The Feast of Trumpets begins this evening at sundown and continues until Tuesday, October 1st at sundown. As happens every year, I receive more revelation of the significance of the Lord's Feasts for the Body of Christ. Biblically, not much is mentioned about this Fall Feast. Levitcus 23:24-25 and Numbers 29:1 are the primary references.
Historically, it was a blowing of trumpets as a reminder of the coming
National Day of Cleansing. The Israelites performed daily animal sacrifices in
which the animal's blood was brought into the Holy Place for sprinkling against
the veil and upon the horns of the altar of incense. This served to
symbolically transfer into the sanctuary the sins which had been paid for (by
the death of the animal). There the sins remained [for a whole year] until the
Day of Atonement, when the sanctuary was cleansed of the accumulated sins of
the people.
The blood of the sacrificial animals served as a substitute
for the Sinner who offended God. But this blood offered for repenting
sinners defiled the sanctuary, because it was used to symbolically carry their
sins into the sanctuary where they were kept until the Day of Atonement.
God’s Sanctuary needed to be CLEANSED on the Day of Atonement. Imagine
the smell of all that accumulated blood upon the altar for a full year!
The
Feast of Trumpets was a blowing of the shofar to remind the people that it was
10 days until the Day of Atonement. These 10 days make up the Jewish High Holy
Days. The Jews believe that God writes every person’s words, deeds, and
thoughts on their personal pages in His Book of Life, which He opens and examines on the Day of Atonement. If good
deeds outnumbered sinful ones for the year, that person’s name will be
inscribed in the book for another year. Here, you can see the temporary pardoning of sins.
So between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement
(known as the Ten Days of Repentance) people
can repent of their sins and do good deeds to increase their chances of being
inscribed in the Book of Life. The Feast
of Trumpets is a call to examine your life because it will be judged. But
here’s the interesting part from the Jewish perspective: the people never lost their conviction that their sins would be
pardoned. They believed that the sacrifice of the blood would be a pardon for
their sins.
In Matthew 24:3, the Disciples ask Jesus, "What will be the sign of Your coming, and the end of the age"? 1 Thessalonians tells us He will come declaring victory, and archangels will be shouting and the shofars will be blown. But remember, there is a condition that must be met before He returns and it is revealed in Matthew 24:14 -- And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
But the end of what? The end of the age and, subsequently, the end of Satan's kingdom on earth? Satan's rule will certainly end when Christ's Second Coming occurs. But I want you to also remember that Jesus said in John 12:31 that [with His first appearance], "Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world [Satan] be cast out."
So, how does this all tie into a Kingdom perspective on the Feast of Trumpets? Consider this:
The Feast of Trumpets
and the ten days until the Day of Atonement could
be the Bema Seat of Judgment as seen in 2 Corinthians 5:6-10: So we are always confident, even though we
know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7 For
we live by believing and not by seeing. 8 Yes, we are fully
confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we
will be at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are here in this
body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. 10 For
we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we
deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.
But I want to make it very clear, the Bema Seat Judgment DOES NOT DETERMINE SALVATION! We cannot do anything to receive our Salvation. It is a gift based on our faith in Jesus as our Redeemer. These
are Christians who have been "Born Again" and entered into the Kingdom of God on earth as His ambassadors (John 3:1-5). They will stand before the Lord at His return to hear what is written
in His Book of Life; everything we have done in this life for the Kingdom of God as a redeemed child… it will be just like the Jews on their ancient Day of Atonement at the
Temple. We will hear every word said,
every deed done, and Jesus will see what we have built for Him upon the foundation of our Salvation, which He paid for.
The significance for us as Christians and Kingdom citizens -- people who are saved
by grace through our faith in Jesus as our Savior, and entered into our purpose of taking back dominion of the earth for the Kingdom of God – is that we are to
contemplate how we have served Him and have lived our lives as Christians. It
is a time of remembering and of repentance; both in the sense of atonement for any sins we have committed, and a time for renewing our minds to all that Jesus has done -- delivering us into eternal life and re-establishing His Father's Kingdom on earth, along with our dominion (power and authority). BUT,
just
like the ancient Israelites, we live with the certainty that our sins are
forgiven and we are pardoned… that the blood of Jesus covers our sin and we
stand blameless. In addition, we look forward to the day that our King will reign on the earth and crush our Enemy under His feet.
So, as we experience the Feast of Trumpets in 2019, let us be mindful of the coming day when our Lord returns. How glorious will that day be! Let us understand that we will stand before the Lord as He examines our lives. Have we built upon the Rock with gold,
silver and precious stones—those things that last for eternity—or with
wood, hay, and stubble which will be burned up? This is not a time of condemnation, but rather, a time of rewards. It's where we will receive crowns based on how faithfully we have served Him and the Kingdom of God. It will be a time of great rejoicing as we stand in the presence of our Creator and King. Let us spend these next 48 hours in solemn remembrance, humble gratitude, and expectant hope. Happy Rosh Hashanah!
Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”
Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”
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