THE RAPTURE ON ROSH HASHANA
There are important parallels
between Jewish feasts and the fulfillment of Christ. For example the Passover is
now celebrated as the Lord’s Supper. The Sabbath is now celebrated by the
Resurrection.
Some other parallels are:
Pesach / Passover
Hag HaMatzah / Feast of Unleavened Bread
Bikkurim / First Fruits
Shavout / Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)
Jewish tradition holds that Rosh Hashanah celebrates the anniversary of the
creation of the world, a day when “God takes stock of all of His Creation,”
which of course includes all of humanity. Translated from the Hebrew, Rosh
Hashanah means “head of the year” – rosh means head, while hashanah means year.
Jews believe that God’s judgment on this day determines the course of the coming
year.
Rosh Hashanah is a Jewish festival in which most work ceases, just as on the
weekly Sabbath. It’s celebrated both in joy and solemnity. During the daily
prayer service a ram’s horn, or in the Hebrew, shofar, is sounded:
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a
sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no
servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the
LORD.” (Leviticus 23:23-25)
God does not do things in vain, or without purpose. The Old Testament Holy Days
were not just some sort of Divine make-work project to keep the Israelites busy
while they were out wandering in the desert. All of the Old Testament Holy Days
(Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Weeks, The Feast of Trumpets,
The Day of Atonement, The Festival of Tabernacles and the Last Day) were, and
continue to be, living symbols of the stages of God’s Plan of Salvation for all
humanity. Those events are now in progress, and true Christians are the
manifestation of it.
In the Christian world, Rosh Hashanah is known as The Feast of Trumpets. Many
Christians observe this festival for its Christian prophetic application – the
Rapture of the Church.
“Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put
on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)
“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)
All the Spring Feasts were fulfilled at Christ’s first coming. All the Fall
Feasts picture the Second Advent, and the Feast of Trumpets is the first of the
fall feasts, picturing the Rapture.
Now there are more feasts to be fulfilled with the second coming.
Yom Teruah (Rosh HaShanah) / Feast of Trumpets
The Rapture; the last trump; wedding
of the Messiah; New Moon; Open Door
Yom Kippur / Day of Atonement
Sukkot / Feast of Tabernacles (Booths)
A special season known as ‘Teshuvah’ which in Hebrew means “to return or
repent”, begins on the first day of the month of Elul and continues 40 days,
ending with Yom Kippur. Thirty days into Teshuvah, on Tishrei 1, comes Rosh
HaShanah. This begins a final ten-day period beginning on Rosh HaShanah and
ending on Yom Kippur. These are known as the High Holy Days and as the Awesome
Days. The sabbath that falls within this ten-day period is called ‘Shabbat
Shuvah’, the Sabbath of Return. Five days after Yom Kippur is ‘Sukkot’, the
Feast of Tabernacles. Teshuvah begins on Elul 1 and concludes on Tishrei 10, Yom
Kippur. Each morning during the 30 days of the month of Elul, the trumpet (shofar)
or ram’s horn is blown to warn the people to repent and return to God.
Rosh HaShanah is also referred to as ‘Yom Teruah’, the Day of the Sounding of
the Shofar, or the Day of the Awakening Blast. On Yom Teruah, the Day of the
Sounding of the Shofar, it is imperative for every person to hear the shofar.
Yom Teruah is the only festival that no man knows when exactly it will occur.
This is due to the fact that it begins on the new moon. The new moon was
sanctified when two witnesses see the new moon and attest to it before the
Sanhedrin in the Temple.
This sanctification could happen during either of two days, depending on when
the witnesses come. Since no one knew when the witnesses would come, no one knew
when the Feast of Trumpets would start.
On the 30th of each month, the members of the High Court assembled in a
courtyard in Jerusalem, where they waited to receive the testimony of two
reliable witnesses. They then sanctified the new moon. The new moon is very
difficult to see on the first day because it can be seen only about sunset,
close to the sun, when the sun is traveling north. So, looking for a very slim
faint crescent moon, which is very close to the sun, is a very difficult thing
to do. If the moon’s crescent was not seen on the 30th day, the new moon was
automatically celebrated on the 31st day.
