Yom Teruah- The Feast of Trumpets

We have just celebrated Yom Teruah this past week on Tishri 1 (the first day of the seventh month of the Jewish Calendar) with the blowing of the shofar. I read something interesting in some material written by Michael Chusid about the shofar. He said that the shofar speaks to the right side of the brain, the side that governs emotions and patterns. The spoken word speaks to the left side, our rational side. Together the full mind is stimulated. This really ministered to me about the significance of sound teaching and the study of the Bible (rational) and the spiritual aspects of the hearing of the shofar. I hope that as you hear the sounding of the shofar that you will allow the Lord to break off unhealth patterns in your life and be renewed through the hearing of His word.

Psalm 89: 15 "How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound (teruah), o Lord, they walk in the light of Your Presence."

The following are some study notes I made that we used to discuss the significance of this feast to Christians today. I hope they will be a blessing to you:
This feast is the only feast that begins on a new moon and there is no explicit reason given in the Torah for its observance other than to offer sacrifice, celebrate with shofar blowing and shouting, rest from our occupations, commemorate (something) and assemble for a holy convocation (rehearsal) and meet with God. This feast is ten days before Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). This feast has been called Rosh Hashanah meaning "the head of the year" by the Jewish sages as the start of the Jewish civil new year.

Here are various Bible versions for comparison:

Leviticus 23: 23-25 "Then the Lord spoke to Moses , saying, Speak to the children of Israel saying: In the seventh month , on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of the trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it: you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord." NKJ version

Leviticus 23: 24 The LORD said to Moses, 24 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.' NIV

Leviticus 23:24 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. Scoffield Bible

Leviticus 23:24 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. New American Standard

In the original Hebrew translation (according to the Strong's Concordance) these translations of trumpet blasts, blowing trumpets, and blowing of trumpets are from the work tĕruw`ah. This where the title of the feast Yom Teruah (feast of trumpets) is derived. Strong's provides these definitions:

-alarm, signal, sound of tempest, shout, shout or blast of war or alarm or joy
-alarm of war, war-cry, battle-cry
-blast (for marching)
-shout of joy (with religious impulse)
-shout of joy (in general)

Also from the various translations above it is clear that God directed for this to be a memorial, something commemorated, a reminder. The scripture does not specify exactly what we are memorializing.

Hebraic teaching points to the scriptures in Exodus 19:13 where God instructs Moses to tell the people that no one is to come up the mountain or touch its base or they shall be stoned or put to death (man or beast) he shall not live. When the trumpet (literal: showphar pronounced shō·far') sounds long, they shall come near the mountain. Moses goes down from the mountain and sanctifies the people and they washed their clothes and prepared themselves for the 3rd day when the thick cloud with thunder and lightning were on the mountain. The sound of the trumpet was very loud so that all the people trembled. Moses brought the people out of the camp and met with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was completely covered with smoke and the Lord descended upon it in fire. The blast of the trumpet sounded long and loud, and became louder, and louder. Moses spoke and God answered him by voice. The Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up.

The instruction God gave for the Feast of Trumpets also included making a sacrifice by fire. We know that according to Torah sacrifices cannot be offered without the Temple. In or studies, "What about the Sacrifices" we learned that the burned offering was to allow the one making the offering to 'draw near.' Hebrews teaches us that we may "draw near" through the blood of Jesus.

Hebrews 10:19-25 "Therefore brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated by us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Scripture for all of the Lord's Feast, including the Feast of Trumpets instructs us that these feasts are a holy convocations, rehearsals. Hebrews also mentions "the Day" that is- the great day of the Lord, the return of our Lord and Savior.

I Corinthians 15: 52 "... For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

I Thessalonians 4:16-17 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remains shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air."

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Welcome to Alarming Truth Ministries blog. We will be using this blog to share current events, materials we are studying, things we are learning as a church, prayer requests, and anything else God lays on our hearts.
We get a lot of questions about where our church is.  Our church began as a home fellowship with no specific designated leader or pastor, and none of us felt called to be a pastor. One evening as we sought God's direction together regarding our leadership, God witnessed to us through a very young child named Joseph. During a time of worship Joseph brought his storybook to us and summarized Proverbs 6 from memory. He said that we should be as the ant "who has no commander, nor overseer." We all began to weep as the Holy Spirit illuminated to each of us that Jesus is our Great Shepherd. God is daily teaching us to submit to one another and prefer our brothers and sisters over ourselves.  We now meet in a non-traditional coffeehouse setting in the downtown of Summerville, Georgia.  We meet at the close of the Sabbath at 6:00pm (Saturday) for a time of fellowship, Bible study, and worship.