LESSON 11

Feast of Trumpets

The Savior is Coming!

  Generations before us have sought the answer to the same question perplexing man today. Are we the last generation? Mankind has a natural desire to know what the future holds. Without Yahweh's Word there is no way we can ascertain the end of the age and determine whether we are living in the last days.

   Moses wrote down Yahweh's law in the first five books of the Bible. Included is Leviticus 23, a unique chapter in that it contains all of Yahweh's weekly and annual Sabbaths. As we have learned in previous correspondence course lessons, His Sabbaths embrace more than just the weekly, seventh-day Sabbath.

Special, Biblical Days Sow Salvation's Plan

   The Passover event foreshadowed the Messiah's first coming as a meek lamb to die for the sins of the world. Passover pictured His coming as a Lamb being led to the slaughter. He came not as a mighty King to wrest rulership from the Romans in order to reign with a rod of iron, as may Jews and religious leaders hoped for.

   Following the Passover memorial we are to put physical leavening aside for seven days. This period of Unleavened Bread is a time of deep spiritual introspection. The Scriptures teach us that during the Days of Unleavened Bread we also examine our beliefs and our doctrines in order to remove the spiritual leavening that Yahshua told us to beware of in Matthew 16:11-12.

   The wave sheaf, which was an offering made before the harvest could begin, was a thank-offering to Yahweh. It included a prayer that the rest of the harvest would be as bountiful as the firstfruits, which were specially selected and offered to Yahweh. Yahshua apparently ascended to the Father to be accepted for us as the "firstfruits" of His human harvest so that we might also be resurrected to the spirit realm as He was.

   Yahweh's annual holy days illustrate the Creator's broad plan for mankind's spiritual creation. Unless we understand their significance, and are keeping these festivals and holy days as a sign of obedience, we lack complete understanding. That means less than adequate protection for what lies ahead.

   We are given seven annual Sabbaths to allow us a deeper insight into events yet to come. These holy days were given to ancient Israel to be kept forever, Leviticus 23:14, 21,31,41. The method of worship may change, such as a substitute made in offerings, but the days and observances remain.

   Not only will they be kept in the coming Kingdom, but we who are in the first resurrection will also enforce them when we are made priests of Yahweh, Revelation 1:6 (New International Version).

   Prior to Israel's delivery from Egypt, only certain individuals like Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were in a covenant relationship with Yahweh. These patriarchs observed and rested on the Sabbath, which Yahweh had ordained at the beginning. With the children of Israel, Yahweh expanded His relationship to include an entire nation of people. He ratified a covenant with this entire nation rather than individuals alone.

   In Leviticus 23, Yahweh explains to Israel that these are His Feast days that shall be proclaimed as holy gatherings or convocations. The first of these special times was the seventh day (our Saturday), the Sabbath of weekly rest. Passover is acceptance of the shed blood of the Lamb, which depicts Yahshua. The subsequent seven days are called the Feast of Unleavened Bread The first day on Abib 15 is a holy convocation, as is the last or 21st day of Abib. During this time of Unleavened Bread, we examine all the doctrines we accept as truth.

   The third annual High Sabbath is Pentecost or Feast of Weeks. It commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit.

   The fourth feast day is the Feast of Trumpets.

Feast of Trumpets in the New Covenant

   Leviticus 23:24 reads, "'Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, "In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall you have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. You should do no servile work therein but you shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh."

   Notice Numbers 29:1, "And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no servile work; it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you." He goes on to explain the type of offering Israel was to make on that day of sacred gathering.

   From the above we see that the correct observance of Yahweh's Feast of Trumpets is to cease from our own work (thereby not being in servitude to the world) and to rest and draw closer to Yahweh on His day.

   The offerings we are to render today are spiritual in nature. Hebrews 13:15-16 tells us that by Yahshua we should offer the sacrifice of praise to Yahweh continually, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His Name. Even King David in the 51st and 69th Psalms understood that the "fruit of our lips" means praise to Yahweh's Name and giving Him the glory. That is the sacrifice that is greatly pleasing to Yahweh.

   In 1 Peter 2:5 the assembly is likened to living stones that are built up unto a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to Yahweh through His Son.

   In Leviticus 23:24 we learn the Feast of Trumpets is to be observed every year at the same time, which is the beginning of the seventh scriptural month.

   Deuteronomy 16:16 teaches that we shall worship Yahweh in spirit and truth at the location He chooses to place His Name. He has put His Name in his people through baptism (Revelation 14:1, margin). When brethren gather for His Feasts, He is there with them.

   It is up to the Elders of the Assembly to establish a place for Yahweh's people to keep the Feasts, as we see in Ephesians 4:11-13. Presently Yahweh's Assembly in Messiah meets at our own campground near Columbia, Missouri. Spaces are provided for tents, camping trailers and RV's. A large tabernacle building is located on the grounds as well as a smaller pavilion. Three times in the year Yahweh's people come together as we are commanded in Deuteronomy 16:16.

