Rosh Hashanah
Entering into a New Season
Leviticus 23:1-2
There are seven
major feasts that God established with Israel in the Old Testament. Leviticus 23:1-2 reads, “And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The
feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations,
these are My feasts.’”
There are a total
of seven feasts, but God divides the seven feasts into three major festival
seasons. Every male was to present himself before the Lord three times a year
in each festival group. The Jewish male
would travel to Jerusalem for Passover in the spring, Pentecost at the end of
spring, and the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall.
The fall festival
season consisted of Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), The Day of Atonement,
and Tabernacles. The fall feasts begin with Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the
Jewish New Year.
The seven feasts
are celebrated in two different seasons, which correspond to the two
agricultural seasons. The four spring feasts take us from the beginning to the
ingathering of the barley harvest. The three fall festivals begin at the time
of the ingathering of wheat and other crops.
These two harvest
seasons depend upon the rain. In Israel there is a time of rain in the spring, called
the former rain. There is also a rain in
the fall, called the latter rain. These
two rains speak prophetically of two things:
- They speak of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that enables the Body of Christ to reap the last day harvest.
- They speak of the two appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ our Messiah. Hosea 6:3 reads, “And He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.”
Rosh Hashanah
comes during the month of Tishrei, which is the beginning of the three fall
months on the Hebrew calendar. Tishrei
corresponds to the months of September and October on our calendar. The
Hebrew word “rosh” means "head". The prefix “ha” means
"the". The word “shana” means "year". Thus the name translates to "head of the
year". This day is also called Yom
Teruah, which means "day of trumpets.”
Rosh Hashanah
begins the ten Days of Awe: the ten days until Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement),
which are for introspection, repentance, and making amends with others. Tradition
says that on Yom Kippur our fate for the next year will be decided, and those
who will live through the year will have their name inscribed in God's book of
life. A traditional greeting is “L’shana Tova,” meaning, "may your name be
inscribed".
Rosh Hashanah
focuses on the majesty and sovereignty of God to begin this time of repentance,
and the shofar blasts wake us up to our need for repentance. It represents the
beginning of a new season. It is a time
to enter into a new assignment
for the upcoming year.
Tishri is a time
to prepare for the harvest. How do we do this?
We spend the first ten days of the month in prayer and fasting. We cry
out to God. We repent of our failures, sins of omission and spend time
searching our own personal lives. We prepare for an awakening and visitation.
The trumpet used
for this purpose was the ram’s horn or shofar.
The trumpet will be blown in the synagogue to signal the start of the
ten days of awe. The sounding of the
shofar is a memorial of God’s grace to Abraham when He substituted a ram to be
sacrificed instead of his son, Isaac (Gen. 22).
It is not only a memorial to
Abraham, but also a prophecy.
The sounding of
the shofar represents prophetically two very important events: The gathering of the Jewish people back to
the land of Israel. The Rapture or catching away of the Church (I Thessalonians
4:15; I Cor. 15:51-52).
We are entering
into a new season. We must prepare
ourselves for the assignment God has for His people in this season.
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