we see from the next two verses) (27) And it came about the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty; so Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, neither yesterday or today?” (34) Then Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did not eat food on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved over David because his father had dishonored him.’ So we see a new (concealed) moon last for two days.

However, since the return of Judah from their captivity, seventy years after they were taken captive by king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, they have been keeping the Feast of Trumpets or as it is known to our Jewish Brothers, Rosh Hashanah for two days, as witnessed in Nehemiah 8: 2 & 13, in this way: ‘Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. (13) Then on the second day the heads of father’s households of all the people, the priests, and the Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe that they might gain insight into the words of the law.’ It is then also for this reason that my wife and I keep the Feast on Yom Teruah for two days with our Jewish Brothers. We also use the second day to perform the ritual of Tashlich, where we symbolically cast away our sins, by throwing bread into the sea, or another large body of water for those living inland.

During all the other Feast Days of Elohim, the light of the moon is visible or revealed. It is as we read from the Hebrew version of Psalm 81: 3 (KJV), as follows: “Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.” The New Moon is essentially dark, when the shadow of the earth covers the moon fully, when the earth moves directly between the sun and the moon, but the new month commences the moment when it starts moving to eventually in about a day and a half to two days, reveal a visible crescent moon. Therefore, when it is necessary to declare a postponement where the day of Yom Teruah is moved a day forward to ensure that the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) never falls before or after a weekly Sabbath, the New Moon will still be dark. Yom Teruah is called a day of remembrance in Torah: when we hear the blast of the shofar on Yom Teruah, we should call to mind the time when our Israelite ancestors stood at Mount Sinai where Moses received the covenant from the hand of YHVH and declared Him as King over Israel. Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah marks the date of creation of mankind. That was the time (the first day of Tishri) when the kingship of YHVH started, since a king cannot rule without any subjects to rule over. But Yom Teruah is also the time when Yahshua the salvation of YHVH will return to come and rule us from Jerusalem.

The Feast Days of Elohim are announced by the blowing of trumpets: The question is: why are these announcements made by trumpets, which usually predict perilous times for humankind. The answer to this question is twofold: firstly, these announcements are made to warn those called out of the world to become first-fruits to YHVH, to get ready to enter the Kingdom of Elohim, subject to strict entry requirements; and secondly to announce the arrival of the King of kings, to overpower every opposing force of evil as prophesied in the Scriptures. Yahshua our Messiah will return one day on Yom Teruah to come and save mankind from themselves. This is why King David referred to YHVH as the horn of his salvation in Psalms 18: 2, in this way: “YHVH is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my Elohim, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” The trumpets are blown when Israel goes to war, that they may be remembered before YHVH, and be saved from their enemies. It is also blown on the Feast Days of Elohim and to announce the inauguration of a new king.

At this point in time the majority of the citizens of the world see faith or religion as the fundamentalist obligation of ignorant fanatics, or the opium of the masses of uninformed people, instead of a war between darkness and light, raging since the eviction of mankind from the Garden of Eden, by the Creator of the Universe. But as prophesied, YHVH the Elohim of Israel and the Creator and sustainer of the Universe, will soon conquer the world as the King of kings and Master of masters to come and rule His creation. The question is: why if YHVH already has the whole world in His hand, need He come and conquer it? The answer is simply, that YHVH is not a dictator; He did not create robots, nor does He want His people to worship Him because they are forced to do so. YHVH created each one of us as a free moral agent, because He wants us to worship Him from the heart, out of our own free will – because we love Him. Satan and his demons, as well as those whom he deceived, have declared war against YHVH and His followers. To understand where the war between darkness and light started, we need to backtrack right to the very beginning.

