Jewish Studies...Part Three (Rosh HaShanah)

I am getting soooo much feedback on these Jewish studies posts! I can hardly contain myself! Well....we will wrap up the studies with this post. This one intrigues me the most. I love studying this stuff. Do you ever feel incomplete...like a big chunk of you is elsewhere? Do you ever have a longing so deep to see your Savior's face that you can hardly stand it? Do you ever wonder why a good movie or a good meal or a good conversation never quite measure up to bringing complete fulfillment? I think God created tons of "good" things for us to enjoy, but nothing is going to fill that deep void until we reach our real home and see the One who redeemed us.

One of the feasts that intrigues me the most is called Rosh HaShanah. It is the only one celebrated at the new moon. This feast is referred to as the head of the Jewish civil year. It has been called "Yom Teruah" which means "day of the awakening blast" and also "shout." It can also be called "Yom HaKesah" which means the "day of concealment."

Isaiah 26:19-21 says this:
"But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins..."

If you believe in a pre-trib rapture, then the Church (Bride) must be concealed in Heaven during the Tribulation...away from the earth and the effects of God's wrath. In the above verses, we see "God's people" as being hidden (or concealed) until the wrath has passed by. The cool thing about Rosh HaShanah is that it is the only feast celebrated during the new moon. The new moon is the one where you can't even see it...it first appears as a sliver. Before "NASA," the Jewish people would require two witnesses to be watchmen for the new moon. When they both saw the edges of the new moon, they would announce it to the Sanhedrin, who would then tell the High Priest. Rosh Hashanah was called the "unknown day" because there was always a 48 hour window in which it could occur. It is still a two day feast.

The coolest part is that the verse that says "No man knows the day or hour" (Mt. 24:36) is a common idiom said during this feast. No one knew which day it would take place on...but they had to be prepared.

We know they were to sound the ram's horn on this day(Rosh Hashanah) because of this verse: "Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon..." Psalm 81:3 The sounding of a trumpet...often a shofar (ram's horn), is in many verses that make reference to the rapture. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15:51-52 that "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the LAST TRUMP; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1st Thessalonians 4:16-18 say: "For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the TRUMPET of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage each other with these words."

Rosh HaShanah was not the only feast where the trumpet was blown, but this feast is referred to as the "LAST TRUMP." Pentecost is called the First Trump and Yom Kippur is called the Great Trump. Pretty neat stuff!!

I don't think we are to be "date setters" or anything like that...in Acts, it says we don't get to know the time, but instead, we get the Holy Spirit. But, I do think God wants us aware of the seasons...to be aware of world events and how they might match up to Biblical prophesy. Rosh Hashanah is on September 30th-October 1st this year. I am by no means saying that THIS is the year...but if the rapture will occur on this feast, then it does give us yet another reason to look forward to fall every year!

Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!