Today (Sept 16, 2023) in the Jewish calendar is the first day of the seventh month, what the Jewish people call Rosh HaShanah, or, the New Year; and what the Word of God calls the Day of Memorial of Trumpet Blows/Blasts — Yom Zikhron Teruah. In the calendar that YHVH God gave to Israel, the new year begins on the first day of the first month, Aviv/Nisan. That seems logical! But by making the seventh month the first month, it brings in confusion regarding God’s plan of redemption: He is finishing up something to bring to completion, not beginning His plan.
What is interesting is that the Jubilee year begins on the 10th day of the 7th month; that is, on the Day of Atonements/Yom haKippurim. The Jubilee year is the 50th year, the year beginning after the 49th year of the Jubilee cycle. So, this new beginning of freedom and of restoration of possessions could possibly be considered as a new year/new beginning for the redeemed, but what all this means for us today is that today is not New Year’s day! Our tradition can make void the commandment of God.
With that, what does today (Sept 16, 2023), a triple mo’ed/appointed time — not only a weekly Sabbath; not only a monthly New Moon; but also the annual Day of Memorial of Trumpet Blasts — have to do with us who are believers in Yeshua the Messiah/Jesus Christ now, whether we are Jewish or Gentile?
Let’s read Acts 17:22-31.
The sacrificial death of Yeshua/Jesus on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day, fulfilled all of the sacrifices that YHVH gave to Israel, and and made possible for God to fulfill all of the promises that He gave to them in His covenants. (Rom 15:8-9) In the power of the shed blood of the Messiah, God our Father in Heaven offers forgiveness to every human being, both to Jews and also to Gentiles.
At Passover, we remember that God has set us free from bondage to sin and to unrighteousness, and has called us to freedom to serve and obey Him who has redeemed us and saved us to love Him who would do this for us. And if we love Him, we will obey Him willingly and with faith. Our Father wants us to be holy, because He is holy. Jesus came as the Holy One of God.
At Shavuot/Pentecost, the Father sent the Holy Spirit in Yeshua’s name to baptize those who are born-again by believing the truth of the gospel, and we are first fruits of the harvest.
The Day of Memorial of Trumpet Blasts calls the people of God to unity as one nation – or as one Body – in preparation for the Day of Judgment – the Day of Atonements. This call to repentance – even for believers! — for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, has been going out for almost 2000 years, or for nearly two days in God’s history calendar. (Mt 28:18-20; Hos 5:15; 6:1-2)
The gospel goes out to those who have not believed, in hope that many more will be saved from their sins, and receive God’s forgiveness. For those who already believe, the Holy Spirit is bringing us to remember the truth of our faith so that we are in God’s peace when the day of judgment comes, the Day of the LORD/YHVH. The return of the Messiah, Yeshua/Jesus, and the restoration of the Kingdom of God to Israel is not that far off.
All the turmoil that we are living in today is being used by the Lord to bring many more people to turn from their wicked ways, from their idolatry of trusting in man, and to seek with all their heart the righteousness and mercies of the Creator, who is the only one who can judge righteously and save those who will believe in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
By faith, those who do believe in Yeshua, and in His blood for our forgiveness, we have a “good signature”; our names are written in the Book of Life. Praise God for His great grace and mercy towards us! But He does call us to sanctify our lives in our thoughts, our words, our way of life to prove that we believe the truth of what He has spoken to us in His written word.
The Day of Trumpets is still “today”, a day of salvation, and the acceptable year of the LORD. (Is 61:1-2; 2Cor 6:1-2; Lk 2:8-14) When Yeshua read from these verses in Isaiah, He stopped in the middle of verse 2. He did not proclaim that the day of God’s vengeance had come, but good will. He calls those who already belong to our heavenly Father’s family to love one another and to be holy, without which no one will see the Lord, and to proclaim the gospel of salvation and the Kingdom of God. The day of judgment is coming, and Yeshua/Jesus is the Judge. Judgment begins in the house of God, in the Body of Messiah/Christ. This is the Word of God that we are to believe and to live by, as we continue to proclaim the gospel to whomsoever for repentance and faith unto eternal life.
In the Book of the Revelation, we read about the 7 trumpets of judgments which will be coming upon Israel and the world during the last 3 1/2 years before the Day of YHVH and the wrath of God upon His enemies and the enemies of His people. So we see that in the set time which God gave to Israel to remember the blowing of trumpets, He is also looking to the final call to repentance before He must judge those who refuse His righteousness and His grace. Once again, here am I speaking about the end-times! These are the days that we are living in; there is no benefit to speaking only of peace, peace, when there is no peace. We need to be awake and sober, and be useful for every good work which the Lord may need for His service.
In Israel the Jewish people are greeting each other with Shana tova! Have a good year! And they are hoping again this year for a “good signature” — that their names will be written in the Book of Life for another year after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. We, who by the grace of God know and believe that Yeshua the Messiah/Jesus Christ, the Son of God has died for our sins, we have repented from not believing the gospel to believing it unto everlasting life.
Praise the LORD that we are not worrying whether we will have a “good signature”, but, “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God!” (Rom 5:1-2) We can rejoice together in the goodness of our holy, holy, holy God, and be glad that He calls us family as sons and daughters in Messiah. (Neh 8:1-12) We were slaves to sin, and He delivered us by paying much more than the price for a slave – ~20-40 ILS: the Messiah, Yeshua, bought us with the price of His own life, put to death on the cross to shed the blood of the New Covenant, by which God forgives everyone and anyone who repents and believes this foundational truth. (1Cor 3:10-11; 2:1-2; 1Pt 1:18-21; Rev 13:8-9)
Jesus/Yeshua is now glorified in Heaven where the Son of Man is sitting at the right hand of Father (Dan 7:13-14; Mt 26:62-66; Acts 2:29-36); but our hope is in His return in great power and glory, when every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Yeshua the Messiah/Jesus Christ is LORD! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
