This evening marks the beginning of the Holy Day of the Day of Trumpets or in Hebrew Yom Teruah. This is the only feast that falls on a New Moon. It's celebrated on the 1st day of the Biblical month of Ethanim which is the seventh month. It's a memorial day for the blowing of trumpets.
Leviticus 23:23-24 - The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there shall be a solemn rest for you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.”
Numbers 29:1 - In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work. It is a day of blowing of shofars to you.
Jews celebrate the feast as Rosh Ha Shanah. 'Rosh' literally means Head, 'Ha' is the article the while 'Shanah' means year. Therefore it means the beginning of the year. Jewish tradition identifies this day with the day that God created Adam when he blew His shofar and blew the breathe of life into Adam. It is customary for Jews to wish each other 'Shanah Tovah Tikatevu Umetukah' meaning may you be inscribed and sealed for a good year. It is believed that from Rosh Hashanah, we are given ten days to repent until we reach Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement on 10th Ethanim. These ten days are called the days of awe or Yamim Noraim. On Yom Kippur God forgives us of all our sins and we are finally sealed in the Book of Life. We are now made ready and worthy to enter the Feast of Tabernacles on 15th of Ethanim.
The celebration of the Day of Trumpets remains a mystery to us because the Torah is not clear how the feast is to be celebrated, it only says that we commemorate the day by blowing trumpets on this day. Another reason that makes the day a mystery is because it falls on a New Moon. Before the Sanhedrin adopted a fixed calendar by using astronomical calculations in the 4th century, the New Moon had been determined by using two trustworthy witnesses who would check whether a New Moon has been sighted. Then after they confirm the appearance of a New Moon, then the celebration would be declared by the Sanhedrin. As we can see, no man could know the day or hour when the New Moon would be sighted. Since the Day of Trumpets prophesies of Messiah's second coming, Yahshua speaks about the mystery of this day. Judaism calls this mysterious day, Yom HaKesh which means the day of hiding.
Matthew 24:36 - But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
We know that Yahshua Messiah fulfilled the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread and also Pentecost during his first coming. In his second coming He will fulfill the latter feasts that we are in at this particular time.
In ancient Israel, trumpets were blown either to raise an alarm and warn people about an enemy attack, it also guided the Israelites through the wilderness and also marked the beginning of a holy day. The word 'Teruah' literally means to make a loud shout or noise. Therefore, the Feast of Trumpets is a warning for us to repent and literally turn (shuv) back to the ways of the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 58:1 - Cry aloud, don’t spare. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
The book of revelation also tells us of the seven Heavenly trumpets that will be blown during the last days (Rev 8:6). The trumpets will begin God's judgement upon the earth. The trumpets are also associated with the 'Day of the Lord'. Judaism also calls the day Yom Ha’din meaning the Day of Judgement.
Joel 2:1 - Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord comes, for it is close at hand:
Yom Teruah corresponds with the last trumpet of God. Apostle Paul restored confidence to believers that they would be resurrected during the last trump of God.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Yahshua died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Yahshua. For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Messiah will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Corinthians 15:52 – In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
Since there is no clear direction given in the Holy Scriptures towards the celebration of this feast, repenting and asking for forgiveness is a clear prerequisite especially as we wait for the last trump of God in the second advent of the King of Kings, Yahshua Messiah.
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