Rosh Hashanah: A Holy Interruption

When Christians say that “Jesus is Lord,” what do we mean by that? I think that for many, this statement is an intellectual consent to the abstract concept that Jesus is God and rules over the World. We like that there is a grand benevolence looking down on us. It makes us feel safe, secure, even cozy. Sadly, that’s only half of the picture. A “Lord” is expected to look after His subjects, but His subjects are also obligated to bow to the wishes of their Lord. What we mean when we say, “Jesus is Lord” is usually closer to, “Jesus takes care of me,” than “I serve Jesus with absolute abject self-denial.” However, the second is without a doubt what the phrase means.

Today is Rosh Hashanah, the feast of Trumpets. Actually, it began last night when the new moon rose over Jerusalem. Today, this festival marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year. It is the first day (Tishri 1) of the year 5778 on the Jewish calendar. Biblically, though, this day served as a “Holy Interruption” in the busy time of the Harvest. There has been a long 4-month span of time since the last holiday when all Jewish men were required to be in Jerusalem. During that time, the harvest has been coming in: first barley and wheat, then other grains, fruits, vegetables, and lastly the wine. In a predominantly agrarian society, men would be hard at work, reaping the blessings of God through the increase of their crops. They would be storing their goods away for the winter and selling their produce at the market. There’s a lot of commotion and activity.

Then, on one night in late summer, a blast on a ram’s horn in the Temple indicates that the High Priest has observed the rising of the new moon from the Temple complex. This signal is carried throughout the land as synagogues around the Temple take up the sound and blast it on. The sound is carried from town to town, as the elders and priest in each hear the distant blast and sound their own horns, carrying the signal throughout the nation. Eventually, the wind carries the sound of trumpets out to the fields, where the men are hard at work. It’s a signal to them to lay down their tools, set down their baskets. All the men aged 12 and over need to make preparations to leave. In 10 days they have to be in Jerusalem, ceremonially clean, bearing offerings, and ready to celebrate the day of atonement. The productive time of the labor of men and commerce has come to an end. God is calling.

For the next 24 hours, no work can occur. Hearts are to be turned toward God. A season of devotion and spiritual inventory is coming. Today is the closing of the door to self-promotion and the opening of the door to worship. Tomorrow, work can resume again in the fields, but only in the hands of the women and children. The men will begin their pilgrimage journey to Jerusalem during the 10 days that have come to be known as the 10 “days of awe.” As men leave the provision of their families in smaller hands, they are to repent of sin, confess their brokenness to the Lord, gather the needed offerings for their temple worship, and turn their faces toward Jerusalem.

They knew it was coming. They’ve seen the waning moon every night and knew that their interruption was fast approaching. It drove them to work harder and stay out later, but they didn’t know exactly when it would occur. The High Priest had to see the new moon from the Temple. Clouds, trees, and buildings all stand as obstacles to the visualization of the rising of the moon. For this reason, it is widely reported that “No man knows the day or the hour” when the blast of the horn would be heard. The season can be determined, the approaching time can be seen, but the moment always takes them by surprise. When the interruption comes, it comes with authority. The rest begins immediately. Tools are dropped. Crops left in the field. No work can happen until tomorrow when the women and children will pick up and carry on in the absence of the men.

There are two clear applications for me. I’m not a farmer, and no trumpets rang through the air last night where I live. Still, I am called to be interrupted. I have a busy life. There’s a lot I have to get done. In fact, I was debating with myself if I was going to take the time to write this out! Then, the meaning of the holiday hit me. God has demanded the right to interrupt me for His purposes. If He is Lord, then He can do so whenever he chooses. This holiday is, at least in part, about celebrating God’s interruptions. So, here I am. I really “should be” grading, planning, sending emails, organizing AWANA materials, getting ready to chair this year’s state science fair, etc. In the midst of it all, though, God has demanded His right to interrupt everything that I do (even though it’s all ‘ministry’) and focus my entire attention on Him and His intentional worship. Today, we celebrate His interruptions and the stopping of all things “urgent” and “needful” for the sake of the one thing that is “best.”

The second application is as a picture of the rapture. The church is currently about the work of bringing in the “harvest of souls.” We are aware that the time is running short, much as the waning moon told the harvesters to get on the task with urgency, but we don’t know exactly when the “trump of God” will sound and we will be called home. When the trumpet of the rapture sounds, the work of the church will cease suddenly. We will leave our tools behind, whatever hasn’t been harvested by then will need to be harvested by others, and we will go into the presence of the Lord to worship. Soon after, the harvesting of souls will continue, but it will be done by Jewish believers who, having been left behind by the rapture, come to realize that Jesus is the Messiah, place their faith in Him, and start to spread the gospel again. The harvest during this time, however, will be slower than in the church age, and relatively few people will be saved during the tribulation. Meanwhile, the church will be in the presence of the Lord and at rest.