For this reason, Yom Teruah is always celebrated for two days. These two days
are celebrated as though it is just one long day of forty-eight hours. The
reason that it is celebrated for two days is because if they waited to start the
celebration until after the new moon had been sanctified, they would have missed
half the celebration because the new moon can only be sanctified during daylight
hours. The command seems to be that we know the season, but not the day or the
hour (Matthew 24:32-36).
Yom Teruah, or the Feast of Trumpets, is the only feast that we do not know the
day in which to keep it. Therefore, we have to be on the alert and watch for it.
Teruah means “an awakening blast”. A theme associated with Rosh.
HaShanah is the theme “to awake”. Teruah is also translated as “shout”.
The book of Isaiah, chapter 12, puts the shouting in the context of the
thousand-year reign of Jesus. The Messianic era and shout is mentioned in Isaiah
44:23 and Zephaniah 3:14. The first coming of Christ is associated with a shout
in Zechariah 9:9. The ultimate shout is the Rapture in First Thessalonians
4:16-17.
Whether it is by the blast of a shofar or the force of a supernatural shout,
God’s goal is to awaken us. “...Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” – Ephesians 5:14.
The book of Ephesians has many references to Rosh HaShanah and the high Holy
Days. For example, in Ephesians 4:30, being sealed unto the day of redemption
refers to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. God gave this festival to teach us
that we will be judged on Rosh HaShanah and will be sealed unto the closing of
the gates on Yom Kippur.
The theme of awakening from sleep is used throughout the Bible. It is found in
John 11:11, Romans 13:11, Daniel 12:1-2 and Psalm 78:65.
The shofar was also blown at the temple to begin the Sabbath each week. There
are two types of trumpets used in the Bible:
1. The silver trumpet
2. The shofar or ram’s horn
Each sabbath, two men with silver trumpets and a man with a shofar made three
trumpet blasts twice during the day. On Rosh HaShanah, it is different. The
shofar is the primary trumpet. On Rosh HaShanah, a shofar delivers the first
blast, a silver trumpet the second, and then a shofar the third.
According to Leviticus 23:24 and Numbers 29:1, Rosh HaShanah is the day of the
blowing of the trumpets.
“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, in the seventh month, in the first
day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an
holy convocation.” – Leviticus 23:24
“And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy
convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets
unto you.” – Numbers 29:1
The trumpet used for this purpose is the ram’s horn, not trumpets made of metal
as in Numbers Chapter 10.
Another name for Rosh HaShanah is ‘Yom HaDin’, the Day of Judgment. The
righteous are separated and will be with God. This is known to us as the
Rapture. The wicked will face the wrath of God during the tribulation period.
The shofar blown on Rosh HaShanah is known as the last trump, which the apostle
Paul mentioned in First Thessalonians 4:16-17. At this time, the believers in
Christ will escape the tribulation on earth and will be taken to Heaven in the
Rapture along with the righteous who had died before this time.
The gates of Heaven are opened on Rosh HaShanah so the righteous nation may
enter (Isaiah 26:2, Psalm 118:19-20). Because the gates of Heaven are understood
to be open on Rosh HaShanah, this is further evidence that the Rapture of the
believers in Christ will take place on Rosh HaShanah.
One of the reasons for blowing the shofar is to proclaim the resurrection of the
dead. The resurrection of the dead will take place on Rosh HaShanah.
In First Corinthians 15:52, the apostle Paul tells us that the resurrection of
the dead will be “at the last trump.” Earlier in First Corinthians 15:14, he
wrote that without the Lord Jesus rising from the dead, our faith is in vain.
We cannot go to the Book of Revelation and say that the voice of the seventh
angel (Revelation 11:15) is the last trump. In the first century, the last trump
(shofar) meant a specific day in the year. In Judaism, there are three trumpets
that have a name. They are the first trump, the last trump, and the great trump.
Each one of these trumpets indicates a specific day in the Jewish year. The
first trump is blown on the Feast of Pentecost (Exodus 19:19).
