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A proper understanding of the fall feast days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Succoth, provide clarity to God's plan for the prophetic fulfillment we call the end-times. They reveal much more detail than has been thought possible. Israel was commanded by God, to keep the annual feast days forever as a witness to all the nations. Even in the diaspora, faithful Jews celebrated the feast days as God our Father mercifully enabled them to survive as a distinct people in the midst of worldwide dispersion. They have been faithful in providing a witness to the world through the annual celebration of the feast days which are on calendars everywhere. The Jewish understanding of these feast days, rather than Christianized understanding, is the key to a full revelation. It starts with the blowing of the shofar every morning in synagogues around the world, starting with the 1st day of the 6th month up until the day prior to Rosh Hashanah. On the day prior to Rosh Hashanah, the shofar is not blown. Why blow the shofar every day during the 6th month? The Jews blow the shofar to announce the imminent arrival of judgment on Rosh Hashanah. Announcing to all the world that judgment is imminent, the people are to prepare themselves to meet God, the King of the Universe, the Judge of all Creation, and to be prepared they must excise all sin from their lives and repent of their sins. In order to prove that Rosh Hashanah will be fulfilled as the coming judgment of the righteous, the rapture of the church, I'd like to go through the historical significance, then the Jewish understanding of Rosh Hashanah as prophecy, and finally the Christian understanding of the catching away of believers. After Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, they traveled to Mt. Sinai, where God our Father made an eternal covenant with mankind. I say mankind, because the Jews believe that they were standing in for all the nations of the earth. Moses went up on the mountain for 40 days going up on the 7th of Sivan & descending on the 17th of Tammuz, where God gave him the Torah and the 10 commandments on stone tablets. He came down from the mountain and saw Israel worshipping the golden calf idol which Aaron had fashioned, and in anger, Moses broke the stone tablets on the rocks. In Jewish tradition, Moses went up on the mountain a few days later to plead for mercy towards Israel. Coming down again, Moses set things right among the people. Moses later went up on the mountain again for 40 days, going up the 1st day of the 6th month (1st of Elul), and coming down again with a second set of stone tablets of the 10 commandments on the 10th day of the 7th month on Yom Kippur (10th of Tishri/Ethanim). Since Rosh Hashanah falls on the 1st day of the 7th month, there was no apparent historical basis for that day, other than it being the 1st day of the new year. The annual feast days of the Bible are festivals, called "moed," an appointed time and a sacred assembly for the purposes of rehearsing. They are rehearsals because the way in which the feast days are fulfilled is in accordance with the rehearsal, and because the fulfillment will occur on that exact day. We know that the fulfillment of the spring feast days has already occurred, when Jesus was on the earth nearly 2000 years ago. The lamb for the Passover celebration is selected on the 10th day of 1st month, and Jesus was hailed as Messiah on His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the exact day of the 10th of Nisan. The day of the preparation (Passover), is when the lamb is killed, the 14th of Nisan. Jesus was crucified for our sins as the Lamb of God on the exact 14th day of the 1st month. On the day after the weekly Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Firstfruits offering is made before God as a wave offering of a sheaf of the spring harvest. Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven on the exact day of Firstfruits, 3 days after being crucified. Finally, 50 days later on Pentecost (Shauvot), the two loaves of bread made from the spring harvest are waved before God at the altar. You know the answer, exactly on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on born-again believers, the result of the shed blood of the Lamb and the accepted offering on Firstfruits. Just as the spring feast days pinpointed the exact days of fulfillment of God our Father's eternal plan, so the fall feast days are rehearsals which will pinpoint the next steps in His plan, and they will be fulfilled on the exact days of the feasts. Now, let's dive into what the rehearsal of Rosh Hashanah, the form and words of the services, shows as the future fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah. On Rosh Hashanah a series of Trumpet blasts are blown to announce the arrival of God, the King of the Universe, the Judge of all Creation, for judgment of the people of the earth. However, this judgment is not for all people, only for the righteous whose names are written in the Book in heaven. The righteous are sinless and blameless before God. Their judgment is then not a punishment judgment, but a reward judgment. What of all the rest of the people? The vast majority of people on the earth are not righteous, but a mixture of good and bad, and will not be judged on Rosh Hashanah. God, the King of the Universe, remands over the majority of people to an additional period of time to repent and become part of the righteous. This second judgment will be after the Days of Awe or 10 Days of Repentance. During the troublesome time of the Days of Awe, the rest of the people of the earth can prepare themselves for the sure judgment of all people of the earth on Yom Kippur. They can change their ways, repent of their sins, and become righteous. On Rosh Hashanah (Yom Teruah) trumpets are sounded, although it is really the shofar blown as a trumpet. The four sounds of the shofar are Tekiah, Shebarim, Teruah, and Tekiah Gedolah. As at any of the new moon celebrations on the first day of each month, Rosh Hashanah is also Rosh Chodesh, or the festival of the new moon. However, Rosh Hashanah is also a special day when the destiny of each year is foreordained for each Jew. As an annual celebration, the Jews believe that it is the degree to which they repent and