Rosh Hashanah: Is The Feast Of Trumpets A Dress Rehearsal For Future Events?

Rosh Hashanah - The Feast Of Trumpets

Did you know that all of the festivals in the Bible were designed to be dress rehearsals for future events?  The Hebrew word “moed” is commonly translated “feast” or “festival” in the Bible, but it really means “appointment”.  God has set a number of “divine appointments” with Him on the yearly calendar, but even though most Jews still celebrate these days they don’t know what they actually mean, and most Christians stopped keeping them long ago.  Whenever one of these divine appointments arrives, we are supposed to look back and remember something that God has done in the past, but we are also supposed to look forward to what He will do in the future.  In fact, in these festivals God has essentially given us a “road map” of the most important events in human history.  On Rosh Hashanah (also known as Yom Teruah and “the Feast of Trumpets”), we remember “the birthday of the world”, but we also look forward to the Biblical events that will take place on the day when the last trumpet will blow.  Rosh Hashanah is a holiday that was created by God (see Leviticus 23), it is a holiday that Jesus celebrated, it is a holiday that the first Christians celebrated, it is a holiday that foreshadows the return of Jesus for His bride, and it is a holiday that the entire planet will celebrate during the 1000 year reign of Jesus on earth.  Sadly, most Christians don’t know anything about this amazing festival even though it is featured very prominently in the Scriptures.

But it is very important for believers to learn about these festivals, because God didn’t just create them for us to have a good time.  All of the festivals are about Jesus, and all of them are highly prophetic.

One of the ways that God self-authenticates his message is by telling us the future in advance.  God tells us in Isaiah 46:9-10 that He is the only God and that none of the false gods are capable of telling us the end from the beginning…

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure

This is something that makes the Bible truly unique.  We have a God that has already told us how history will unfold in advance.

And one of the ways that God does this is through the festivals that He has created for us.

According to Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries, one of the Hebrew words for these festivals implies that they are intended to be “dress rehearsals”…

The Hebrew word is “Moed” and means an Appointment. Divine Appointments of God intersecting History to accomplish His will. They were called Holy “Convocations” which in the Hebrew is “Miqura” which means an “assembly” but also implies a “Dress Rehearsal”.

And throughout history, that is exactly what they have been.  For example, believers held a “dress rehearsal” for the death of Jesus on the cross on the exact day it would happen and in the exact city it would happen every year for 1,000 years beforehand.  According to Pastor Biltz, Jesus fulfilled the Spring feasts to the very hour during his first coming…

Is the Lord the same Yesterday, Today & Forever? Do you believe in Divine Appointments? We need to realize the Lord fulfilled the Spring Feasts not only to the day but to the very hour. Dying as the Passover Lamb on the Feast of Passover, not on the day before nor on the day after. He was crucified at the time of the morning sacrifice, died at the time of the evening sacrifice. In the grave on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and rose on the Feast of First Fruits. First Fruits was a Feast the Jews had been celebrating for over 1,000 years before Christ ever rose! It was on the very day of the Feast of Pentecost that The Holy Spirit was poured out. Pentecost had been celebrated for over 1,000 years before the book of Acts was even written. The Jews were required by God to keep the Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Pentecost back when the Torah was written by Moses!

During the original Passover celebration just before the people of Israel left Egypt, God instructed His people to kill a lamb and to put the blood of that lamb on their doorposts so that the death angel would pass over their homes.

Why the doorposts?

Well, even today most doorposts are made of wood.

And where does wood come from?

It comes from a tree.

So the message of the original Passover was that the blood of the lamb on the tree delivered them from the wrath of God.

After the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, God required His people to gather at Jerusalem on that same day every single year in order to celebrate the Passover.

Looking back, we can now see that God had His people gather together every single year in the exact city where Jesus would die on the exact day when Jesus would die and He had them act out rituals which precisely foreshadowed the shedding of the blood of the Lamb on the tree (the death of Jesus on the cross).

Even though this was done every single year for 1000 years in advance, most people still missed it.

And just as Jesus fulfilled the Spring feasts during His first coming, He will also fulfill the Fall feasts during His second coming.

On Rosh Hashanah, believers have been foreshadowing one of the most dramatic moments in human history for over 3000 years…

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 Corinthians 15:51-53

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

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.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

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:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Are you starting to get the picture?

