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CHRISTIAN RENEWAL ASSOCIATION INC.

A JUDEO-CHRISTIAN CELEBRATES THE FESTIVAL OF TRUMPETS

Autumn has arrived. It is an exciting season for me spiritually. Why, you may ask? Because it is the time of the Festival of Trumpets that is celebrated each Fall throughout the world. Briefly said, this Festival symbolizes the call to the final spiritual harvest of souls.

The Festival of Trumpets, and six other Festivals, began about 3,700 years ago when God instructed His servant Moses to write down His Words to guide the Israelites in the best way to live. The children of Israel connected their harvest of foods such as fruit and grains, at this season, with God’s spiritual messages to them. God’s people of old found that as families keep the Festivals, it was a time to draw closer to the Lord and to their families. The Torah, the first five books of the Bible, is a very important part of Christian’s lives as well as Jews.

As I have studied these Festivals, applying my knowledge of the rest of the Bible, I understand more. It makes me excited about the future God has for all of us. Studying the Bible in Hebrew has also greatly deepened my understanding.

Many Christians see the coming of the Lord as beyond their time on earth, as they have not been given a specific time to celebrate that event. This seems to downplay the most important event in our future. Yet, the one bright spot is that the historic churches often repeat the Nicene Creed that proclaims Christ’s future return to earth. But it seems that more teaching on Heaven, the believers’ resurrection, and Christ’s return would be in order.

In addition to the Creed, I celebrate the Old Testament teachings of the seven Festivals that portray Jesus’ life from crucifixion through to His return. If you want an overview of the seven Festivals, it is condensed in one chapter of the Bible--Leviticus 23. “The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed” is a true adage. So, to more deeply understand the Seven Festivals of God, we need to find them in the New Testament also. I have enjoyed doing that.

WHOLE BIBLE VIEW

What is different about this particular Day of Trumpets that I am speaking of? It is that one day the Prince of Peace, the Messiah, will come for His peace-loving family in Israel, and then to all nations. In other words, it won’t be only the very special annual Messianic Festival where the Shofar is blown a hundred times when Israelites and Christians look at their victories of the past, but it will be looking forward to the actual final fulfillment of all things by Messiah Himself.

The Jewish leader, Saul, aka Paul, from the first century speaks of this time: “For if we believe that Jesus (Yeshua) died and rose again, even so them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him . . . For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

“Then we that are alive and remain shall be ‘caught up’ (Harpadzo) together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be with the Lord. Comfort one another with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:14-18 KJV–mod). (Harpadzo, Strong’s #726: To seize, snatch away, catch up).” The trump will sound as Jesus comes for His family (ecclesia) of all believers to take us Home to the place He has been preparing for us since His ascension 2,000 years ago.

THE SEVEN FESTIVALS CLUE

Did you know that biblical prophecy is seen as being fulfilled directly from Jerusalem, the spiritual center of our world? For instance, the Day of Trumpets Festival or Yom Terurah comes after Pentecost or Shauvot. It is the only Festival that is confirmed by the New Moon and is timed first from Jerusalem.

The first four Festivals have already been literally fulfilled: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Pentecost. Next in line is the fifth or Festival of Trumpets. After this one, there are only two to go. What fulfilled means is that those events we rehearsed from the past are still in the past, but when literally fulfilled, they have happened in the life-changing present.

Christ’s coming for His saints will be known first and foremost from Jerusalem. Some Christian believers enjoy looking for the first sign of the New Moon each Fall. You may see online, live websites of Israel when the Shofar is blown at the sighting of the New Moon. (See www.moonconnection.com, and click on: Current Moon Phase for picture.) The possible dates this year are September 28, 29, 30. Jewish days go from sunset to sunset. Each year, one does not know “the day or the hour” of this Festival ahead of time until the new moon actually shows up. That’s the reason two or three days are listed on your Christian or Jewish calendar.

I visited Jerusalem in September 2002 and celebrated the Feast of Trumpets there on my birthday. That event seemed a miracle to me. You can read the story I Received the Moon for My Birthday on the articles web page.

The Torah lists the seven Festivals that outline the Bible’s entire salvation story from the beginning of the Bible in Genesis to the end of it in Revelation. My abbreviated list of these Festivals is given below:

SPRING FESTIVALS:

• Passover--coming out of your Egypt to God’s Promised Land

• Unleavened Bread--the Lamb of God’s perfect sacrifice

• First fruits (resurrection)--Jesus’ resurrection for our salvation

MIDDLE FESTIVAL: Pentecost--Ten Commandments, Empowerment to do God’s work, Supernatural gifts imparted

FALL FESTIVALS:

• Day of Trumpets--Messiah Jesus coming for those who believe in Him.

Shofar a spiritual gathering [plus Rosh Ha

Shana a Jewish New Year]

• Day of Atonement--Messiah’s Return to earth for believing Jews and Gentiles – all nations, (Romans 11:26)

Repentance, Healing

• Feast of Tabernacles--wilderness journey, millennial reign of Messiah Yeshua - Jesus from the Temple in

Jerusalem. Joy and Rejoicing. Peace on the earth!

For a Scripture on overcomers escaping the tribulation, turn to Revelation 3:10-11. Here, Jesus Christ is speaking to the faithful Church of Philadelphia in the first century, and I believe it also refers to our world today.

“Because you have kept the word of my patience, I will keep you from the hour of temptation that shall come upon the earth. Behold I come quickly: hold fast what you have, that no man take your crown” (Revelation 3:10-11 KJV-mod). As in the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, we must live ready with oil in our lamps (Matthew 25:1-13).

As well as the Bible, believers have three calendars to help us tell time. First is our Gregorian Catholic-Christian Calendar showing we are in year 2011 of the twenty-first century, some, such as the webmasters of Google use the Julian Calendar as it precedes the Gregorian one by about 2,000 years BCE, and then there is the Jewish Rabbinic Calendar that shows we are near the end of the 6,000 year cycle or year 5772.

THE SEVEN FESTIVAL FULFILLMENTS

The seven Festival understanding and fulfillment to me is the greatest biblical clue to the timing of Jesus’ coming events at the end of the Age. The exact time of the fifth Festival will be seen and begin from Jerusalem, and then will affect believers worldwide.

Some Christians believe in the “immediacy theory” that Jesus may come at anytime. That’s fine with me “maranatha,” but I favor the seven Festivals teaching God gave in the Scripture because it helps me have a way to celebrate this most important event. It shows the whole plan of God for our redemption in detail. I love it when the Old Testament Torah, (Genesis through Malachi), confirms the New Testament (Matthew through Revelation).

As we watch for Christ’s return, in our happiness we also will keep balanced with this Scripture, “But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels that are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take heed, watch and pray: for you know not when the time is.” (Mark 13:32-33).

Let us heed Jesus’ Words to “watch and pray” for His return. And at the same time be about our Father’s business here on earth showing the way to those who need eternal life, and getting our planet ready for the return of our Lord, the King of kings.

(To learn more: The Feasts of the Lord by Ron Cantrell, 2002, Bridges for Peace, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74134)

R I T A ' S R E F L E C T I O N S

A Judeo-Christian Celebrates the Feast of Trumpets

written by Rita Bennett • September 2011