The Feast of Trumpets which is known as Rosh Hashanah
("Head of the Year") is celebrated on the 1st day of the 7th month (Tishrei), because the month of Nissan
was made the 1st month of the year by God in remembrance of His liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage (Exodus 12:2; Exodus 13:4)
According to Jewish tradition, Rosh Hashanah Is the Day
of Adam's creation, because the very first words of the Bible, "in the beginning" (Hebrew, "Bereishit"),
when changed around in the Hebrew - reads "Aleph b'Tishrei" (on the first of Tishrei)
On this day occurred the revival of the Law under Ezra,
"the priest" and "the scribe" (Nehemiah 8:1-3)
The phrase "blowing of trumpets" (Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 29:1)
is the Hebrew Word (Teruah) which means "loud noise" or "blasts"
Rosh Hashanah is also known as Yom Teruah ("the Day
of the Awakening Blast"), which is also associated with the "resurrection shout" (I Thessalonians 4:16 cf.
Daniel 12:1-2)
The trumpet that is blown on Rosh Hashanah is called the
"shofar" (literally, a "curved horn") and is specifically a "ram's horn" (Joshua 6:5)
A horn is a representation of strength (I Samuel 2:10; Psalms 89:17)
and is associated with the power of the One Who brings salvation to His people (Psalms 18:2)
The sacrifice of the ram which God provided for Abraham
in the place of his son (Genesis 22:7-8,12-13) foreshadowed the death and resurrection of the Messiah (Hebrews 11:17-19)
The "sounding of the shofar" in the "new
moon" at the "time appointed" on our "solemn feast day", i.e. Rosh Hashanah (Psalms 81:3)
- the "sounding of the shofar" also marked significant events in God's dealing with Israel:
During this prophetic gap (between the 69th and 70th weeks)
"shall Messiah be cut off, but NOT for Himself" (Daniel 9:26) - "He will be cut off out of the land of the living: for the
transgression of My people" (Isaiah 53:8)
This prophetic gap lies between Messiah's 1st coming in
fulfillment of Israel's spring harvest festivals known as the "latter rain" season and Messiah's 2nd
coming in fulfillment of Israel's fall harvest festivals known as the "former (early) rain" season (Hosea 6:3)
Between the two comings of the Messiah, Israel will abide
"many days" without a prince and a temple and a priesthood (Hosea 3:4-5) until the rightful Messiah occupies His priestly throne (Ezekiel 21:25-27 cf. Zechariah 6:12-13)
During this prophetic gap, Messiah will "tear Ephraim
(Israel) and Judah as a lion" and will "return to His place until they acknowledge their offence"
when "in their affliction (tribulation) they will seek Him early (earnestly)" (Hosea 5:14-15 cf. Matthew 23:37-39; Isaiah 64:1-10)
They will cry out for "healing" and "binding
up" after having been "torn two days" and will look forward to being "revived" and "raised
up to live in His sight in the third day" (Hosea 6:1-2)
The prophecy concerning the Messiah's coming (return)
in the last days (II Peter 3:3-4) and its delay (II Peter 3:9) being likened to "a day being as a thousand years" (II Peter 3:8)
indicates at least a 2000 year prophetic gap between Messiah's 1st coming (Hosea 5:15) and Messiah's 2nd coming (Hosea 6:2)
This 2000 year prophetic gap occupies the parenthetical
"But now" time (Ephesians 2:13) between "time past" (Ephesians 2:11) and "the world (age) to come" (Hebrews 6:5)
Peter mentions "the wisdom given unto Paul"
concerning the "speaking of these things" in ALL his epistles (II Peter 3:15-16)
Paul speaks of "this present evil world (age)"
(Galatians 1:4) as being between "the ends of the world (ages)" (I Corinthians 10:11)
During this time four kingdoms will arise (Daniel 7:2-3)
and the fourth kingdom "shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth" (Daniel 7:7,23)
This kingdom will be comprised of ten kings (Genesis 15:18-21; Psalms 83:4-8)
- AFTER which will arise the "diverse king", who "will speak great words against the Most High"
(Daniel 7:8,24-25)
This king ("a little horn") will arise out of
one of the four divisions of the Greek empire (Daniel 8:5-12,21-23) and "shall destroy wonderfully" and "by peace shall
destroy many" (Daniel 8:24-25 cf. I Thessalonians 5:3)
The interval between the Rapture and the opening of the
Day of the Lord is described by the Lord as the "beginning of sorrows" ("birthpangs") (Matthew 24:8),
which will be marked by "wars and rumors of wars" in which "nation shall rise up against nation"
(Matthew 24:6-7)
It is this king's "league" ("agreement")
of peace with Israel (Daniel 11:22-24 cf. Isaiah 28:18), which commences the final 70th week of Daniel's prophecy (Daniel 9:26-27)
The kingdom of the North is Assyria and the kingdom of
the South is Egypt and between them is the Land of Israel (Isaiah 19:23-25) - these two kingdoms are the "two legs of iron" which come
out of the "belly of brass" (Daniel 2:32-33,39-40)
The beginning of Daniel's 70th week is marked by Israel's
"covenant with death and with hell" (Isaiah 28:15),
which does NOT stand (Isaiah 28:18)
