I would like to tell you some wonderful things about the fall feast, Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23:23-26), which we are about to observe. It is also known as Rosh Hashanah. There is so much to tell you about this feast and the ten days that follow leading up to the next feast, Yom Kippur, that it will require two blog entries. So please also read the next entry, "AWE", which will be posted a few days after this one.
The LORD commanded all the generations of Israel to keep the feast days as holy appointments with Him. However, these feasts, both spring and fall feasts, are not just for the Jewish people. All of the feasts are a type and shadow of the Messiah for whom Israel was to wait and watch for in faith. Jesus, of whom the feasts prophetically pertained, faithfully observed them, and the apostles wrote and taught about the feasts. For those of us who have experiential knowledge of the Messiah, Jesus, how much more important is it for us to know and observe the significance of these feast days, and to incorporate that knowledge of Christ into them?
The Feast of Trumpets is the first day of the month of Tishrei ("beginning" ), so it is the beginning of beginnings. As we will see, this feast marks the beginning, not only of the secular Jewish year, but of a vital spiritual process.
Elul is the month before Tishrei, and it is the month we are in now as of this post. It is the last month of the Jewish secular year. From the 14th century, Jews have understood the letters of Elul to be an acronym, (Hebrew letters aleph, lamed, vav, lamed) for the phrase Ani l'dodi v'dodi li which translates, "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." (Song of Songs 6:3). To us, this verse, as well as the entire Song of Songs, refers prophetically to our Messiah and His Bride. The Aramaic meaning of Elul is "to search". In the Song of Songs, the Shulamite (to be perfect, to be peaceful, to be in a covenant of peace, to be complete, be finished, to make whole, restore, to be performed) woman must search for her Beloved, her Bridegroom.
The Feast of Trumpets is not only associated with the blowing of the shofar, which also signals the rapture of the Church in scripture (1 Cor. 15:51-55), but its timing is directly tied into the first appearance of the new moon which marks the beginning of the month of Tishrei. It is a feast that is directly associated with the new moon. For this feast to begin, the new moon must be watched for diligently and then the shofars, or trumpets, are sounded when it is first spotted in the sky. Therefore, we may not know the exact day and hour (Mt. 24:36, 25:13) when this feast will begin. We only know as a result of looking up, and watching or searching the skies when we see these things begin (Lk. 21:28).
Psalm 81:3 also refers to this feast, and rather than the English translation we have, the Aramic/Targum phrase with which Israel would be familiar is, "in the month in which the day of our festival is concealed". This commanded feast of the LORD, left so vaguely described in Leviticus, requires us to search it out for its meaning and importance. So let the search begin!
The Hebrew root word used for "new moon", with which this feast is so closely associated, is chadash. This means, "renew, make anew, repair, renew oneself, to rebuild, restore, cutting or polishing (a sword)". The pictographic meanings attached to the Hebrew letters of the word khadash: cheth, daleth, shin, might be expressed by the idea of a separation, a wall, between a protected inner chamber, and a sharp devouring, consuming, destruction as with teeth. In this wall there is a door, by which movement into or out of is provided. Either you can enter in, with the door closed against the destruction, or you can be outside the door, separated from the protection of the inner chamber. To enter through the door involves a path or way of life.
This feast and its connection with the new moon includes in its meaning that it is a time to make a changing choice. On one side there is renewal, repair rebuilding and restoration. On the other side, there waits destruction.
This new moon root word, chadash, appears in other verses:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." David, Ps. 51:10
"Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."
David, Ps. 103:5
However, chadash also carries far beyond the individual:
"...and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations." Isa. 61:4
"...let us go to Gilgal (a wheel, rolling), and renew the kingdom there." 1 Sam. 11:14
"...Asa...put away the abominable idols..., and renewed (NKJV-restored) the altar of the LORD..." 2 Chron.15:8
"...Joash was minded to repair the house of the LORD." 2 Chron. 24:4, 12
"Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."
Ps. 104:30
Individuals, cities, the kingdom, the altars and the house of the LORD, and even the whole earth are affected: renewed, restored, repaired by the chadash, new moon renewal.