It proclaimed that God had betrothed Himself to Israel. The last trump is
synonymous with Rosh HaShanah, according to Theodore Gaster in his book,
Festivals of the Jewish Year, in his chapter on Rosh HaShanah. Herman Kieval
also states the same thing in his book, The High Holy Days in the chapter
on the shofar. The great trumpet is blown on Yom Kippur, which will herald the
return of Jesus back to the earth (Matthew 24:31).
The first and last trump relate to the two horns of the ram, which according to
Jewish tradition, was caught in the thicket on Mount Moriah when Abraham was
ready to slay Isaac and offer him up as a burnt offering. This ram became the
substitute for Isaac even as Jesus became the substitute for us and provided
life for us through His death.
Rabbi Eliezer tells us in Pirkei Avot, that the left horn (first trump) was
blown on Mount Sinai, and its right horn (the last trump) will be blown to
herald the coming of the Lord for His Church.
Isaiah 18:3 and First Thessalonians 4:13-18 speak of the resurrection of the
dead. First Thessalonians chapter 5 continues with the day of the Lord and the
birthpangs of the Messiah. The festivals will, beyond a shadow of a doubt, tell
you that the resurrection of the dead precedes the time of Jacob’s trouble (the
Tribulation). First Thessalonians 4:16-17 says that the dead in Christ will rise
first, and that the catching away of the believers will immediately follow.
The term ‘rapture’ comes from the Greek word ‘harpazo’, which means “to seize,
catch away, catch up, pluck, pull, take by force” (1 Thessalonians 4;17). Isaiah
57:1-2 speaks clearly of the resurrection of the dead, the taking of the
believers, and the hiding of the believers from the indignation (the
tribulation). Zephaniah 1:14-18 and 2:2-3 tells about the terrible times during
the day of the Lord, the birthpangs of the Messiah, and issues a decree to
repent and turn to God before that day to be hid from that time.
Psalm 27:5 says the righteous will be hid in the time of trouble. Paul in Second
Thessalonians 2:1 tells us, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him.” The phrase
“gathering together” comes from the Greek word ‘episunagoge’, which means “an
assembly”.
The Feast of Trumpets, through careful study depicts nothing less than the
return of Jesus Christ for His Church at the last trump, just before God pours
His wrath and judgment on a sinful and Christ rejecting world
To summarize:
The Feast of Trumpets is when the “last trump” of the Rapture of 1 Cor. 15 is
blown.
The Feast of Trumpets is known as the Wedding of the Messiah, and the Church is
the Bride of Christ, and the Rapture is when the Church is caught up to heaven
to be wed with Christ.
The Feast of Trumpets happens on the “new moon”, which is 29.5 days after the
last one, meaning it might occur on the 29th or 30th day, nobody knows for sure.
The “Open Door” of the Rapture in Matt 25, and Rev 3, & Rev 4:1 is a symbol of
the Feast of Trumpets. [Ezek 46:1] “Thus says the Lord GOD: The gate of the
inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days; but on the
sabbath day it shall be opened and on the day of the new moon it shall be
opened.”
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the
east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened,
and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.” (KJV)
We are told that the new moon and the Feasts of the Lord are a shadow of things
to come in Col 2:16,17. Since the Feast of Trumpets is the only Feast of the
Lord that falls on a new moon, we should take particular note.
There are seven Days of Awe in between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of
Atonement. These picture the seven years of tribulation. Atonement pictures
Satan being defeated and cast away at the end of tribulation. If you add the
two-day Trumpets Feast, and the Day of Atonement, the 7 Days of Awe are “ten
days of tribulation” which might be referred to in Rev. 2:10.
In the Jewish Wedding, a marriage takes place over a period of time known as the
“bridal week”. During the bridal week, the groom and bride have relations in the
bridal chamber. At the end of the week, there is a marriage supper. Compare
Judges 14, Rev. 19, and Genesis 29:22-28. This bridal week will be the
tribulation week on earth, while the bride of Christ is in heaven.
In the Jewish Wedding, the groom comes for his bride without warning to take
(seize / rapture) her away and into the bridal chamber for the bridal week at
his father’s house.
The Feast of Trumpets is also known as the coronation of the Messiah, when he
will start reigning as king, thus the beginning of the “Day of the Lord”, which
includes the Tribulation.
WHERE IS THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING?
THE IDENTITY OF THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS