PEA RIDGE — Last week we learned that Jesus the Messiah fulfilled His priestly role as High Priest of Almighty God by fulfilling the first four of the seven Jewish Feasts, Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Weeks, which occur during the spring and summer. We learned that many Bible scholars believe that Jesus will fulfill His royal political role as King of Kings during the three fall feasts of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and Tabernacles.
Yet, many people say that Jesus can not return on Rosh haShanah, the Feast of Trumpets, because Jesus said, "No one knows the day or hour of His return" (Matthew 24:36a.) That gets interesting when we learn that the Jewish calendar is based on the lunar month, not the solar year. In ancient times, no one could calculate exactly when the new or crescent moon would reappear. On the 30th of each Jewish month, when the moon was dark, members of the Sanhedrin assembled in Jerusalem to await the new moon. When two reliable witness affirmed that they sighted a sliver of the new moon, they blew a trumpet and the next day was the first day of the new month. Since Rosh haShanah or Trumpets was the only Jewish feast that was not celebrated on a full moon, and since no one knew the exact day or hour the new moon would reappear, Trumpets was often referred to as "the festival where we do not know the day or the hour of its arrival."
Therefore, when Jesus said, "No one knows the day or hour of His return in the clouds," He may have been making a veiled reference to Rosh haShanah, which, only the Father knew. Since Jesus was Jewish and celebrated all of the annual Jewish feasts and festivals, many Bible scholars believed that He may call His followers, "the Bride of Christ," to heaven on a Rosh HaShanah with the blast of a Trumpet. God has a pattern of doing important things on His Holy Days.
This year's calendar notes that we have a new moon on Sept. 18 and that Sept. 19 is Rosh HaShana. But that date may not match the date of the Biblical feast day. Our calendar is based on a 365 day year with a leap year every fourth year. The Hebrew calendar is based on 30-day lunar months; 12 months x 30 days = 360 days per year with an occasional leap month. In the Old Testament, the first month of the Hebrew year begins on the first new moon after the barley crop is ripe at Jerusalem. With the Hebrew year being shorter than our year, every few years, it is so early the barley doesn't ripen in 12 months. On years when the barley isn't ripe by the 12th new moon, the Jews had a 13th leap month, which keeps their calendar within a few weeks of our calendar. Therefore, in addition to not knowing the day or the hour, we may not even know the month of the Feast of Trumpets.
Since we can't be sure of the day or the hour of the true Biblical Feast of Trumpets, we should stay ready for the Great Trumpet Blast at all times. To be ready for the Great Trumpet Call, put your trust in God's Passover Lamb who paid the price for our sins with His own blood, "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast" (1 Cor 5:7).
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17).
Then you'll be ready for the trumpet when, "The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thes 4:16-17) and "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (I Corinthians 15:52).
If you haven't trusted the Passover Lamb, you'll be left behind, "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36). We should rejoice in anticipation of that trumpet call and do all we can to keep others from being left behind.
Shalom
Opinion, Pages 4 on 09/09/2009