From the very beginning YHVH our Elohim planned to bring forth beings that could become His helpers. These helpers or ‘children’ would be like Him in every respect. They would have His character reproduced in them by His Set-apart Spirit. Each one of these created beings would have freedom to choose between right and wrong. YHVH commenced His plan to reproduce Himself by creating powerful spiritual beings called angels. These angels were free moral agents, with the ability to choose to go the way of YHVH – the way of giving and sharing, or the opposite way - a way of get. For many years these angels followed the correct way, until one day, a third of the angels followed the archangel Lucifer in rebellion against YHVH to take over Elohim’s throne in the third heaven. They fought against the other two thirds of the created angels, still loyal to YHVH. But, they were overcome and thrown down to earth, where they are now living as fallen angels or demons. These angels, who are spirit beings, could not change once they had decided to follow a life of wrongdoing (Isaiah 14: 12 - 14). In addition, Satan was perfect in all his ways prior to his rebellion (as per Ezekiel 28: 13 - 15) and as opposed to human beings, Satan rebelled with full knowledge. Human beings do not have all knowledge and because we are human, we may misunderstand and could also be partly blinded.

The result of war between the angels and demons left the world formless and void (‘Tohu’ and ‘bohu’ in Hebrew). This is the condition we see the earth in when we open our Scriptures at Genesis 1: 2. At that point in time YHVH decided to recreate the heavens and the earth. He also at this point chose not to create his future children as spirit beings, but to initially create human kind from physical matter, in His image with the mind power to think, plan and ‘create’. They too would have free moral agency to decide between good and evil. They had to prove throughout their lives that they would develop the perfect character of YHVH and follow His way of life. However, we know that Adam and Eve, induced by the lies and temptation of Satan, did sin. When Eve took of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and gave to her husband Adam, and he also ate, which shattered the image of Elohim within the human mind and soul and it became in need of rectification or ‘tikkun’. After Noah’s flood to rid the world of all rebellious people, YHVH who knows the end from the beginning, started over a third time with one man named Abram, when mankind rebelled once again by building a tower whose top was to reach into heaven as per Satan’s example and to make for themselves a name (to worship), and YHVH then scattered mankind abroad over the face of the earth. In a similar way to those of us whom YHVH is calling out of the world today, YHVH called Abram to leave his country, family and his father’s house to go to a land which He promised to his children through Isaac and then Jacob as their eternal inheritance, provided they obeyed Him and as a sign of the covenant between them, circumcise their male children at age eight days old. A second part of this same promise was that YHVH would bring the children from the house of Israel, who would later be scattered into the world because of idolatry, back to the covenant relationship He made with them together with the house of Judah at Mount Sinai, through Abraham’s one seed, Yahshua, through whom He would also eventually save all mankind, after the second resurrection. This is the good news about the way YHVH will re-establish the Tabernacle of David which has fallen, when He will bring the house of Judah and the house of Israel together as the commonwealth of Israel or more specifically the kingdom of YHVH over Israel once again, at Messiah’s return.

Because Satan knows that returning members of the commonwealth of Israel will eventually replace him as the rulers of the earth under Yahshua our Messiah who already qualified to rule the world from Jerusalem, he hates us and continues to deceive and inspire mankind to destroy themselves by means of wars, murder, rape and whatever means possible. It is as Rav Kepha explained in 1 Peter 5: 6 – 8, in this way: ‘Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of Elohim, that He may exalt you at the proper time, (7) casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. (8) Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” We need to understand that YHVH is working out His plan of salvation for all mankind over a period of 7000-years. During the first 6000 years, He is allowing humanity to experiment with different forms of government, culture, education and religion and by so doing He is letting us discover that living a life free from His leadership only leads to failure. Even though this sounds unfair, the good news is that YHVH wants everyone that He ever created to be part of His family one day. Accordingly He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, as is confirmed in 1Timothy 2: 3 & 4.

Nevertheless, YHVH does not want to force us to be saved; He gave us free moral agency allowing us, once called, to come to Him out of our own free will. But, to become sons of YHVH takes more than just joining the local church on the street corner. It also takes more than just "accepting Jesus in your heart" as some evangelical revival meetings, filled with emotion. We as returning Israelites need to fully surrender our lives to our heavenly Father by means of a personal relationship with Yahshua the Messiah. We need to follow in the footsteps of Yahshua and learn to keep the Torah Commandments to the best of our ability, with the help of the Set-apart Spirit. It must also be understood that no one can come to Yahshua unless the Father who sent Him draws him, as we read from John 6: 44 & 65, as follows: “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” ( 65) ‘And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father.” Yahshua further said in John 10: 1 - 2: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, he is a thief and a robber. (2) But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.”