excise sin from their lives during the previous 30 days (month of Elul when the shofar is blown every morning), which will determine God's blessings on them for the upcoming year. Although we know that there is only one day of the new moon, Rosh Hashanah is celebrated as two sacred days. This adjustment is to ensure that Yom Kippur does not fall on the 1st or 6th days of the week. In the prophetic fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah, God our Father has likely appointed the fulfillment on the exact day of the new moon. In our Christian understanding, the blowing of the shofar every morning during the 6th month, corresponds to the birthpangs period, Tribulation, and Great Tribulation periods. The period of silence where the shofar is not blown on the day before Rosh Hashanah, corresponds to the period of silence in heaven (Revelation 7) before the start of the 7 trumpet judgments and 7 bowl judgments. We as Christians believe that all believers who have ever lived, in addition to those alive at Jesus' coming, will be taken up in the rapture. Why?, because our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. The rest of the people are remanded over for future judgment on Yom Kippur, when all the people of the earth will be judged. However, their lot is to live through the Days of Awe during which the Trumpet and Bowl judgments will take place in the Day of the Lord. God our Father is merciful, and these judgments increasing in severity are pressure for a short time for people to repent and become part of the family of God. On the fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah, Jesus as King of the Universe will judge the righteous. This rapture of believers and the Bema Judgment will occur on the exact day of Rosh Hashanah, the 1st day of the 7th month. Looking at it as a future event, Rosh Hashanah should be viewed as two days to account for the biblical day lasting from evening to evening. In the pre-wrath viewpoint, the last half of the 7 year end-times period is made up of two periods, the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. So, there are 4 Rosh Hashanahs during the last half of the 7 year end-times period, and we have no idea on which of the 4 the rapture takes place, plus each Rosh Hashanah is viewed as two days in length. We do know that the fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah will not occur on the 4th one, which occurs 10 days before the prophetic fulfillment of Yom Kippur, because we know the Messiah comes to the earth in power 1290 days after the abomination of desolation. The second coming is therefore 25 days before the 4th Rosh Hashanah, and we know the rapture takes place well before the second coming. Likewise, we know that the 1st of the 4 Rosh Hashanahs cannot be the fulfillment either, because of the number of prophesied events in the Great Tribulation. World War 3 and a time of peace afterwards have to occur in the Great Tribulation, so 8-10 months is not long enough. Therefore the 1st of the 4 Rosh Hashanahs is not a possibility. That leaves the 2nd or 3rd Rosh Hashanahs in the last half of the end-times 7 year period as the fulfillment of prophecy. Rosh Hashanah will occur as the shortening of the Great Tribulation for the sake of the elect as believers are caught up to the clouds in the judgment of the righteous. After the rapture, all the remaining people of the earth must go through the Days of Awe where the Trumpet and Bowl judgments are poured out. In the Jewish understanding of the feast days which are celebrated annually, but viewed as rehearsals of God's plan of the ages, the people view the coming judgment of Yom Kippur with trepidation. Judgment is sure and people have been given additional time to get things right with God. However, they know that the great King of the Universe will temper judgment with mercy. Prophetically, Yom Kippur is the long-awaited judgment, where Messiah will take the stick of Judah and the stick of Israel in His hand, He will forgive their sins, and He will make them one nation again forever. On Yom Kippur, the High Priest intercedes for the people before God in order that their sins might be forgiven. We know that Jesus our Messiah is the High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek; and He will intercede for all the people left on earth after the terrible time of the Day of the Lord. After Messiah judges Israel, He will judge all the rest of the people of the earth. Yom Kippur is that blessed time that Jews have looked forward to, when Messiah will rule and reign in Jerusalem. From the 10th to the 14th of Tishri, Messiah will judge Israel and all the nations. Then on the 15th, Succoth starts, where Messiah will spread the Tabernacle of Peace over the earth and celebrate for 7 days with the people of the earth. This will usher in an annual celebration of Succoth where all nations must be represented for humbling themselves before Messiah in Booths (Sukkahs). Those nations who will not celebrate Succoth will receive no rain during the next year. Some prophecy teachers have taught that the rapture could be on Pentecost, on Passover, or others that it could occur on any day of the year. Other prophecy teachers with no knowledge of the fall feast days have taught that, "those fall feast days are just for the Jews, so pay no attention to them." All of these assumptions are wrong! As you have read in this short article, it is apparent to even the most casual observer that Rosh Hashanah is the prophetic day on which the rapture of believers will take place. As to the argument that the fall feast days are for the Jews only, consider that there is no Jew and Gentile in God's eyes toward His family of believers. One could argue that the fulfillment of the spring feasts was only for the Jews also, but we all gained our salvation through that process. No, God our Father's plans are bigger than most people realize, and His salvation goes out to every people and tribe and tongue and nation in the earth. The prophetic fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah is not for some far off day and time, it is very close to fulfillment. Make sure you're ready and that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life; it's the ticket used to get to heaven. The Annual Jewish Feast Days are the Prophetic Plan of God!! |