Sleeper Awake! Why is the Feast of Trumpets significant to us today?

time rosh hashanah and yom kippur are the two high holidays in the jewish calendar the term rosh hashanah meaning the head of the year doesn't actually occur in the torah it does appear once in ezekiel chapter 40 where there it actually refers to the spring season that is aviv the original beginning of the calendar the torah defines the holiday in the seventh month simply as yom the festival of the blowing of the shofar without going into any further explanation in the absence of clear significance of the meaning for rosh hashanah in the bible its meaning its value and its importance of this festival have developed over time now as we have mentioned in previous videos at cmj we would like to explore the deep meaning that god gives us through these festivals and how that divine message can transform our walk as disciples of the messiah [Music] however before we get into that let's look at some of the modern traditions happening at this time one popular custom is the eating of apples and honey accompanied with prayers for a sweet new year both for us and for our loved ones bread is baked in round loaves called chala to signify the cyclical nature of time and its seasons this also signifies the close of the liturgical year with the cyclical reading of the torah beginning and ending at rosh hashanah a month before rosh hashanah at the beginning of elul the jewish people begin blowing shofars daily in the synagogue except on the sabbath special prayers for forgiveness are recited called slichot rasha shana commemorates the creation of the world now the blowing of the shofar is the central mitzvah of this festival the shofar is blown to proclaim that god is the ruler of the universe and the herald the beginning of the ten days of awe this is a time of deep personal introspection and repentance in preparation for yom kippur early jewish tradition refers to rosh hashanah as the day when we stand before god in judgment according to the tradition god opens three books on rosh hashanah the names of everyone are inscribed in one of these three books the book of life the book of death and the undecided book biblically we see these books in the in the prophets daniel chapter 7 and in revelation chapter 21 now what is the meaning and the significance to the church of a festival that is not explained in the bible at all the bible does not mention that this is the day of divine judgment in fact in numbers 29 verse 1 it is simply mentioned as the day of the blowing of the shofar and what's important to this holiday is that this festival the shofar will be blown over 100 times and what we can see in the bible are all the insights and meanings to the blast to the call to the sound of the shofar the shofar is customarily a ram's horn is to remind us of isaac and the ram that became his substitute offering indeed one of the scriptures read on rosh hashanah is the akida the binding of isaac in genesis 22. in this story abraham and isaac both show their great devotion to god over four thousand years later the blowing of the shofar symbolizes our own devotion to the lord and our acceptance of his kingship under the kingdom of heaven heaven and earth meet at the sound of the shofar how do we know this god's nature is king is unquestionable however following the fall his kingship can only come into fruition when someone on this earth subjects himself to it a king without a subject is not a king what can we see then is that abraham left his homeland and began to obey the lord god who was in heaven began to rule on the earth this exemplifies an ancient biblical connection that the kingdom of heaven is present where his followers on earth are acting out of obedience so when we hear the shofar we are first and foremost reminded that through our obedience god's kingship on earth is manifest the shofar reminds us of other occasions when the divine enters the earthly realm first is the gaming of the torah at mount sinai which is accompanied by the call of the shofar in exodus 19 19. later in isaiah 29 13 the call of the shofar will herald the arrival of the messiah practically in both the book of judges and kings the shofar is a call to war and in the temple the psalms tell us that the shofar was an integral part of the worship of god therefore we can see that actually the sound of the shofar is of great significance to the in the bible actually is the hallmark of the two greatest acts of redemption that we find in the bible the exodus and the coming of the messiah it is even said that the sound of the shofar confuses satan himself so when we hear the sound of the shofar it is designed for us to wake us up from our slumber to urge us towards repentance to examine our hearts as king david says in psalm 89 verse 15 happy are those who know the torua of the lord the sound of the shofar even for christians the call of the shofar can remind us that too often we also can enter a spiritual slumber letting the mundane of the life compromise our prayer life compromise the amount of time that we spend in the word and compromise our commitment to discipleship at the feet of jesus so rosh hashanah we have the opportunity to reassess our priorities examine our hearts and our relationships before the lord many of the traditional prayers of rosh hashanah that are said in the synagogue are about making god king and we see in the story of abraham the kingship of god is never imposed it is always received just as when abraham's obedience heralded the beginning of god's kingship the more we choose to obey god the more he rules over this world as jesus the king says blessed is he who hears my words and obeys them so at this season of rosh hashanah when we hear the stirring call of the shofar let us not remain in slumber let us ask is our king more in control of our life than last year if not then hear the shofar sleeper awake time to repent and may all our names be inscribed in the lamb's book of life of a blessed and sweet new year 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Channel: CMJ Israel

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Keywords: what is rosh hashana, rosh hashanah, rosh hashana, explain rosh hashana, yom teruah, fall feasts, high holy days, jewish high holidays, jewish holidays, christian educational video, high holidays, explain high holidays, jewish video, bible verses, jewish values, jewish new year, judaism for kids, apples and honey, bible devotional, cmj, cmj israel, christ church jerusalem, aaron eime, church, biblical feasts, bible holidays, feast of trumpets

Id: wcwWUiFLHhM

Length: 8min 13sec (493 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 17 2020