But, how could YHVH succeed to make for Himself a family of sons and daughters, with perfect character like His own? (YHVH)’s plan of salvation for all mankind gives us the answer: Sinners, meaning all of mankind would be redeemed at a price, of greater value than the value of the lives of all humankind put together. The price was as high as the life of our Creator himself, and it is for this reason that we read about Zechariah's prophecy in Luke 1: 68, “Blessed be YHVH Elohim of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people.” Mankind still has the potential of becoming sons of Elohim, as Yahshua the visible image of the invisible Elohim, died for us and was the first ‘human’ to be resurrected as a Spirit Being. He made it possible for us to go through the same process to be born again. YHVH Elohim died as the ‘man’ Yahshua, and was resurrected, to give us a second chance. Almighty YHVH did all this by Himself - without any god besides him, as we read in Psalm 49: 7 & 15, as follows: “No man can by any means redeem his brother, or give to Elohim a ransom for him—(15) But Elohim will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For He will receive me.”

Yahshua will return on the Feast of Trumpets one day, as is confirmed in 1 Thessalonians 4: 16 & 17, in this way: “For the Master Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of Elohim; and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. (17) Then we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Master in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Master.” Yahshua’s return is going to come during a time of worldwide trouble such as the world has never seen. When asked by His disciples what the world would be like before His return, Yahshua replied that there would be many wars, and that world conditions would be so bad that no human would be left alive if He did not intervene, as we read from Matthew 24: 21 & 22, as follows: “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall. (22) And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short. The Feast of Trumpets is a reminder to us that the return of Yahshua is man’s only hope for survival. It is also a warning to us that we should seek His protection. YHVH wants us to never forget that man’s way of doing things only leads to death and destruction, as we read from Proverbs 14: 12(KJV), in this way: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

The Feast of Trumpets also pictures the resurrection of true believers to immortal life at Yahshua’s return to the earth. True believers in Elohim are those whom He has called and are willing to obey Him fully. Notice what YHVH said through Rav Shaul in 1 Corinthians 15: 51- 52: “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, (52) in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” These words describe called out believers who repent of their sins and who receive the Set-apart Spirit prior to Yahshua’s return, together with all of those who have died while being part of the called out ones and being in the faith: They will be made into immortal children of Elohim, when Yahshua returns one day.

Returning to the theme of the day, namely a day of remembrance, we read from Numbers 29: 1: ‘Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall also have a Set-apart convocation (a worship service); you shall do no laborious work (where you earn a living). It will be to you a day of blowing trumpets.’ This indicates that it should be a day of remembrance – a day on which we remember that YHVH is still working in our lives. One of the lessons that we learn by keeping the Set-apart Days of YHVH, is the desire to choose His ways over our own. Taking part of His observances is a clear indication of our desire to follow YHVH in obedience. How do we show our Father YHVH that we love Him? We read in 1 John 5: 3: ‘For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.’ We may be able to talk the most convincing talk about how religious we are, but unless our words translate into actions, it is all just empty phrases. Yes, keeping the Feast Days of YHVH is a test of our sincerity.

Prior to keeping the annual Passover, we are required to examine ourselves with a view to repent and return to Torah obedience. We keep the Passover as a memorial to Yahshua’s death, one of the traditions in which we follow Rav Shaul, as He followed Messiah – as explained in 1 Corinthians 11: 1, 2 and 23 - 26. By partaking of the memorial Passover, we also indicate that we have rooted out all that offends in our lives, which is reinforced by the removal of leaven from our homes for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In addition to the Passover YHVH has provided seven annual Feast Days for us to repent and return to Him in full Torah observance. If we remember the weekly and annual Sabbaths of Elohim, we will draw closer to Him in obedience on these Days. YHVH instructed Moses about the first Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread almost two months before he received the two tablets of stone containing the codified law. He told Moses in Exodus 12: 14, saying: ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to YHVH; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.’ We see here that it is a ‘feast to YHVH’ and that it is forever. In Leviticus 23 YHVH commanded Moses in verse 2(& 4), saying: “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘(YHVH)’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy (Set-apart) convocations – My appointed times are these.’” The phrase ‘which you shall proclaim’ indicates that Moses or whoever sits in Moses’ seat today (as per Matthew 23: 2 and Romans 3: 1 - 4) are responsible for proclaiming (YHVH)’s set-apart days, with the proviso’s given in Leviticus 23: 4 (‘at the times appointed for them’) and Exodus 34: 22 (at the turn of the year or equinox – transliterated in Hebrew as ‘tequfah, meaning ‘revolution, circuit or end’).

