Feast of Trumpets ~ Part 1

Feast of Trumpets ~ Part 1
By Pastor Gary Wayne

Israel has two major harvest seasons – Spring harvest, and Fall harvest.
The Feast times God set up in Leviticus happens during
these harvest times.

Around Resurrection Sunday, we began to look at these feasts and how God fulfilled the first four feasts hundreds of years after He gave them to His people to be observed every year.

The timing and precision of how God fulfilled and activated the meaning and purpose of these feasts are incredible.

Looking at the Biblical time line, the first four feasts were fulfilled through Jesus.
The Fall Feasts point to the future when God will fulfill those promises.
The rapture of the church, and the day we will “live” with Him in Heaven.

I want to start looking at these Fall Feasts and what they point towards.
- The “Feast of Trumpets” (“Rosh Hashanah”) that teaches repentance.
- “The Day of Atonement” (Yom Kippur)that teaches redemption.
- The “Feast of Tabernacles” (Sukkot) that teaches rejoicing.
Today we are going to look at The Feast of Trumpets.

Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Leviticus 23:1-4, 23-25, 26-27, 33-36

Feast of Trumpets begins with a ceremony of the blowing of two silver trumpets.

This celebration was a reminder of when Israel was gathered at Mount Sinai. God wanted all Israel to come into His presence, so Moses told them, "...When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain." (Ex.19:13)

So this feast began by getting people’s attention to turn from their everyday activities, and focus on what God was up to.

Feast of Trumpets, The Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles all pointed to the conclusion of the end of the year, and the end of the harvest.

Again I want to point out that these three feasts are yet to be fulfilled.
Spiritually, they point to the conclusion of an age – the church age.
They point to the end of a harvest time.

1 Thess. 4:13-18
All the way through the N.T. there are parables and references that align themselves with the ceremonies that take place in these feasts.

We believe in the “rapture of the church.”
The word rapture isn’t found in scripture but comes from this text, ver.17 “caught up.”

Note in ver.16 as it describers the “trumpet of God” being associated with “the voice of an archangel.”

This feast flowed into the next celebration – The Day of Atonement.
For 10 days Israel was to remember the Lord, repent, and prepare for the most high and holy day, the Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur.

On this day the High priest would enter the Holy of Holies to make atonement for Israel.

So this feast focused on preparing their hearts and lives to go into His presence, but also looking for His return.

It is fascinating to me to study how Jesus fulfilled all the spring feast with increasable precision and detail, down to the exact hour.

I believe these Fall feasts will also be fulfilled with precise detail and timing.

It is a prophetic look at what God said He would fulfill in His coming back to get His bride.

So if we know for thousands of years, God set in motion feasts that point to end time fulfillment, and these feasts let us see how precise God is fulfilling His promises, How Shall we live?

Two extremes to ovoid: Knowing Jesus is coming back tomorrow can lead to “short timer’s” attitude.

Or “I have heard this all my life,” so I get careless in how I life.

In Luke 19 there is a parable of the “ten minas” that points to end time events.
In there, we are instructed to focus our attention on “doing business for the Master until He returns.”

Live life with a strong mixture that He may return today, but continue to make plans on expanding His kingdom.

Next week – Biblical Marriage ceremonies that coincide with the Feast of Trumpets. (Mat.25:1-13)