as it is broken in the "midst of the week" (Daniel 9:27)
The time from the breaking of the covenant by the "taking
away of the daily sacrifice" and the "setting up of the abomination that maketh desolate" is said
to be 1290 days (Daniel 12:11)
The time for he (the Antichrist) "shall have accomplished
to scatter the power of the Holy people" is said to be three an a half years - a duration of 1260 days (Daniel 12:6-7)
Subtracting 1260 days from 1290 days gives a 30-day midpoint
(interval between the two halves of the 70th week) for the "taking away of the daily sacrifice" and the
"setting up of the abomination that maketh desolate" (Daniel 11:31 cf. Matthew 24:15)
Significant events occurring within the 30-day midpoint
of the 70th week include:
The casting out of Satan and his hosts from heaven to
earth (Revelation 12:7-9)
The fleeing of the woman (Israel) to the wilderness to
be "fed" of God for 1260 days (Revelation 12:6) and to be "nourished" of God for three and a half years
(Revelation 12:13-14) and afterwards to be "brought forth of children" AFTER "Zion's
travail" (Isaiah 66:8)
The 45-day period AFTER the close of the 70th week (30
days + 1260 days) until the receiving of the blessing (at the end of 1335 days) will be the prophetic fulfillment
of each of Israel's Fall Feasts to the very day (Daniel 12:12)
The 45-day period associated with the prophetic fulfillment
of the Fall Feasts lines up exactly with Israel's annual Fall Festival cycle
The 40-day period known as "Teshuva" ("Return")
includes the 30 days of the 6th month "Season of Repentance" and the first 10 days of the 7th month known
as "Yamim Nora'im" ("Days of Awe")
The 10 "Days of Awe" begin with the Feast of
Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) on the 1st day of the 7th month (Leviticus 23:24) and end with the Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on the 10th day of
the 7th month (Leviticus 23:27)
The number 40 in Scripture is associated with testing:
Israel was tested and failed in the wilderness when Moses
was up in the mount for 40 days (Exodus 24:18 cf. Exodus 32:1)
At the end of the 45 days is the Feast of Tabernacles
on the 15th day of the 7th month (Leviticus 23:34)
The 40-day period of "Teshuva" ("Return")
will see its prophetic fulfillment in the outpouring of "the seven last plagues: for in them is filled up
the wrath of God" (Revelation 15:1)
This period is called "the great and the terrible
Day of the Lord" (Joel 2:31)
The "Day of Wrath" (Romans 2:5) will be revealed historically when the "transgressors are come
to the full" (Daniel 8:23)
The 30-day "Season of Repentance" (the 6th month)
will be literally fulfilled to the day with the outpouring of the first 5 bowls of wrath culminating with the plague
of darkness (the 5th bowl judgment) just prior to the Messiah's return on the Feast of Trumpets on the 1st day
of the 7th month
There will be total darkness for almost that entire 30-day
period between the end of the Great Tribulation and the Messiah's second coming (Matthew 24:29 cf. Isaiah 13:9-11)
The Lord enjoins "watchfulness" during this
time (Revelation 16:15), because during this time there will be "thick darkness"
(Zephaniah 1:14-15) as it was in Egypt (Exodus 10:21-23) when they will NOT be able to discern day from night and so will NOT
be able to know the day of the Lord's coming (Matthew 24:36-37 cf. Zechariah 14:6-7)
The Lord's people will literally need to have "oil
in their lamps" during these days of "thick darkness" (Matthew 25:1-13)
Israel and the Light
of the Prophetic Word(Psalms 119:105)
The time of physical darkness which precedes the second
coming of the Messiah as "lightning" (Matthew 24:27-30) is also a time of spiritual darkness which precedes the revelation
of the Messiah (Micah 7:7-9)
as the "Sun of Righteousness" (Malachi 4:1-2)
In that day only the "sure Word of Prophecy"
will be as a "light that shineth in a dark place" to be heeded in one's heart until the appearing of
the "Day Dawn" and the "Day Star" (II Peter 1:19)
The Messiah is called the "Bright and Morning Star"
(Revelation 22:16)
Just as when God commanded the light of His Son to shine
upon the ruined physically darkened creation (Genesis 1:2-3), so has He commanded the "light of the gospel" concerning
His Son to shine in the sinfully darkened hearts of His redeemed (II Corinthians 4:6)
God has equipped His saints with the "armour of light"
to be able to walk in this "time of night", so that they will be able to cast off the "works of
darkness" (Romans 13:12)
This "armour of light" consists of the "breastplate
of faith and love" and the "helmet of the hope of salvation" (I Thessalonians 5:8)
The abiding trinity of blessing is "faith, hope,
charity (love)" (I Corinthians 13:13) and the greatest of these is love, because "charity (love) never
faileth" (I Corinthians 13:8) - for it is the "saints in light" who have been "delivered
from the power of darkness" into the "kingdom of the Son of His love" (Colossians 1:12-13)