 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
In regard to our study of the feasts of Israel, we have looked somewhat at the spring festivals. As prophetic foundation, these feasts foreshadowed the critical issues of the Messiah's identity. Passover foreshadowed His death as a substitute in the place of guilty sinners. Unleavened Bread foreshadowed His burial and the distasteful experience of the grave. Firstfruits foreshadowed His resurrection, and Pentecost foreshadowed the revelation of God through His people as an offer of life and a warning of death. These were the spring festivals. As such they focused upon the character of Messiah as it would be revealed in His first major work: reconciling men to God. So, the gospel of Jesus Christ taught His death in the place of sinners so they could be forgiven, His burial to fulfill the experience of death and the grave, His resurrection to demonstrate His victory over death, and His life in His followers as the way of divine revelation in the present age.
But Messiah had two tasks before Him. The first, as we have said, was the preparation of people for the Kingdom to come. The greatest need in this preparation was the reconciliation of people to God. So, in His first coming, Jesus did what was necessary to reconcile men to God: He died in their place to pay the debt for sin that they owed; He was buried to descend into the grave; He was raised from the dead to life everlasting; and He sent His Spirit to dwell in those who believe in Him. These things brought men to God.
But to establish a kingdom, there is another matter that must be accomplished: the judgment of the earth and the purging of it so that a Kingdom of Righteousness can exist. This task is foreshadowed in the fall festivals. The fall festivals began with the Feast of Trumpets. It was followed by the Feast of the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. These fall festivals were, like the spring ones, prophetic foundations so that men could identify the truth. Remember, fulfilled prophecy establishes the truth so that man has no excuse before God.
So, let us begin by considering the Feast of Trumpets. This is called by the Jews, Yom Teruah. Yom in Hebrew is the word for Day. Teruah in Hebrew means Blowing. Literally, Yom Teruah means, as Joshua Moss pointed out in an article "Hearing the Sound of the Shofar", a day of blowing. But, the focus was upon the blowing of the trumpets on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year). So, though the words literally mean a day of blowing they identify the character of the Feast of [the day of the blowing of the] Trumpets. Thus, the focus of the Feast of Trumpets is upon the blowing of trumpets that signal the turning of the time to a new year.
These issues (feast, trumpets, the turning of time) are all significant prophetically. As the first of the fall festivals, Yom Teruah signified a new beginning (the new year) by means of the Messiah's activity (which was signaled by the blowing of the trumpets). Thus, in the Gospel of Jesus there is a teaching that there will be a blowing of a trumpet which will accomplish the preparation of the earth for the establishment of the Kingdom.