Many, who refuse to keep these Feast Days of Elohim, cite that it was part of the ceremonial or sacrificial laws, which was done away with and need not be kept any longer. To fully understand this question, we need to consider two scriptural concepts. They are known as a Shadow and a Type. There is a major difference between a shadow and a type and we will discuss each one of these in turn:

Type: The sacrificial laws are types. Yahshua has fulfilled the Sacrificial Law in respect of sin and introduced a new way of keeping Elohim's Passover. There is no longer a requirement to sacrifice animals, every time we sin, as Yahshua died once for all. Today as returning Israelites we now keep the Passover with new symbols introduced by Yahshua during His last Passover in Luke 22: 19 & 20, as follows; ‘And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (20) And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”’ We keep the Messiah’s memorial Passover with unleavened bread, representing Yahshua's body - bruised for our iniquities; and the wine representing Yahshua's blood, which was shed for the forgiveness of the sins of the world - including ours.
Shadow: A shadow points to the reality, but never does away with it. The Set-apart days (the Feasts Days of YHVH) are shadows of things to come according to Colossians 2: 17. It relates YHVH our Elohim’s plan of salvation for all humankind, to us. We keep the Feast days yearly to rehearse the plan of YHVH, so that we as first fruits will be able to teach His plan of salvation and other teachings to our siblings during the millennium rule of the Messiah from Jerusalem, which is essentially pictured by the Fall Feast Days (Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkoth).

Sacrificial Laws were introduced after the incident of the golden calf, after the Torah was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. We know that the Torah or the Law was also given to Abraham, 430 years before, as may be read in Galatians 3: 17 – 19 & 24, in this way: ‘What I am saying is this; the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by Elohim, so as to nullify the promise. (18) For if the inheritance is based on a promise; but Elohim has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. (19) Why the Law (the sacrificial law) then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made. (24) Therefore the (sacrificial) Law has become our tutor to lead us to Messiah, that we may be justified by faith.’ This is further confirmed in Genesis 26: 4 & 5, where YHVH spoke to Isaac, saying: “And I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; (5) because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” Yes, Yahshua became the sacrifice and fulfilled the Sacrificial Law, but nothing in the Scriptures affects or alters our responsibility to keep the other Spiritual laws, including the Set-apart Days of YHVH our Elohim. This is why we find that the apostles were keeping the Feast Days even after Yahshua’s resurrection and ascension in the Renewed Covenant, as may be seen in Acts 12: 3; 18: 21; 20: 6 & 16; 27: 9 and 1 Corinthians 5: 8. In fact we know that the Set-apart Days of YHVH will also be kept in the Kingdom of Elohim and that people everywhere will be so doing, as is recorded in Isaiah 66: 23, in this way: “And it shall be from new moon to new moon (including Yom Teruah) And from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me says YHVH.”

We also see that those who refuse to keep the Feast of tabernacles during the Millennium, will be punished, as is recorded in Zachariah 14: 16 – 18, as follows: ‘Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, YHVH of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles). (17) And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, YHVH of hosts, there will be no rain on them. (18) And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which YHVH smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.’

There are those who insist that the Feast Days of YHVH may only be kept in Jerusalem. However, we keep the Feast Days of YHVH as a shadow of things to come. In addition we should be mindful of Yahshua’s own words in John 4: 21 – 24, saying: “Woman believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. (22) You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews (meaning He Yahshua the salvation of YHVH is a Jew, but also that the Jews have the Oracles of Elohim). (23) But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” But it is important at this time to pray that Yahshua will return to this fast deteriorating world soon, to usher in the Kingdom of Elohim and bring His perfect government on earth as it is now in heaven. This is what the feast of Trumpets depicts and what Yahshua taught us to pray for in Matthew 6: 10, as follows: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Amein and Amein!