There are many who teach (and I loosely agree with them) that whatever year the rapture happens, it will be on Rosh Hashanah. The Bible is very clear that “no man will know the day or the hour,” but that is actually a phrase that comes from this holiday. Also, as God has fulfilled all of the images in the other feasts, He’s done so actually on that day. Jesus was born on Sukkot, killed on Passover, resurrected on Firstfruits, and the Spirit came on Shavuot. His track record is to show the world what the feast has always been pointing toward on the feast day. There is little reason to think that He’ll change that pattern. Also, right after 1Thes 5:2 says that the timing of the Lord’s return will be like a “thief in the night,” verse 4 says that those who are saved and paying attention will not be caught off-guard. The “surprise” will be for the unsaved who suddenly are left without co-workers, neighbors, and friends. I say that I hold this loosely because way too many Christians have said, “The rapture will happen on day x.” They’ve all been wrong, and it gives the church a black eye. So I’m not going to hesitate to pay bills or go to work as Rosh Hashanah comes around each year, but I will use this day to remind me that, at some point, my work will be done here and will need to be finished by others. I should be as diligent as I can be until that time. Who knows, perhaps I’ll be flying heavenward today?

So hear this encouragement: If Jesus is “Lord” of your life, then He has the right to interrupt your work--even your sanctified work--and force you to come worship Him. You have the obligation to obey. Also, there will come a time when that interruption is not temporary or seasonal but is final. We can see that the day is fast approaching, so let’s work hard and be about the work of the “harvest of souls” while we can!

Have a Blessed Holiday. Thank you for allowing God to interrupt you!

The Feasts: Introduction and the Feast of Trumpets

The Feasts of Israel: 

Introduction and The Feast Of Trumpets

Our homegroup is going to study the Jewish Feasts as they come this year.  This study introduces the Jewish feasts in broad strokes and talks about what we, as gentile New-Testament Christians, are doing talking about/celebrating the feasts at all.  We need to find a balance between ignoring them entirely as part of the "Old" covenant and falling into the error of looking to the law to somehow gain us greater favor with God.  Christianity is built on the Bible... the Whole Bible.  A Christian can and should study, know about, and honor the spirit of the feasts, but we shouldn't try to fulfill them literally.  Christ already has.  

Having this perspective, we then begin by studying the Feast of Trumpets which, at the time of this post's publication, starts tomorrow.  We look at how the Feast of Trumpets points to the rapture and use this as an opportunity to teach about the pre-tribulational rapture of the church. 

The following video is of me teaching the class.  My notes follow. 

1. Introduction: What we should and should not do with the feasts.
1. Should do:
1. Know all that we can know about them!
1. Part of the spoken word of God, recorded in scripture, and given to us, as is all scripture, “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2Tim 3:16-17)
2. Part of salvific history
3. Historical Markers, ceremonial reminders of the goodness of God in the past.
4. Prophetic Messianic markers, looking forward (at that time, and today) to the work of Messiah.  Some has been accomplished, some has not yet.
2. Celebrate them in Spirit, not in letter.
1. We know that the law is good (Rom 7:12); and that it will not cease to be the word of God until the cosmos goes away (Matt 5:18)
2. We are told that at least the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles will be celebrated in the Messianic Kingdom.  
1. Exek 45: 21-26

21“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. 23And on the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the LORD seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering. 24And he shall provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hinj of oil to each ephah. 25In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil.

2. Zech 14:16-19

“16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. 17 And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. 19 This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.”

3. There may be others celebrated in the Messianic Kingdom, Ezek 46:9

9“When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead.

4. We are encouraged in the New Testament to accept the festivals as part of our faith, as having been fulfilled (or to be imminently fulfilled) in Christ (from http://doctorwoodhead.com/jewish-festivals-in-the-millennial-kingdom/2/):

1. Passover was fulfilled in the death of Christ the Redeemer, but clearly continues to the Millennium as a ceremony. (I Corinthians 5:7)

2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is being fulfilled in the holy separate walk of the believer who fellowships with our Savior (I Corinthians 5:6-8; II Corinthians 7:1; Galatians 5:7-9)

3. The Feast of Firstfruits was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ (I Corinthians 15:23)

4. The Feast of Pentecost was fulfilled in the establishment of the Church at Pentecost fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus (I Corinthians 10:16; 12:12-13)

5. The Feast of Trumpets will be fulfilled in the future regathering of Israel at the beginning of the Kingdom (Isaiah 18:3, 7; 27:12-13; Ezekiel 37:1-14) AND IN THE RAPTURE

6. The day of Atonement will be fulfilled in its prophetic features in the final conversion of “all Israel” at the Second Coming Zechariah 12:10-13; 13:1 Romans 11:26)

2. However, we CANNOT celebrate them in letter, because:
1. EVERY festival requires a sacrifice to be made at the temple (Numbers 28-29).  
2. Three of the festivals need to be celebrated at the temple in Jerusalem.
3. God, wanting to make sure that His people knew that the temple services no longer were valid, destroyed His temple in AD 70, and it no longer provides this option to His people.  Christ is the only mediator.
4. Jesus has done away with the need for all animal sacrifice (Heb 10)
5. We are strictly warned not to look to the law for purity from sin. Gal 5:2-6:

“2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

6. Also, as a blanket statement, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, Romans 10:4
6. Also, we are not to look down on the Christian traditional holidays of Easter and Christmas, forsaking them in favor of the Jewish festivals, simply because they are “Biblical” and Christmas and Easter are not.
1. As stated above, any celebration of the Jewish festivals today are NOT strictly Biblical.  They can’t be without a temple and sacrifices.
2. The Jewish celebrations of these holidays have morphed so much over time adding tradition and additional practice that they are no more Biblical than Christmas trees and Easter eggs today.
3. The point is to honor and worship God and His Son, who instilled and fulfilled these holidays, and be edified by them.

