Tagged: ram’s horn

Rosh Hashanah and the Rapture

Today at sundown, Jews around the world will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This celebration is more than a secular event, however. It is rooted deeply in Jewish life and worship. One of the seven major Jewish feasts, Rosh Hashanah also is called the Feast of Trumpets, and the ram’s horn, or shofar, plays a prominent role.

Many Jewish Christians, and their Gentile brothers and sisters, see the significance of this feast as pointing to the rapture of the church — the physical removal of Christians from this world to meet the Messiah in the air. Just as the four spring feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Pentecost) signified the work of the Messiah in His first coming and priestly ministry, the three autumn feasts (Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles) depict the Messiah’s second coming and kingly reign.

The sounding of the shofar and the resurrection of the dead are connected in the New Testament. Consider these passages:

  • 1 Cor. 15:51-52 – “Listen! I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will 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 will be changed.”
  • 1 Thess. 4:16-17 – “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will always be with the Lord.”

In Old Testament times, the reasons for trumpet blasts were well established. It appears their purposes continue in events to come, if indeed Rosh Hashanah foreshadows our resurrection. The reasons for sounding the shofar are:

  • To gather an assembly before the Lord (the rapture of the church).
  • To sound a battle alarm (God will defeat Satan and his rebellious followers). 
  • To announce the coronation of a new king (Jesus the Messiah will sit on the throne of David as King of kings and Lord of lords).

Listen to podcasts or read Rosh Hashanah Part 1 and Rosh Hashanah Part 2.

Download a free study: Jesus in the Feasts of Israel.

Test Your Knowledge of the Feasts of Israel

The Scapegoat by William Holman Hunt 1854

The Scapegoat by William Holman Hunt 1854

Take the following quiz to see how well you know the seven major feasts of Israel. The answers are provided at the end of the quiz.
To learn more about the feasts, specifically how they picture the Messiah and are fulfilled in Jesus, download a free Bible study.

1. Which of the following is not a Jewish feast:

  • a) Pentecost
  • b) Day of Atonement
  • c) Unleavened Bread
  • d) Bonnaroo

2. True or false:

Jesus was crucified on Passover and rose from the dead on First Fruits.

3. True or false:

All Jewish males were required to appear in Jerusalem for all seven Jewish feasts.

4. Which horn was sounded during the Feast of Trumpets:

  • a) Shoe horn
  • b) Ram’s horn
  • c) Cream horn
  • d) Schermerhorn

5. What are other biblical names for the major feasts (choose all that apply):

  • a) Appointed times
  • b) Holy convocations
  • c) Pot-luck suppers
  • d) Floating holidays

6. Which feast pictures Christ’s sending of the Holy Ghost to inaugurate the church:

  • a) Halloween
  • b) Pentecost
  • c) Festivus
  • d) Hanukkah

7. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (choose all that apply):

a)   Lasted seven days

b)   Required the Jewish people to remove all leaven (yeast) from their homes

c)   Pictured the burial of Messiah

d)   Was observed in the fall

8. Jesus invited all who thirst to come unto Him during the Feast of:

  • a) Passover
  • b) Dasani
  • c) Aquafina
  • d) Tabernacles

9. What is significant about the Feast of Trumpets: (circle all that apply):

  • a) It features a shofar, or ram’s horn
  • b) Doc Severinsen appears in Jerusalem
  • c) It is the only feast that falls during a new moon
  • d) No trumpets are actually used during the feast

10. Why is the high priest so important on the Day of Atonement (circle all that apply):

  • a) He does all of the priestly work, including all the sacrifices
  • b) He alone enters the Holy of Holies
  • c) He dies for the sins of the people
  • d) He foreshadows the work of the Messiah, our great high priest

11. True or false:

Many of the Jewish feasts are no longer observed as they once were because there is no Temple in Jerusalem.

12. Who had responsibility for the tabernacle and its services:

a)   The Jonas Brothers

b)   The sons of Sceva

c)   The Nephilim

d)   The Levites

 

 

Answers

  1. The correct answer is (d). Bonnaro is an annual music festival in Tennessee.
  2. True.
  3. False.  Jewish males were required to appear in Jerusalem for three of the seven feasts: Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.
  4. The correct answer is (b). The ram’s horn also is known as the shofar. If you guessed (c – cream horn), go directly to Dunkin’ Donuts. If you guessed (d – Schermerhorn), you chose the name of the symphony hall in Nashville.
  5. (a) and (b).
  6. The correct answer is (b). If you picked (c – Festivus) you watch too much Seinfeld, or maybe not enough. If you picked (d – Hanukkah) you’re thinking of the eight-day Jewish holiday that normally falls in December and is not one of the seven major feasts.
  7. (a), (b), and (c). The Feast of Unleavened Bread is observed in the spring.
  8. The right answer is (d). Dasani and Aquafina (b) and (c) are brands of bottled water; Passover (a) is the spring feast during which Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper.
  9. (a) and (c). If you chose (b – Doc Severinsen) you stayed up too late as a kid watching Johnny Carson’s band leader on TV. If you chose (d – no trumpets are actually used during the feast), well, duh, the name of the feast should have been a clue.
  10. (a), (b), and (d). The high priest did not die for the sins of the people, but he pictured the Messiah, who would do so.
  11. True. The Temple was destroyed by the Roman army in 70 A.D.
  12. The correct answer is (d). The Jonas Brothers (a) are an American boy band. The sons of Sceva (b) were seven sons of a Jewish high priest; they took a beating from demons they were trying to cast out because they invoked the name of Jesus when in fact they were not followers of Him (see Acts 19:13-20). The Nephilim (c) were a race of giants who lived before the flood (see Gen. 6:4).

 

Jesus in the Feasts of Israel: Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) – Part 2

Download or listen to the audio file (part 2)

Download of listen to the audio file (part 1)

Israel’s four springtime feasts – Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Pentecost – were fulfilled in the first coming of the Messiah. The three fall festivals – Rosh Hashanah, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles – will be fulfilled at the Messiah’s second coming.

For Israel, the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets will be a dark day. Just as Rosh Hashanah occurs at the new moon, when the sky is darkest, Israel’s prophets warn of a coming day of judgment for the nation. For example, Amos 5:18-20, Zeph. 1:14-16, and Joel 2:31 all speak of the day in which the Lord will turn off the heavenly lights, pour out His wrath on the wicked, and bring Israel to repentance and into the new covenant. Ancient Jewish tradition held that the resurrection of the dead would occur on Rosh Hashanah. As a result, many Jewish grave markers feature a shofar.

God’s last trump and the resurrection of the dead are tied to the rapture of the church in the New Testament. Consider these key passages:

  • 1 Cor. 15:51-52 – “Listen! I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will 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 will be changed.”
  • 1 Thess. 4:16-17 – “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will always be with the Lord.”

Remember the reasons for trumpet blasts in the Old Testament? They will be the same in the days to come:

  • To gather an assembly before the Lord (the rapture of the church).
  • To sound a battle alarm (God will defeat Satan’s rebellious followers throughout the tribulation and at Christ’s return).
  • To announce the coronation of a new king (Jesus the Messiah will sit on the throne of David as King of kings and Lord of lords).

Copyright 2008 by Rob Phillips