Nazarene Israelite Two House Congregation of Port Elizabeth

Blow the trumpets for the King of Israel.

The concept of time did not exist until Elohim created the physical universe, and His decision to renew creation was made at this time of the year. Other than with the Passover, the Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah is not just for Israel, but for all mankind. It points to the date when Adam (mankind) was created in whom the life (or souls) of all mankind were contained. This is when the Dominion of YHVH as King of the universe began for mankind, since a king cannot govern without subjects for him to rule over. At creation the beginning and the end (the Aleph and the Tav) meet in the circle of the time cycle at Yom Teruah, and we declare YHVH to be King in our lives.

This is then also the time we choose to return to YHVH in repentance (Teshuvah), when we hear the trumpet (shofar) calling. This is the time every year in the annual Set-apart Day cycle that we choose YHVH as our King for the next year. We read accordingly from Psalm 47: 5 - 7, ‘Elohim ascended with a shout, YHVH with the sound of a trumpet. (6) Sing praises to Elohim, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. (7) For Elohim is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a skillful psalm.’ We read further from Revelation 19: 11 – 16 about Yahshua’s return as King of kings on Yom Teruah one day, as follows: ‘And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. (12) And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. (13) And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of Elohim. (14) And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. (15) And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of Elohim, the Almighty. (16) And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND MASTER OF MASTERS.”’

The Torah refers to the Feast of Trumpets as a day of remembrance on which we should blow the trumpets, in Numbers 29: 1 in this way: “Now in the seventh month on the first day of the month, you shall also have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. It will be to you a day for blowing (remembrance) trumpets.” It should be a day of remembering that YHVH is still working in our lives. But what shofar blast is being spoken about in the Torah concerning Yom Teruah? It is a time for us to remember the shofar blast that our forefathers heard at Mount Sinai, when the nation of Israel agreed to obey Elohim’s Torah in return for Him protecting and providing for them, as a husband would when he marries a wife. We need to remember that the Torah tells us in Deuteronomy 29: 10 - 15 that the covenant that the nation of Israel made with YHVH was applicable to them and their children throughout their generations, as follows: “You stand today, all of you, before YHVH your Elohim: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, (11) your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, (12) that you may enter into the covenant with YHVH your Elohim, and into His oath which YHVH your Elohim is making with you today, (13) in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your Elohim, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (14) Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, (15) but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of YHVH your Elohim and with those who are not with us here today.”We read therefore from Psalm 89: 15, ‘How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! (The footnote against joyful in the NASB reads: ‘Or, blast of the trumpet, shout of joy’) O YHVH, they walk in the light of Thy countenance.’

The shofar (or trumpet) is sounded to indicate the time to stop labor and light candles to usher in the Sabbath, to announce a military victory, to inaugurate a new king, and eventually at Messiah’s return to raise the dead in the first resurrection, as witnessed in first Corinthians 15: 51 &52, as follows: ‘Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. (52) In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.’ The long blast (tekiah) is a voice that uncovers the inner heart of man. It is followed by three shorter blasts (shevarim) which is a lament from the depths of man’s spirit that communicates sorrow and disappointment with the self; and lastly the nine short blasts (Teruah), a weeping with tears to awaken Elohim’s mercy. The Teruah is called an awaking blast as Maimonides wrote: ‘Awake, ye sleepers, from your sleep, and ye who are in a trance, rouse yourselves. Consider your actions and turn back in repentance. Remember your Creator.’ This is very similar to what Rav Shaul wrote in Ephesians 5: 14, saying: ‘For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Messiah will shine on you.’” This is obviously talking about the first resurrection at Messiah’s return, but the next two verses (15 & 16) is also addressed at us alive today to watch how we live, in this way: ‘Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, (16) making the most of your time, because the days are evil.’  The prophet Isaiah also talks about the resurrection of the dead in Isaiah 26: 19, saying: ‘Your dead will live; their corpses will rise, you who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.’

The only annual Set-apart Day that we observe when the moon is in concealment is Yom Teruah, the first day of the seventh month (Tishri). All other Set-apart Days are observed when the moon is full or visible. We read fittingly from Psalm 81: 3 (KJV): ‘Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the day appointed, on our solemn feast day.’ Yom Teruah is truly a spiritual Rosh Hashanah (head of the year – or beginning of the year), since it will usher in a new era; the World to Come (or Olam Haba), but also marks the beginning of mankind. Whereas the month of Nisan (also called Aviv) is the first amongst the monthly cycles that begin the year Scripturally in this physical world (Olam Hazeh),Yom Teruah is the head of the year Spiritually and sets the timetable for the rest of the annual Hebrew cycle. As mentioned before, it is the time of the year that we make YHVH King over our lives for the next year, but it is also the time of the year that the Torah sets for the Sabbatical and the Jubilee Years with the blast of the shofar, during which slaves are set free and land taken for bad debt is returned to its original owner.

The coming spiritual year will produce the fruits of the seed that is sown on Yom Teruah and will produce fruit in your lives for the next year. As branches of the Master we are accountable for the fruit that comes forth from us, as recorded in Galatians 6: 7 & 8, in this way: ‘Do not be deceived, Elohim is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. (8) For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.’ Yahshua our Messiah confirmed this in Luke 6: 43 - 45, saying: “For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit; nor on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. (44) For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar (thorn bearing) bush. (45)The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” Yahshua further said in John 15: 1 & 2: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. (2) Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.”

