Yom Teruah the Feast of Trumpets!!

Leviticus 23:24: Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

The Biblical Hebrew calender months are reckoned by the sighting of the new moon. As the 29th day of the month was ending, members of the High Court assembled in a courtyard in Jerusalem named Beit Ya'azek, which means House Ringed-by a stone wall. They waited there to receive the testimonies of two reliable witnesses of the reappearance of the moon. They would then sanctify the new moon, separate the new month. If the moon's crescent was not seen that night, the month would have 30 days, and the new month would begin the following evening.

This makes the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Teruah, the only one of the Feasts of The Lord that it can be said, "No one knows about that day or hour."

Yom is Hebrew for Day, and Teruah is Hebrew for Shouting. Teruah is found in the King James Version of the Bible 36 times, and is translated as shout, shouting, alarm, sound, blowing, and joy. So this moed (appointment) is the Day of Shouting, or Blowing. Specifically Blowing the Shofar! Shofar is the Hebrew name for a curved horn, the horn of an animal that has been hollowed out to make a "trumpet." When ever the Scriptures speak of the Shofar and the sound it makes, it describes the sound as a shout or an alarm.

Here is a list of some events when the Scriptures indicate the shofar was sounded:

* At the giving of the Torah (Law, books of Moses) to the people of Israel --Exodus 19:8,19
* To announce the great sabbatical year of release --Leviticus 25:9
* When Israel conquered Jericho -- Joshua 6:20
* To assemble Israel during war -- Judges 3:27; 2 Samuel 20:1
* To announce the ascension of a new king in Israel -- 1 Kings 34:39
* To warn Israel of impending danger -- Amos 3:6; Jeremiah 6:1; Ezekiel 33:6

Some examples from the Scriptures when the shofar will be sounded are:

* At the final ingathering of the exiles of Israel -- Isaiah 27:13
* To announce God's miraculous end-time intervention to deliver the people of Israel -- Zechariah 9:14
* To herald the coming Messianic Age -- Matthew 24:29-31
* At the Resurrection -- 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17
* In connection to the coming of the King Messiah -- Revelation 11:15-18

There are also many other references to the sound of the shofar in the Scriptures especially in the Psalms. Such as Psalm 89:15, which reads, "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound! Thy shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance."

The phrase translated "joyful sound" is only one word in the Hebrew, it is Teruah! The word used to describe the sound the shofar makes!

There is little written about Yom Teruah in the Scriptures in regards to details on how to keep the Feast. In Nehemiah 8 we have the only account in the Scriptures of a keeping of the Feast. Here we see the story of all of the people of Israel gathering together, and asking Ezra the priest to read to them "the book of the law of Moses."

Nehemiah 8:9-10 says: "9 And Nehemiah, which [is] the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day [is] holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for [this] day [is] holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

Though there isn't much written about the keeping of this feast, it has great eschatological, or end-time significance.

With the sounding of the trumpet, the shofar, and being ready and watching for the feast in mind, lets read some very exciting passages of Scripture!

Zechariah 9:14: "And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south."

Matthew 24:29-31: "29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

1 Thessalonians 4:16: "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:"

1 Corinthians 15:52: "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."

The Messiah himself said, as recorded in the Gospels:

Matthew 24:36-44: "But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two [women shall be] grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

Mark 13:34-37: "34 [For the Son of man is] as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."

Luke 12:35-37: "35 Let your loins be girded about, and [your] lights burning; 36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 37 Blessed [are] those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them."

So the feast of Yom Teruah speaks prophetically of the return of the Messiah! Hear the words of the Apostle Paul has to say about the return of the Messiah.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6: "1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober."

May one day soon, as we the followers of the Messiah are keeping this feast, hear the Trumpet of God and see the return of the Messiah!!

The next Feast on the Biblical calender is the solemn Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

I'll close this message with a blessing from the Scriptures upon the people of The Almighty. It can be found in Numbers 6:24-25:

The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace.

b'shem Y'shua haMoshiahk, K'sed v'Shalom (in the name of Y'shua/Jesus the Messiah, Grace and Peace)