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 beholy 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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