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Rosh Hashanah begins Sunday at sundown (6:43PM Jerusalem time). For many years, people have been saying that the rapture will likely (or as some have said, definitely) occur during the Feast of Trumpets, also known as the Jewish high holiday of Rosh Hashanah. I do not think the Jewish feasts are tied to the Times of the Gentiles because the two are distinct and mutually exclusive. (more here). However the rapture could happen at any time, so this weekend is as good a time as any. Only the Lord knows.
What IS Rosh Hashanah?
From Chabad.org:
"The festival of Rosh Hashanah—the name means “Head of the Year”—is observed for two days beginning on 1 Tishrei, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind’s role in G‑d’s world."
"The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, which also represents the trumpet blast of a people’s coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance, for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man’s first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the “Ten Days of Repentance” which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Another significance of the shofar is to recall the Binding of Isaac which also occurred on Rosh Hashanah, in which a ram took Isaac’s place as an offering to G‑d; we evoke Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son, and plead that the merit of his deed should stand by us as we pray for a year of life, health and prosperity."
The Feast of Trumpets, along with the other six festivals of the LORD, foreshadowed certain aspects of the ministry of Jesus Christ. The shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah may or may not be the trumpet blown to capture the Church up to heaven in the rapture. I do believe the rapture is incredibly close, though.
History Channel explains, "The sounding of the shofar—a trumpet made from a ram’s horn—is an essential and emblematic part of both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The ancient instrument’s plaintive cry serves as a call to repentance and a reminder to Jews that God is their king. Tradition requires the shofar blower to play four sets of notes on Rosh Hashanah: tekiah, a long blast; shevarim, three short blasts; teruah, nine staccato blasts; and tekiah gedolah, a very long blast. Because of this ritual’s close association with Rosh Hashanah, the holiday is also known as Yom Teruah—the day of the sounding of the shofar."
The last note for Rosh Hashanah is the Teki'ah Gedolah (very long sound) Exodus 19:16,19. It sounds like this-
Friends, the last sound we will hear on earth will be the tekia gedolah, and the first sound we hear as glorified children of Jesus will be His call, probably something like, "Come up here!" (Revelation 4:1)
"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ 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, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!!AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!!
What IS Rosh Hashanah?
From Chabad.org:
"The festival of Rosh Hashanah—the name means “Head of the Year”—is observed for two days beginning on 1 Tishrei, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind’s role in G‑d’s world."
"The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, which also represents the trumpet blast of a people’s coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance, for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man’s first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the “Ten Days of Repentance” which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Another significance of the shofar is to recall the Binding of Isaac which also occurred on Rosh Hashanah, in which a ram took Isaac’s place as an offering to G‑d; we evoke Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son, and plead that the merit of his deed should stand by us as we pray for a year of life, health and prosperity."
The Feast of Trumpets, along with the other six festivals of the LORD, foreshadowed certain aspects of the ministry of Jesus Christ. The shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah may or may not be the trumpet blown to capture the Church up to heaven in the rapture. I do believe the rapture is incredibly close, though.
History Channel explains, "The sounding of the shofar—a trumpet made from a ram’s horn—is an essential and emblematic part of both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The ancient instrument’s plaintive cry serves as a call to repentance and a reminder to Jews that God is their king. Tradition requires the shofar blower to play four sets of notes on Rosh Hashanah: tekiah, a long blast; shevarim, three short blasts; teruah, nine staccato blasts; and tekiah gedolah, a very long blast. Because of this ritual’s close association with Rosh Hashanah, the holiday is also known as Yom Teruah—the day of the sounding of the shofar."
The last note for Rosh Hashanah is the Teki'ah Gedolah (very long sound) Exodus 19:16,19. It sounds like this-
Friends, the last sound we will hear on earth will be the tekia gedolah, and the first sound we hear as glorified children of Jesus will be His call, probably something like, "Come up here!" (Revelation 4:1)
"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ 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, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!!AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!!
Great job Elizabeth - this a teaching that most of the church has not had. A pastor friend of mine sent me this link that did an outstanding job explaining the thinking behind the Rapture on this festival - it's long, hour and 16 mins) but very good. Have a note pad handy if you watch.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llOi5nKIb9Q
Thanks Craig! I will finish listening to Mike Abendroth's No Compromise Radio show from yesterday and then I'll roll over to your Youtube link.
