Feast Of Trumpets (Yom Teruah יוֹם תְּרוּעָה)

What is the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah)?

• Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah marks the first of the fall feasts.
• Yom– יוֹםmeans ‘day’
• Teruah– תְּרוּעָה means shouting or blasting.
• It is a celebration which believers come together to worship the God of Israel with shouts of joy and the blast of the Shofar as we look forward to the second coming of Christ.
• It is a depiction of the day Christ will return to us.
• The goal of the fall feasts is to return to god.

How do you make lots of noise?

• •With a Shofar.
• Leviticus 23:24 tells us that on Yom Teruah we are to proclaim a memorial with the “blast of Trumpets”.
• The Jews refer to a “Trumpet” as a “Shofar”.
• A Shofar is an ancient musical instrument made of a rams horn that come in many sizes.

The purpose of the Shofar

• Yom Teruah is a festival centered on the blowing of the shofar as the distinguishing feature of the day, which calls us to attention in fear and reverence of God’s holiness and sovereignty in preparation and warning of His coming judgment, which is on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
• Yom Teruah is known as the days before the future Day of Judgment (which takes place on Yom Kippur)- the day on which Jesus said he has the authority to judge people. John 5:24-27.
• Jesus will return to us after the seventh trumpet sounds. Revelation 10.
• The sound of the seventh trumpet signals the “third woe.” This is the final trumpet and the final woe. Loud voices in Heaven will say: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 11:15.
• The purpose of blowing a Shofar is to alert people to the need for Repentance as they prepare for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
• The blast of the trumpet is to signify the second coming of Christ who will return at the sound of the “trumpet“. 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
• The holy day foreshadows the call to His elect to prepare themselves so that they will not come into judgment with the rest of the world when He comes to establish His kingdom upon this earth. Revelation 7:9-17.
• Our names are written in the Book of Life, and not death because we have faith in Christ and have accepted his claims as the Messiah. Revelation 20:15.
• The trumpet announces when the dead will resurrect and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:52.

Can we celebrate this holyday the same way the Jewish community does?

• The answer is yes and no.
• Some of the customs they have come up with are not based on scripture.
• However, some of the practices can be taken and applied to our future celebrations of the holy days.

Is this holy day not also called Rosh HaShanah?

• Most people are familiar with the Jewish holiday of Rosh HaShanah and the Jews celebrate Yom Teruah as the “Jewish New Year”.
• Rosh HaShanah רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה in Hebrew means “Head of Year” or a New Year.
• According to Judaism, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the civil year, according to the teachings of Judaism, and is the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve and the inauguration of humanity’s role in God’s world.
• However, is this the biblical new year? The answer is no.

In conclusion,

• Nowhere in the bible does it state that at the time of Tishrei (September/ October) or during the Feast of Trumpets this is the new year.
• The only Holy day that mentioned a new year is Passover, which is in Abib or Nisan (March/ April).

How did 1 Tishrei become the “Jewish New Year“?

• The phrase “Rosh Hashanah” shows up for the first time in the Mishna a Jewish code of law complied in 200 AD.
• Babylonian influenced played an important role in developing this day.
• Because Sukkot is referred to as the end of the harvest year in Exodus 23:16, The sages of the Mishnah later identified the fall month of Tishrei as the start of the year. 
• The sages of the Mishnah, also known as the Tannaim  were rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah (Talmud), from approx. 10-220 CE.
• While most discussions in the Mishnah concern the correct way to carry out laws recorded in the Torah, it usually presents its conclusions without explicitly linking them to any scriptural passage, though scriptural quotations do occur.

How do we Celebrate Yom Teruah/ Feast of Trumpets?

Sabbath day of rest

• God Commanded to do no ordinary work on this day.
• This means:
  • No working at your job. 
  • No gardening
  • No Laborious work

Teshuvah “To Return”   

• The goal of this entire season is simply to return to God and restore fellowship with him.
• 4 Steps:
  1. Forsake sin.
  2. Regret transgressions against God. Psalm 51:17.
  3. Confess Transgressions and make amends with those we’ve hurt. 1 John 1:9.
  4. God’s forgiveness and move forward in Faith. Romans 8:1.
• We must accept our forgiveness and our identity as a child of god and disciple of Christ. We must walk in Faith and allow ourselves to be comforted by the divine presence of god.

Blow the Shofar

• Yom Teruah needs lots of noise, and in the Synagogues the Shofar was blown up to 100 times!
• Blow your Shofar as many times as you want and at any time of day you want.
• Children could also be given toys that make a lot of noise (within reason).

Have a Holy Convocation

• Yom Teruah is all about community and coming together to read the scriptures is a great way to celebrate this Holy Day.
• It is customary to read the story of The binding of Isaac- Genesis 22 on Yom Teruah.
  • There are many messianic pictures found throughout the story of Isaacs binding and between Christs sacrifice.
    1. Both had a miraculous birth (genesis 21:1-7 and Matthew 1:18-25) 2)
    2. Both were the only son of their fathers (referring to God the father, not joseph as Christ on earth had siblings) (Genesis 22:2, and John 3:16)
    3. Both carried the wood for their own sacrifices (Genesis 22:6 and John 19:17)
    4. Both were delivered from death on the first day (Genesis 22:4 and Corinthians 15:4)
• The blowing of the Shofar reminds us of how God provided a ram in Isaac’s place as an offering to God. It also reminds us of how Christ died in our place to free us from the death we deserve because of our sins.

Have a Tashlich Ceremony

• On the afternoon of Yom Teruah, you can go for a walk to a local water source such as a river, stream, or lake.
• This tradition symbolizes God’s forgiveness through Christ and how he casts our sins into “the depths of the sea”. Micah 1:18-19.

Have a festive meal

• No feast day is complete without a festive feast.
• It is customary to eat apple slices dipped in honey. This is done to signify the anticipation for when Christ returns at the sounds of trumpets and brings his people into a land flowing with “milk and honey”.
• Create a tradition of going to the apple orchard to pick some apples for this feast.
• Have apple … crisp, pie, butter, sauce…