II. Rosh Hashana (The Jewish New Year, Feast of Trumpets)

1. Lev 23:23
1. First day of the 7th month (according to the sacred year).
1. Became the first day of the civil year
2. Believed to be the anniversary of Creation
2. A blast on the trumpet to alert the people that the fall festivals have begun.
3. Begins a 10-day window of fasting and mourning over sin.
4. Heights of legalism and pious observance of the law.
5. Required a day of solemn rest and sabbath.
6. Called to gather together and worship (but not necessarily at Jerusalem)
7. Called to bring a food offering (this begins the time of fall Harvest.  Food is not yet plentiful.)
2. Numbers 29
1. The sacrifices listed
2. Normal daily offering, PLUS the new moon offering, PLUS several additional sacrifices.
3. A "pleasing aroma," literally meaning "to be made into smoke."
1. Completely consumed.  
2. A time of complete devotion is coming.
3. The kind of trumpet is not specified "A day for blasting"
1. The sound is what is signified.  H: Teruwah N. a loud shout, alarm or blast of a trumpet.
2. Verbal form is Ruwah, which is used in Job 38:7 regarding creation.
1. This is why the Jews believe that this is the day of creation.
2. If so, and if their calendar is correct in counting years, then Rosh Hashanah this year (2015) will begin year 5776 since creation.
3. Silver Trumpets of Numbers 10
1. To be blown to call people together for worship
2. To send them out
3. To sound the alarm to prepare them for battle.
4. To proclaim feasts.
5. Used for this holiday until the captivity to Babylon. Then, they were lost.
4. Shofar, Rams' horns
1. Pictures of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac.
2. They believe that the shofar proclaims that God will save the Jews and restore them to greatness at the last moment, when all hope is lost... and they're right! Matt 24
5. Both trumpets’ symbolisms are conveyed in the holiday.
4. Trumpets and the Rapture:
1. Jesus has fulfilled one aspect of Sukkot, the late fall feast, and he has fulfilled all of the Spring feasts.  
1. Note: He fulfilled them all on the actual days.
2. Trumpets is next.
2. The rapture will accomplish several things:
1. The “last trumpet” will be the rapture
1. 1Cor 15:51-52
2. 1Thes 4:16-18
2. The church (Bride of Christ) will consummate its marriage to Christ
1. At the beginning of a wedding feast, a trumpet is blown before the bridegroom as he comes to take his bride.
2. During the 7-day wedding feast, the bride and bridegroom are intimate, the guests rejoice, and those who were not ready mourn
1. Gen 29:22-28
2. Judges 14
3. Mat 25:1-13
4. Matthew 25
5. Joel 2:15-16
6. This 7-day feast represents the 7-year tribulation period, when the church is finally with her bridegroom in true intimacy, and those outside are tormented.
3. At the end of the 7-day feast is a marriage supper, the height of the party. The bride and groom are pronounced one.  Rev 19
3. On the feast of trumpets, the East gate of the temple (normally closed) was opened (Ezek 46)
1. Rev 3:8
2. Rev 4:1
3. Matt 25:10
4. John 10:7-9
5. Isa 26:19-21
6. Luke 13:24
7. Ps 27:5
4. Those who are raptured are hidden from the wrath of God.
1. a derivation of the same root word used to describe this feast in the OT can also mean “hidden.”  Some Jews call this the “hidden” feast.
2. We will be hidden from the wrath of God.
1. Psalm 27:5
2. Psalm 47
3. Isa 26:20
4. Joel 2:1, 32
5. Zeph 1:14-16; 2:3
5. Those not raptured who should have known better (those cultural Christians, and especially the Jews) will repent in large numbers, seek the Lord, and be the tribulation church.  This is also a feature of the feast of trumpets.
1. Neh 8:1-3
2. Ezra 3:5-8
3. Dan 12:1-2
3. I thought the rapture’s date was unknown?
1. The Feast of Trumpets’ fulfillment in the rapture will happen on this feast, but which which day of the feast and which year is hidden.
2. 1Thes 5:1-11 & 2Pet 3:10

1. The unsaved will be caught off guard.  The saints will not.
2. We are not to be “in the dark” about the rapture.
3. “Like a thief in the night” phrase was frequently used of the bridegroom, who would shout gather the guests hurriedly and unexpectedly for the wedding feast.

3. Matt 25:13

1. First sight of the first sliver of the crescent moon over Jerusalem. Don’t know when.  Even now, with Google’s astronomy tools, you don’t know when it will be seen.   
2. Notice it doesn’t say that you won’t know the season (ref above).
3. Also, we are to look at the signs of his coming and know that it approaches (Matt 24)