Deletemy goodness that video and what you said about it probably being the last sound we hear on earth and as mortal beings gave me serious goosebumps. It's like spending years planning for a magnificent wedding and as the day draws closer seeing all the little details coming together which makes something you only dreamed of become more real and tangible. Wow, what a blessed hope we have and I agree the rapture and time of tribulation is very close.
ReplyDeleteI'm very interested in watching the video Craig posted also. Thank you!
Also, I was wondering when Jesus said we would not know the day or the hour of His return, did he mean the rapture or the second coming?
ReplyDeleteHi Debbie,
DeleteMatthew 24:36- But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Also, Acts 1:6-7- "So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.'
The day nor hour remark is regarding the question the Disciples asked back at the top of Matthew 24, Jesus gives His long answer, culminating in these verses--
“30At 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. 31And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
-----------
we condense it like this-
"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky...but...no one knows the day nor hour."
Matthew 24 regards the Jews, not the church.
Now the question comes, how will they NOT know the day nor hour since the events of the tribulation are so precisely choreographed and listed? Because when the Tribulation ends, the moon and sun and stars will be black. They will have lost sense of time, and adding to that the antichrist will have sought to change times and laws (Dan 7:25) (he does this in order to mess with Jewish holiday and feasts, which are timed according to the moon and sun).
MacArthur wrote, in sermon "Ready or not, Here I come!"
"The time period of the Second Coming will be known, it has to be known. It has to be known because of all the sequence of events. ...all of those events that are very observable will indicate that it is the general period and the general time of the Second Coming. But the day and the hour will not be known. That will come with suddenness in an unexpected way. The period of the Tribulation very clearly indicated and we know the coming of the Son of Man, verse 29 says, is immediately after the Tribulation. But how immediately, we don't know."
There's a gap of 30 days. Daniel in the Old Testament and John in the New Testament writing in Revelation tell us that the Tribulation period, the Great Tribulation, is a period of three and a half years, 42 months, 1260 days. Daniel in the Old Testament and John in the New Testament writing in Revelation tell us that the Tribulation period, the Great Tribulation, is a period of three and a half years, 42 months, 1260 days.
"Immediately after, says verse 29, says the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Now how immediately after, we don't know. And once the sign comes we don't know how long it will be before He actually establishes the Kingdom. So there is some latitude in that. There's a period of time in there...Daniel gives us a hint of it because in Daniel 12:11, Daniel speaks of a period of testing and tribulation of 1290 days. So he adds another 30 days on the end."
So they will not know exactly which day.
I’ve got to jump in again – why? Because we are told to in Heb 10:25
ReplyDeleteLet us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
With the emphasis on “as you see the Day approaching”
Regarding the often asked question surrounding the statement “no man knows the hour or day” a messianic rabbi came into our Christian bookstore one day and began teaching. He started by asking my wife and I a question “In Matthew 24 what day is the Lord referring to?” to which we answered – our redemption – the rapture. That’s right, but what day is it? We answered “probably on the festival of trumpets”. Do you know what day this is on a Jewish calendar? Bewildered we said no we don’t know.
He answered by explaining some of the basic differences in our calendar and the Hebrew calendar. First, the festival of trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) is the only
Jewish festival that lands on the first day of a Hebrew month, in this case, the first of Tishri. The Hebrew calendar is lunar calendar not solar likes ours in the west.
The importance being that a first day of any Hebrew month was not established until two witnesses in Jerusalem actually saw the new moon then reported this to the Temple priest . The high priest then announced that the month or in this case the festival can began. This practice is still being followed, in fact you can go to the web and find out the actual beginnings of Hebrew months as they are reported to the Sanhedrin. What does this all mean?
Since Rosh Hashanah is on the first of Tishri – no one “knows” for sure when that will be. Everyone expects the festival on a certain day but it is not settled until the high priest announces it – just as in 1 Thess 4:16
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
Remember that the Lord in Matt 24 was speaking to his Hebrew disciples who wanted to know “when?” He answered by pointing to the Festival of Trumpets as an answer to when. They got it but the 21 century Church doesn’t because we haven’t been taught anything about the Jewish festivals.