   We gather to present ourselves to Yahweh and sing praises to His great Name, which are really spiritual sacrifices, to gain His attention and favor. By giving Him the honor and glory, we petition Him to accept our worship so that His blessings will fall on us.

   Since the death and resurrection of the Messiah Yahshua, animal sacrifices have been set aside, Hebrews 9 and 10. Sacrifices were added because of transgressions (sins), Galatians 3:19.

   But Yahweh does not want sacrifices; He desires obedience, as seen in Psalm 51:16-17.

   Sacrifices of animals did not atone for the sins of Saul, for instance, as Samuel clearly told him, "Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams," 1 Samuel 15:22. Sacrifices were added later and were not a part of the Covenant, Jeremiah 7:22.

A Command to Blow Trumpets

   The Feast of Trumpets was given to Israel as a nation as they came out of Egypt. Yahweh told the children of Israel how to observe the Feast of Trumpets, when to observe it, why there were to observe it, as well as where.

   What special significance does the Feast of Trumpets given to the children of Israel anciently have with Yahweh's Assembly in the latter days? We shall see in this lesson how Yahweh's festivals bind His people to Him in truth. His special days also establish future events just around the corner.

   The significance of the trumpet itself as an instrument is a fascinating study. One wonders why Yahweh chose trumpets to be blown instead of employing another type of instrument, possibly stringed, or perhaps presenting something like the drum, which is very loud.

   In Numbers 10:1 Yahweh instructed Moses to make two trumpets of silver from one whole piece. They were to be used for the calling of the Assembly, as an alarm and for the journeying of the camps. He also instructed Moses that they should blow the trumpets to assemble the congregation at the door of the tabernacle. Certain sounds signaled a specific action the Israelites were to take.

   For instance, if one trumpet were blown, then only the princes or leaders of Israel would gather with Moses at the tabernacle door. When the trumpet blew an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts were to go forward. And when the alarm sounded the second time, the camps that were on the south side were to take their journey.

   Through the trumpets Israel was warned of her enemies, thus insuring her preparedness for battle.

   The New International Version study Bible has this note on Leviticus 23:24, "Trumpets were blow on the first of every month [new moon]. With no calendars available, the trumpets sounding across the land were an important signal of the beginning of the new season, the end of the agricultural year."

Jubilee Heralded by the Trumpet

   The instrument itself served many purposes. The festival, the Feast of Trumpets, was called "a memorial of the blowing of trumpets." Leviticus 25:8 reveals another use of the trumpet. The children of Israel were told to number seven sabbaths of years or seven sabbatical cycles and then cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, the day of Atonement.

   They were to sound the trumpet throughout all the land to proclaim the 50th year of liberty or freedom from slavery, known as the Jubilee, to all the children of Israel. Upon this 50th year, every man regained his possessions and returned to his family. It was a year of release, a joyous occasion.

   Any who had lost possessions or had financial difficulties to the point of selling themselves into servanthood knew that at the year of Jubilee they would be released from that bondage and would be returned to their possessions.

   Psalm 81 described the joyous feelings the trumpet brings to us. The Psalmist would sing aloud because Yahweh was his strength. He would raise a song and the timbrel, the pleasant harp and the psaltery and would rejoice before Yahweh.

   He would also blow the trumpet on the new moon, on the time appointed and on the solemn feast day. Why? Because Yahweh said that it was a statute for Israel and a law of the Elohim of Jacob. This Yahweh ordained of Joseph for a testimony when he went out through the land of Egypt.

   It is helpful to pause here and analyze the Feast of Trumpets. In Exodus 12:2, Yahweh instructed Moses that the month that green appeared would be the beginning of months to Israel. In other words, the green ear month in the spring began the year.  The Feast of Trumpets falls in the seventh month at the time of harvest.

   If we consider this analogy, we perceive that man has been given the first six thousand years of this earth to do with as he pleases. But the seventh thousand years are Yahweh's. It is the time when Yahshua the Messiah will return in all His regal splendor and put things in order for the Father.

   The Feast of Trumpets was a memorial of blowing of trumpets. The trumpet itself, however, was also used to proclaim the new moons as in Numbers 10. In addition, the blowing of trumpets sounded the alarm for war, the calling of the assembly and the year of release, the Jubilee. Trumpets is a memorial of the various meanings and applications that the trumpet sound conveyed to the children of Israel.

   In possessing the Promised Land, Israel had to utterly destroy the seven nations of Canaan. Ai was the Canaanite city Israel burned to the ground much like a burnt offering to Yahweh. Yahweh was with His people and gave specific instructions on how to overcome various problems they encountered.

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