THE STORY

THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS: Defeating the enemy

Celebrated: September/ October

Historical background

We read about the Feast of Trumpets as part of God’s feasts or appointed times with us in Leviticus 23:23-25. During Biblical times the day was celebrated as a Sabbath rest and a memorial blowing of trumpets (ramshorn/ shofar) took place to remember the ram sacrificed in place of Isaac (Gen 22:13). The main purpose of the feast was to regather the people to a pure faith in God and to prepare for the Day of Atonement which take place 10 days after the Feast of Trumpets.

What is the significance of the trumpet or ramshorn? We know that trumpets will be blown at Jesus’ second coming because the sound of the trumpet represented God’s voice since God’s actual voice was too terrifying for them (see Exodus 20:18-21). The trumpet also represents God’s might in warfare. Trumpets were also blown to assemble people to worship God, to break up camp to journey further, to make alarm in preparation for battle and at the beginning of each month and of cause on the Feast of Trumpets to remind the people of God – that He is the LORD their God (see Numbers 10:1-10)

In Psalm 18 the LORD is described as our strength, rock, fortress and deliverer as well as our shield and the “horn” (rams horn) of our salvation and our stronghold who is worthy to be praised and save us from our enemies (also see 2 Sam 22:3)

How did Jesus (Yeshua) fulfill this feast?

We read in Rev 19:11-16 that Jesus is the true Commander of the army of God! In Luke 1:68-71 Zachariah refers in his prophecy to Jesus as the “horn” of salvation raised up to save us from the hand of our enemies and all who hate us. At Jesus’ first coming He destroyed the works of Satan and the sin in men’s hearts.  We read about this in Col 2:15 “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it”  And at Jesus’ second coming, as the Commander of God’s army and the horn of SALVATION, He will defeat the enemies of our souls and set us free from death for evermore – in Rev 1:18 He tells us through the revelation to John: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore…And I have the keys of Hades and Death.”

What is the personal significance for me as a believer?

This feast relates to the believer’s SPIRITUAL WARFARE.

Two things are of importance here:

1. The SHOFAR is sounded as a WAKE-UP CALL (see the Parable of the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins told by Jesus in Matthew 25). We read in Matt 25:6 “…and at midnight a CRY was heard: Behold the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet Him.” The word normally translated “shout “or “cry” comes from the Hebrew word: TERUAH – translated as the “alarm” blast of the shofar
2. Once filled with the Holy Spirit (Ruach ha Kodesh) at the Feast of Pentecost more spiritual warfare will be experienced by the believer because the closer we draw to God, the more our spiritual battle will intensify because we become a threat to Satan. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 2:9 “…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. ” (Also see Revelation 5:9-10).” We must therefore clothe ourselves with our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14) and follow Him as our High Priest and the Commander of God’s army and take up the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD as we are taught in Ephesians 6:10-20, by putting the TRUTH of God’s Word on like a belt around our waists, and putting on the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS, living a live of righteousness and holiness ourselves and like the priests of old carrying the twelve tribes of Israel into the presence of God (represented by the twelve gemstones with the names of the twelve tribes engraved and mounted in gold on their breastplates), carry our loved ones, friends and fellow believers into the presence of God via our prayers, strapping up our feet in the READINESS WITH THE GOOD NEWS OF PEACE and above all taking up the shield of FAITH that does not only cover us from the front but totally surrounds us to enable us to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And we take up the helmet of SALVATION to protect our thoughts with the knowledge that we belong to God and therefore live lives in obedience and holiness to Him. And we take up His Word as the sword of the Spirit by reading and memorizing it and speaking it daily. We also stay alert and we pray for our fellow believers.

We must therefore learn to live in the VICTORY of Jesus as the HORN (TRUMPET/ SHOFAR) OF SALVATION – it is a requirement to enter the REST of GOD – we become VICTORIOUS when we ALLOW HIM to live IN and THROUGH us!

What does the Feast of Trumpets mean in terms of future fulfillment (the prophetic aspect)?

The Feast of Trumpets has not been fulfilled in history, but will like the Feast of Passover and Pentecost be literally fulfilled in future – we are now living in this prophetic season! This feast forms part of the FEAST OF TABERNACLES and DAY OF ATONEMENT and relates to the great end-time events recorded by the prophets and in the Book Revelation.

Revelation opens with the apostle John hearing the VOICE OF JESUS, sounding like a TRUMPET (Rev 1:10) and we see the literal fulfillment of the FEAST OF TRUMPETS from Rev 4 onwards John writes:

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here’, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” John is then given a frightening vision of the USE OF TRUMPETS TO SOUND AN ALARM FOR WARFARE in the RESTORATION OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL and the SEVEN-YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD (Rev 6-18). The prophets, Joel and Zephaniah also referred to this period, we read in Joel 2:1: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My Holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the Day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand” and in Zephaniah 1:14-16: “The great Day of the Lord is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the Day of the Lord is bitter; there the mighty men shall cry out. That Day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities and against the high towers.”

The ULTIMATE fulfillment of the FEAST OF TRUMPETS is the RETURN of JESUS CHRIST our MESSIAH, described in Rev 19 which will be announced with TRUMPETS: “Then the seventh angel sounded ; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying ‘The kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ Messiah, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

Rev 19:11-15 tells us that when Jesus returns, He will be coming to MAKE WAR. He will crash all His enemies and rule with a rod of iron over a Kingdom that will never end. JESUS is the TRUMPET OF GOD and the HORN OF OUR SALVATION. He is our GREAT WARRIOR KING who has defeated the enemies of God and God’s people.

Information based on: CELEBRATING JESUS IN THE BIBLICAL FEASTS – Dr. Richard Booker

Animated Story Board: Created by Danelle Harmse for HeBrews Coffee Roastery