The month of Nisan or Aviv is the beginning of months for the children of Israel, since this was the time when YHVH brought them out of Egypt – it was the start of a new life as people free from slavery in Egypt, as much as it is the beginning of a new life for us as people set free from our past sins. So Nisan or Aviv is the head (Rosh) of months for the 12 Hebrew months. However, as explained before it is not the Head of the Spiritual year, depicting a time when we choose YHVH to be the King in our lives for the next year, and also the world to come when our Messiah returns one day as King of kings and Master of masters.Our Jewish Brothers hold that Yom Teruah is similar to the making of a motion picture. Our lives are captured on film and recorded for the heavenly courts to review during the two days of Yom Teruah, leaving us ten days of repentance (Teshuvah) to edit the film.  We elect to begin to return to the way of Elohim when we hear the voice of the shofar.

As returning Israelites we need to seek YHVH our Elohim and we will find Him if we search for Him with all our hearts (faith) and souls (lives), as He said to Israel through Moses in Deuteronomy 4: 26 – 29, in this way: ‘I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you shall surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but shall be utterly destroyed. (27) And YHVH will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where YHVH shall drive you.  (28) And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. (29) But from there you will seek YHVH your Elohim, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. (30) When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to YHVH your Elohim and listen to His voice. (31)For YHVH your Elohim is a compassionate Elohim; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.’For those who come from Christianity who used to believe that the original covenants were abolished when Yahshua died;what YHVH is saying here should come as quite a surprise.

At this time we need to call on YHVH by searching for Him from the depths of our beings, as we read from Psalm 130: 1 – 8, in this way: ‘Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O YHVH. (2) YHVH, hear my voice! Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. (3) If Thou, YHVH, shouldst mark iniquities, O YHVH, who could stand? (4) But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. (5) I wait for YHVH, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. (6) My soul waits for YHVH more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. (7) O Israel, hope in YHVH; for with YHVH there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. (8)And He will redeem Israel from all his in iniquities.’Why does David use the word ‘depths’ here? David wants to show us that we need to reach deeper; a depth within the depths of our hearts. On Yom Teruah we need to call on YHVH by searching for Him from the depths of our being. On Yom Teruah we attempt to reach the zero point in creation and the zero point of our lives. We are seeking beyond the source, where the source of life springs from – the fountain of life, as David testifies in Psalm 36: 9, saying: ‘For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light we see light.’ The fountain of all life is found only in YHVH.

The new beginning on Yom Teruah is truly a renovation. It is the removal of the penalty for past sins. We put on a new man who is made in the image of Elohim. But, how can we cause something that exist not to exist any longer? This is what we ask for in our prayers on Yom Teruah, as it can only be done if we are in a place that is out-of-time, where past, present and future does not exist. Only in that place can we experience a reawakening. That is the purpose of the shofar sound – it functions as the anti-virus program in a computer that scans all the files, cleaning and renewing them. The Last Trumpet will announce the rebirth of Israel to the Promised Land, as we read from Isaiah 27: 12 & 13, as follows: ‘And it will come about in that day, that YHVH will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. (13) It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and those who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship YHVH in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.’  On Yom Teruah we attempt to get out of the present world and abide in the renewed heaven and earth. Our renewal does not start somewhere in the future, but is found by going back to our starting point in the distant past to reconnect with the Fountain of Life.

On Yom Teruah we start a ten day period of repentance or Teshuvah, meaning to return to YHVH and His Torah.The past is not eradicated, but the penalty and guilt are destroyed leading to the beginning of change. The shofar blast motivates us to make a turn from the way in which we used to walk, to the way of Elohim. The English word ‘convert’ simply means the spiritual and moral change which accompanies the turning of a sinner from his sins to Elohim, not to join another religion. It is the Hebrew word ‘shuv’ meaning to return to a previous point. The word ‘Shanah’ or year is also related to the verb ‘to change’. In Hebrew thinking, repetition implies change – if this was not true, we are simply wasting our time every Feast cycle. The shofar signals a new beginning or renewal. The shofar call is therefore an emotional call to Teshuvah or returning to YHVH and Torah. It not only returns to the past beyond the past, but also turns us to the future.

The shofar blasts on Yom Teruah is a reminder of  the sacrifice of Isaac and the submission of our father Abraham to Elohim’s will. The binding of Isaac is said to have occurred on Yom Teruah. The key moment of the binding of Isaac is the submission of both Abraham and Isaac to Elohim’s supreme will. We have to remember that Isaac was more than 30 years old at the time of his binding and he willingly allowed himself to be bound on the altar, in a similar way in which Yahshua our Messiah did on the impalement stake. For this reason the binding of Isaac is referred to the ‘binding of the will’. All ties to father-son relationship were disregarded at this moment in time. The binding of Isaac goes beyond the law of love and goes to a level where there is only the Supreme will. This is why some Rabbis hold that Isaac ‘died’ – if one renounces his will he is as good as dead. He actually loses his life, but finds it as Elohim’s will merges with his as one.  This is perhaps why Yahshua our Messiah said in Mark 8: 35, “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it.”

The only destruction that YHVH demands of us is our desire to stay in the old order of our lives and to stay in our comfort zone of familiarity. Once this desire within us is destroyed, then His Supreme will is awakened in us. This will rebirth us again in the Feast cycle when we hear the blast of the shofar. The former ‘year’ is dead and with it died all that blinded our will to Elohim’s Supreme will. It invokes in us the sounds from the past and the future at once, bringing them together in purpose. We all  yearn for the World to come (Olam Haba) when all is restored as in the Beginning. We read accordingly from Zechariah 14: 9, ‘And YHVH will be king over all the earth; in that day YHVH will be the only one, and His name the only one.”Think about it!