Every year we celebrate “a memorial of blowing of trumpets” to foreshadow the day when the last trumpet will blow and we will be called home.

If you have never celebrated Rosh Hashanah before, this year would be a great time to start.  The following are some more facts about Rosh Hashanah that you may not know…

The Feast Of Trumpets Remembers The Creation Of The World

All of God’s festivals are about remembering something and about looking forward to something.  Christians and Jews have traditionally believed that the Feast of Trumpets is “the birthday of the world”.  Isn’t that something for all of us to celebrate?

The Feast Of Trumpets Is A Memorial Of God’s Grace To Abraham When He Substituted A Ram To Be Sacrificed Instead Of Isaac

All of God’s festivals always point to Jesus.  It is traditionally believed that it was on this day that Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac before God intervened and provided a ram instead.  Abraham did not know it at the time, but his actions were precisely foreshadowing the time in the future when God would give His Son as a sacrifice for the sins of all humanity.  The parallels between the two stories are absolutely amazing.  In fact, the events that happened on the mountain in Genesis 22 occurred on the exact same mountain that Jesus would die on approximately 2000 years later.  For centuries, Genesis 22 has traditionally been read as a part of Rosh Hashanah celebrations.  A shofar is actually a ram’s horn, and so the fact that the shofar plays such a key role on the Feast of Trumpets also links the events of Genesis 22 to this day.  We remember when God provided a ram for Abraham, and we also remember when God provided His Son to pay for the sins of all mankind.

Jesus Celebrated The Feast Of Trumpets

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus was without sin.  He perfectly obeyed the entire Torah, and that included keeping the Feast of Trumpets and all of God’s festival days.

Jesus Told Us That We Should Keep The Festivals

In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus said that those who keep God’s Laws (that includes keeping His festivals) will be greatly blessed…

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

The First Christians Celebrated The Feast Of Trumpets

None of the holidays that Christians celebrate today had even been invented when the first Christians were running around in the first century.  Instead, they celebrated the holidays that God invented and that had always been celebrated by believers.  If you go through the book of Acts, you will find many examples of this.  In fact, on the very first festival day after Jesus rose from the dead (Pentecost), God poured out His Holy Spirit on the early disciples.  It was almost as if God was confirming that His festivals were still going to be important even after the time of Jesus.

God Always Does The “Big Things” On His Festival Days

Jesus was almost certainly born during the Feast of Tabernacles.  Jesus was crucified on Passover while the Passover lambs were being slaughtered.  Jesus rose from the dead on First Fruits.  As noted above, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early apostles during the Feast of Pentecost.  God always does the “big things” on His festival days, so why not celebrate them and be looking forward to what God is going to do next?

The Scriptures Tell Us That The Remnant Of The Last Days Will Celebrate The Festivals

In Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 14:12 we read that the remnant of the last days will have both the testimony of Jesus and will keep the commandments of God.  Already, Christians all over the world are awakening to God’s commandments (including keeping the festivals) and we will see a further revival of these things in the years ahead.

The Scriptures Tell Us That We Will Celebrate God’s Festivals After Jesus Returns

The Scriptures are very clear that we will be keeping God’s festivals after Jesus returns to this earth (Zechariah 14, Ezekiel 45 and 46, Isaiah 66:22-23).  For example, Zechariah chapter 14 tells us that Jesus will require all nations to keep the Feast of Tabernacles after He returns.  At the beginning of Zechariah chapter 14, it describes the triumphant return of Jesus to this earth, and then later on in that same chapter it describes how Jesus will actually require the entire world to observe the Feast of Tabernacles once He has established His kingdom…

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

I had been a Christian for more than twenty years before I ever learned anything about these festivals even though they are featured very, very prominently in the Bible.

Fortunately, there has been a worldwide awakening to their importance in recent years.  Today, they are being talked about in churches, in books, on radio shows, on television shows and on the Internet all over the planet.

God is moving, and this is only just the beginning.

So do you have any questions about Rosh Hashanah (the Feast of Trumpets)?  If so, please post it below and I will do my best to try to answer your question…

About the author: Michael T. Snyder is a former Washington D.C. attorney who now publishes The Truth.  His new thriller entitled “The Beginning Of The End” is now available on Amazon.com.

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