The coming days will bring us into the very special days of the Jewish New Year and the Fall Feast Days outlined in Leviticus 23. These are days largely ignored by the Christian Community but are critically important in Judaism. (We in the Christian Community tend to ignore (or place little importance on these special days but we need to recognize that God instituted these days with His Chosen People.) God is not through with His Chosen People. He will turn His attention back to them when Jesus comes in the clouds to catch away The Church and remove the Church from the earth. This will signal the beginning of the Tribulation Period and The Jewish nation of Israel will be the focal point of the Tribulation Period.
There are three very important days in the Jewish calendar that constitute the Fall Feasts and they are very important to us as Christians today.
1. The first of these days is Rosh Hashana (also called the “Yom Teruah,” “Day of Teruah,” and “Feast of Trumpets.” The last term, “Feast of Trumpets” is the term that perhaps best describes it to us today. It is “The Head” of The Jewish New Year or the beginning of the Jewish New Year. It was instituted by God for His Chosen People to observe and is to be found in scripture in Leviticus 23:24-25. It is placed in the Jewish seventh month and the first day. For us it is from sundown on September 16 through sundown on September 17.
I am convinced from my study of scripture that this is perhaps the most important day of all the Jewish Feast Days for all Christians. I believe that it is “associated” with the return of Christ in the clouds to “Catch away His Church” – in other words “The Rapture.” In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 we read these words, 1 Thess 4:13-18 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. (15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (16) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (18) Therefore comfort one another with these words.” Note verse 16, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” The Archangel shall “shout” and “God’s Trumpet will blow.” Could this be the Trumpet of Rosh Hashana? I believe that this is very possible.
Rosh Hashana is preceded by the “month of Elul” and is considered a time of “repentance” by the Orthodox Jewish community. It is a month long time of “preparation” for the High Holy days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The term “Elul” likely means “to search” in Aramaic. It is a month-long “season” for searching one’s heart and life to confess sin and draw closer to God. During this month it is customary to blow the Shofar every morning except on Shabbat (The Sabbath days) from Rosh Chodesh (the first day of Elul) until the day before Rosh Hashana. The purpose is to “awaken one’s spirit” to prepare for the Great Day of Judgment. Are we living in the day of “Elul?” Are we preparing for God’s “Great day of Judgment?”
2. “Yom Kippur” is the second of The High Holy Days of The Jewish Fall Feasts days. Yom Kippur is the “Holist day” of the Jewish Calendar year. It is a solemn day of acknowledging and confessing our sins and seeking God’s Forgiveness, Cleansing, and Restoration to Full Fellowship with Him. It is also called “The Day of Atonement.” Yom Kippur occurs from sundown on September 25 through sundown on September 26. This was the only day of the year that The High Priest could enter “The Most Holy Place” in the Temple with the sacrifice to atone for his own sins and the sins of the entire nation. On this day, the High Priest would offer up a bull and a goat and sprinkle their blood upon the mercy seat of The Ark of The Covenant. On this day two goats would be brought before the High Priest. He would lay his hands upon the head of each goat and symbolically transfer the sins of the people onto the goats. The first one was for sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people and the second one was known as “the scapegoat” and was driven into the wilderness to wander and die. The first goat was sacrificed for the forgiveness of the peoples’ sin and the second was for taking the sin away, (“Cleansing” or “Santification”).
The above paragraph describes God’s Provision for the People of Israel under the “Old Covenant.” Today, we are under The “New Covenant” instituted by Jesus Christ culminating with His “Resurrection” from the Grave. His death on The Cross, His Entombment in the grave, and His Resurrection on Sunday Morning completed “God’s Plan of “Redemption.” Remember, Jesus paid for all sin, for all mankind, for all time, and ushered in the “New Covenant” under which we live today! Under this “New Covenant” our sins are “Forgiven” forever, we are thoroughly “Cleansed” of all sin, and we are “Restored” to full Fellowship with God through Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is important to stress that our sins are “gone forever” not just “covered” as they were under the “Old Covenant.” It is also important to note that under the “Old Covenant” sins that were committed intentionally (such as adultery and murder) were not atoned for under the “Old Covenant.” Today, we can be “Forgiven” and Cleansed” of ALL SIN! AND WE CAN BE RESTORED TO FULL FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD- (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) Praise God!!
This leaves the final of the fall Feast – Sukkat, for us to explore. Sukkat is also known as “The Feasts of Booths” and “The Feasts of Tabernacles.” For the Jewish nation, it was to “bring to their remembrance” the time when their forefathers lived in “temporary housing” (tents) in the wandering in the wilderness for forty years in their exodus form slavery in Egypt. It serves as a reminder that it is God Who Protects not our dwellings. For us today, hurricanes tornadoes, floods, and so-called “natural” disasters (as well as man-made ones) reminds us that the most “structurally sound” of buildings offer no real protection from these ravages. The lesson of Sukkat is that only God can fully protect us! It is a reminder of the Words of Jesus found in John 10:27-30 where we read, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; (28) and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. (29) " My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. (30) " I and the Father are one." We are “held securely” in The Hand of God Our Father and Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. We are “In His Protection – ALWAYS!! Praise God!
We are given further assurance of this “Great Truth” in Romans 8:31-36 where we read, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? (32) He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? (33) Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; (34) who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. (35) Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." (37) But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. (38) For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE GREAT AND AWESOME LOVE OF GOD!! PRAISE GOD!!
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Pastor J. Gilbert Hammond