We (the saints) will know it’s about to happen – the Lord made this clear when in Revelation 3:3-4 he says:
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
This verse says that if we don’t (watch) for His coming for the Church that it will be a total surprise to us – inversely – by watching (studying scripture and obeying His command to “watch”) we will know what hour He comes.
Maybe tonight at Sunset? Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Jerusalem time is currently 6:34 PM. :)
DeleteI was interested to learn that Jewish days go from evening to evening, not morning to morning as ours do. A new day begins at their evening sunset. That is why the bible describes a day in Genesis 1 as "evening and morning, the first day."
DeleteCould you explain how you understand Ephesians 3:2-6, especially verse 6, and Galatians 3:26-29?
ReplyDeleteWhat's on your mind, Anonymous?
DeleteI'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Jesus words in Matt. 24 were for the Jews, but not the Church. How do we pick and choose which parts of the Gospels are for the Jews and which are for the Church? Or are all of the Gospels only for the Jews since the Church did not yet exist? Yet Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, plainly writes several times that there is now no difference between the Church and Israel before God - we are now one body.
ReplyDeleteGood question Anonymous. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to answer it.
DeleteEach of the Gospels was written to a specific audience. You "pick and choose" or better stated, "study to discern" what is being said to whom through careful study. Mark’s gospel was targeted to the Roman believers, especially Gentiles. The purpose of Luke's gospel is a chronology. Luke’s gospel is unique from the others in that is a meticulous history —an “orderly account” as Luke put it, (Luke 1:3) often giving details the other accounts omit. John's purpose n writing his Gospel was to present Jesus as Deity.
Matthew’s purpose is to present Jesus Christ as the King and Messiah of Israel. His intended audience was his fellow Jews. To this end, he quotes from more Old Testament books than any other writer.
Not that any of the other Gospels do not have something for us to learn. ALL scripture is profitable and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, (2 Tim 3:16). But you have to understand the context of each book, including the epistles and also the doctrinal books such as Timothy's and Titus to gain a fuller understanding of why it was written. That is what context IS.
Now, in Mt 24, there was a question asked: (actually three questions). “Tell us,” they said,
1. “when will this happen,
2. and what will be the sign of your coming and
3. of the end of the age?”
GotQuestions explains: "it is important to recognize that the interpretation of this discourse must be with reference to Israel and not the Church. Christ was speaking of God's program concerning Israel, and the content of this discourse in large part has direct reference to Daniel 9:24-27, as well as Revelation 6:1 - 19:21, passages that refer to the future 7-year period called the tribulation. The completion of God's program for the Church is the rapture, which is not found in the Olivet Discourse, but instead is found in John 14:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18."
So the first part of the Discourse (v 24:4-8) is really a synopsis of the events told in Rev 6. (wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, earthquakes, etc). The Church will not be on earth at the Tribulation. This comment is information to the Jews, who will be.
For example, this verse: "So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’... then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains". The Jews are the ones who will care about the abomination which will occur in the temple.
Are you in Judea? If not, which mountains do you flee to? Are there even any mountains near where you live? He was speaking *specifically* here, to Jews in Jerusalem, and the mountains bordering the city from north to further south, where Petra is at the bottom.
When Paul said there is no Jew or Greek (Gal 3:28) he was NOT NOT NOT saying that God's promises to the Jews are null and that particular people no longer exists. Paul was telling the former Jews in his church at Galatia who had converted to Christianity that they are all one body with Gentiles now and no longer would worship in the Jewish system. Obviously there are still Jews on earth today, and there will be in the future, as Jesus said in Matthew 24. There will be Jews FOREVER.
We are one body of *believers* in Jesus. The Jews are not believers because they have not accepted their Messiah (yet). They are not in the body, but they are still His people with a definite plan.
THERE IS A DIFFERENCE between the church and the Jews. God's covenant with His people is not set aside, broken, forgotten, or null. God has a program for both, and the one for the church is about to come to an end and the one for the Jews is about to resume. That will happen at the rapture.
Very nice article and yes Rosh Hashanah is a time of rejoicing and of serious introspection, a time to celebrate the completion of another year while also taking stock of one's life.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
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