Believers are familiar with the idea of renewal and restoration. We see many references in the New Testament to the "new" things promised through Christ, who is the Messiah prophesied in this feast: new wine, new tongues, new wine in new bottles, a new lump, a new creature, a new man, a new testament, a new living way, a new name, new heavens and a new earth, New Jerusalem, and "make all things new".
How far reaching the renewal is! It starts within ourselves, but it is not limited to ourselves. We, who have been given all of these promises of renewal in Christ, must understand the importance of this renewal feast, not only to us, but to all creation. However this renewal is a process. It is a process with a beginning. This process, this "path or way of life", begins with repentance. This may not sound like fun, but the result and reward is miraculous renewal.
The chadash renewal of Tishrei begins on the feast day of Trumpets, but there are ten days that follow this day. These are the Days of Awe/Repentance, or Aseret Yemei Teshuvah. The ten days end at the next feast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The rabbis say that these ten days are given to us for an opportunity to change, and an opportunity given to be written and then sealed in the Book of Life, rather than the Book of Death. Believers know this book as the Lamb's Book of Life (Phil. 4:3, Rev. 3:5, 13:8, and more). Though believers may not be familiar specifically with the Book of Death taught by the rabbis, we know that there is more than one book consulted in judgment:
"And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books." Rev. 20:12
As the rabbis teach that on the Feast of Trumpets, we are written into one of these books. We are given the ten days between the two feasts for repentance (change of mind, feeling regret, a determination to change, an effort to repair the affects of one's misdeeds), prayer, and charity for change and renewal, before we are sealed into the book on Yom Kippur. Our repentance determines on which side of the "door" we choose to be.
We may say, "I am Christ's, so I am saved from all", but scripture doesn't say we are guaranteed to be saved from this destruction. Our "works" define how we are building on the foundation of that protective khadash wall. Are we building with gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble-things which can burn? Our useless works will be burned, and we will be saved as through fire. The Day (yom) will declare it (1 Cor. 3:9-15). Christ said that we must pray that we are worthy to escape these things and to stand before Him (Lk. 21:36). At that last trump, when Christ returns, we who are in Christ, whether dead or still alive, will meet Him in the air for sure (1 Cor. 15:51-52, 1 Thess. 4:16-17), but we don't want to meet Him singed and smoky! At least, that's the way I'm looking at this opportunity found in these feast days.
The Prophet Jeremiah wrote:
"Turn us back ("shuv" , part of teshuvah or repentance: to turn, return, restore, refresh, repair) to You, O LORD, and we will be restored; renew our days as of old, unless You have utterly rejected us, and are very angry with us!" Lam. 5:21-22
We can also see this call to "shuv" , or repentance, again in the Song of Songs. The Beloved (Bridegroom) and His friends tell the Shulamite woman, His beloved:
"Return, return ("shuv, shuv") O Shulamite; Return, return ("shuv, shuv") that we may look upon you!" Song of Songs 6:13
The Beloved even repeated the call twice for emphasis in the above verse.
The "search" in the month of Elul, the "beginning" found in the month of Tishrei, the new moon chadash renewal of the Feast of Trumpets, and the following ten Days of Awe/Repentance, are not just for the Jews and Israel, but for the Church, the Bride, all believers. These days given for our repentance and change impact all creation.
We are being examined by the LORD and His Spirit over these ten days (see next post, "AWE"), and according to the verses cited earlier, the resulting process of repentance and renewal has far reaching affects. The Jews carry out this period with only a prophetic knowledge of Messiah. We come to these same feasts and ten days with the sure and living knowledge of Christ. How much more effective can a believer be in this spiritual renewal of self, cities, years, kingdom, heaven and earth as we obey the command of the feasts through Christ?
In Part 2 of this topic titled "AWE", which will be posted a few days after this entry, we will see how this feast of Trumpets, its following ten days, and Yom Kippur are represented in Jewish traditional liturgy, and revealed in a powerful, parallel manner by Jesus in the Book of Revelation.
Our Father has called us to the Feast of Trumpets' new moon chadash restoration, renewal and repentance.
