Because we are in the ten days of awe, I wanted to share a bit about my faith. A good friend has written about the meaning of Rosh Hashana for messianic believers, which I will share here. This is a time full of prophetic significance!
OBSERVING BLIBICAL FEAST DAYS IS SIGNIFICANT FOR ALL BELIEVERS TODAY
Researching the rich historical foundation of our faith in the Old Testament brings deep understanding and insights to the past, present and future major movements of God into our human history. God commanded the Jews to observe His Biblical feasts found in Leviticus, chapter 23 and there are seven commanded feasts. “What do you mean?”, you might ask. “What do the Old Testament scriptures about the Jews observing the feasts of God have to do with the actions of God into our human history, especially in our present day and our future? Aren’t these part of the Old Testament, obsolete law that we no longer need to follow since Jesus came and abolished the law?” Actually, Jesus said He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it and that not one jot or tittle will by no means pass from the law until all is fulfilled. (Matt. 5:17-18)
The seven festivals of the Lord were to be a remembrance or memorial to remember the acts of the Lord. This was first commanded in the days of Moses on that first Passover night before the Israelites were freed from Egypt. (Exo. 12: 14.) The memorial was to commemorate the saving acts of God from our history but what about the future? These feasts were designed to establish the acts of God in the future, too! These feasts not only recalled the previous acts of God but they were to be a rehearsal for the acts of God that were prophesied to come!
When God gave the commandments to observe all seven of His festivals (found in Leviticus 23), He said these seven feasts were to be observed throughout our generations forever. (Lev. 23:14,21,31,41) The Biblical feasts of the Lord are called Moedim which is the Hebrew word meaning appointed times with a constant meaning.
Each of the last three feasts are observed in the fall of the year and represent Yeshua’s second coming! The first two festivals are grouped together in the Season of Repentance known as Teshuvah and are Rosh Ha Shanah (Hebrew for the head of the year or, on the Hebrew calendar, New Year’s day) and Yom Kippur (Hebrew for the Day of Atonement). The last one is Sukkot (Hebrew for Tabernacles) and is observed in the time known as the “Season of Our Joy”. Read on and see how the fall feasts are rehearsals for the great fulfillment of the events to come when Yeshua returns to the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords!
It is understood by the Jews that the Lord moves closer to us at the time of the appointed feast days. There will be an ultimate fulfillment of the events to come as prophesied in the scriptures when Yeshua returns in His second coming as King over all of the earth but it is even evident that as we rehearse these days and observe them each year, God has inserted His sovereign actions into our present history on feast days. Our position as Believers is to watch and observe these high holy days of the feasts and to wait upon God to act even in our days and times.
ROSH HA SHANAH (HEAD OF THE YEAR)(also known as)
YOM TERUAH (DAY OF AWAKENING BLAST) or FEAST OF TRUMPETS (and other significant themes associated with the day)
ROSH HA SHANAH (Rosh Ha Shanah literally means the Head of the Year). It is the Jewish New Year. It is believed that Rosh Ha Shanah is the birthday of the world. It is the new year for counting the years of a king’s reign and is used for the civil calendar of events for Jews; whereas, the new year for the Biblical calendar is in the spring in the month of Passover (See Exodus 12:2, for Biblical new year).
YOM TERUAH (meaning the Day of the Awakening Blast or known as the Feast of Trumpets.) It is a day of blowing the shofar. The shofar blast announces warnings of war, announces the beginning of festivals, and special seasons such as a call to repentance and announces the king. As a rehearsal, it will be the day that announces Yeshua’s return as King over all the earth. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!
CORONATION DAY: The king is crowned. A rehearsal for the Day that Yeshua is crowned King of Kings upon His return to the earth!
THE WEDDING: A rehearsal for the wedding feast of the Lamb of God.
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT: Once a year the sages believed we are judged by God. The New Year Greeting is given to each other, “May you be inscribed in the book of life for a good and pleasant year.” It is believed that we each pass under the rod of God’s judgment at least yearly.
Ezek. 20:37 I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the
bond of the covenant.
Lev. 27:32: Redemption of tithes were to pass under the rod.
Psa. 89: 24-34; a coronation psalm, note the word, ‘rod’.
THE DAY THAT NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY OR THE HOUR: The Feast of Trumpets lasts two days and no one knew exactly the moment the 24-hour feast actually began because the feast started on a new moon. In ancient Israel, the sighting of the new moon was how the Jews determined the start of the Biblical holidays God had commanded them to observe. In ancient times, two witnesses were sent out and it took time for the witnesses to sight the new moon and report back to the Sanhedrin. Because it was a commandment by God to observe the feast for the correct 24-hour period, the Jews determined to make the holiday into a 48-hour festival to ensure that the entire 24-hour day would be observed somewhere within the 48-hour holiday. That is how the Feast of Trumpets also became known as the holiday in which “No One Knows the Day or the Hour”. This should spark interest from a familiar scripture in the New Testament when Jesus said to His inquiring disciples about the time of His return that of that hour, no one knows except the Father. (Matt. 24: 36) Is this a hint that although we know not the year of His return, we might anticipate that He would return on Rosh Ha Shanah and so many of the themes of this day point to His return!
THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE OR MEMORIAL: This is the day that God remembers our deeds and the day on which He will open the books (book of life, book of death or the book of the wicked and there are still those in the valley of decision). When the Messiah returns as King He will also return as judge of the earth. There is a reference made to these books in Daniel 7:10 and the valley of decision in Joel 3:12-14). As a rehearsal, it is a time when God will remember His people and sort the sheep from the goats. (Matt. 25:31-46) “Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored His Name. ‘They will be Mine,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘in the day when I make up My treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” (Malachi 3:16-18)
THE DAY THE GATES OF HEAVEN ARE OPEN (open for Teshuvah – repentance, return to God): It is believed that God draws closer to us on the appointed feast
days of the LORD. On Rosh HaShannah, the gates of heaven are open and it begins the intense period of soul searching and repentance known as the Days of Awe. During these ten days of the Days of Awe, we intensify the act of repentance that we have begun in the thirty days prior during the season of Teshuvah. “Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.” (Isa. 26:2)
THE BEGINNNING OF THE DAYS OF AWE: 10 days of intense repentance ending on Yom Kippur when the gates of heaven are closed. It is believed that when the gates of heaven are closed, it signifies the time when God’s mercy ends and there is only judgment to face. As a rehearsal of the fulfillment of the feast celebration, the Days of Awe prepare us for the return of the king when all flesh shall see Him on that day and the world will be judged. Those who have prepared for this day through repentance and returning to God will not face judgment and will partake in the wedding festival and be given clean white garments to wear. The Days of Awe end on Yom Kippur, or the feast of Atonement. On Yom Kippur, it is traditional to wear all white garments to remind us that on the great day this is fulfilled in the future, we will be given clean white garments to wear.
THE TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE: The birth pains of the Messiah lead up to the great tribulation. The Days of Awe are a rehearsal for the time of the great tribulation when the events of the book of Revelation occur ending with God’s wrath/judgment on the world for those who have refused to repent and return to Him. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.” (Joel 3:14-16)
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD: “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.” (Isa. 26:19) “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Cor. 51-52)
“For the LORD Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an arch angel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the LORD.” (1 Thes. 4:16-17)