“In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; it is a day of blowing the shofar for you."
-Numbers 29
Shalom, Tabernaclers! Judah here.
Yom Teruah (Rosh HaShana), the day of shofar blasts, begins this week!
Tabernacle of David will be marking the occasion with an awesome outdoor celebration: Friday night at 5pm at Prior Lake Sand Point park (map here): live music for Messiah, a short teaching on Yom Teruah, lots of food, and of course…lots of shofar blasts! 🙂 Bring yourself and bring food: apples and honey are traditional, but anything sweet will do.
God gave his people a select few commandments for this feast:
- Sound the shofar and hear the shofar blast. (Numbers 29:1)
- Have a holy meeting (Numbers 29:1)
- Do no regular work, and rest. (Leviticus 23:24-25)
- Bring additional offerings. (Numbers 29:2-6)
How can you keep this feast today? Honor God by resting on this day (take the day off work if you are able), by sounding the shofar, and by meeting with the believers.
Why are we to sound the shofar? It’s a strange commandment without an explanation. God says in the Torah that the day is a zichron teruah, a day of blasts for remembering. What are we remembering? The Jewish sages tell the shofar blast was used in Israel for remembering these things:
- The coronation of the King
- The call to repentance
- The giving of the Torah at Sinai
- Warning of impending judgment
- The rebuilding of the Temple
- The binding of Isaac
- Fear of God
- The Day of Judgment (Yom Kippur)
- The ingathering of Israel
- The resurrection of the dead
We also know from the gospels and epistles that a loud shout and a shofar blast would signal Messiah’s return:
Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud shofar blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
Matthew 24
And again in Corinthians,
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
Bottom line, folks: Yom Teruah is a day signifying Messiah’s arrival, the pending judgment, the rebuilding of the Temple, and the resurrection of the dead. Not to mention, it’s recognized as the head of the Jewish civil year, a clean slate for the new year.
Whew! It’s a big one!
If you are able, rest on Friday, sound the shofar, and have a holy meeting to mark this special day in God’s calendar.
Tabernacle of David will be marking the occasion with an awesome outdoor celebration: Friday night at 5pm at Prior Lake Sand Point park (map here): live music for Messiah, a short teaching on Yom Teruah, lots of food, and of course…lots of shofar blasts! 🙂 Bring yourself and bring food: apples and honey are traditional, but anything sweet will do.
Hope to see you guys there!
Shalom,
-Judah
