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Feast of Trumpets
September 5, 2013

 

 

I believe it is Christian to observe the holy days given by God in the Bible, and that puts me in the minority when it comes to belief, and it may be hard for many to understand why I feel it necessary to observe the holy day given by God. As I shared last year, the trumpet was used to sound alarm throughout the middle east and at the time of this writing nations are pondering what to do with Syria, and once again the trumpet is sounding. A few years back, I showed how the Feast of Trumpets would signal the return from exile for the children of God when His Kingdom is established on earth. In our Christian observance of this day, we are not trying to take from our Jewish friends and wish them peace on this day. For Christians, the Feast of Trumpets celebrates the return of Jesus, establishes our hope in the resurrection, and in 2013 is celebrated from sunset on September 4th through sunset on September 5th.

I Corinthians 15:51-58
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. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

The last trumpet mentioned is given more detail in the Book of Revelation which shows that God will overthrow society as it is known today and replace it with His Kingdom and this will be a time when good crushes evil. It reminds me of a recent conversation I heard between my son and one of his friends when they were discussing negative and positive values of numbers, and they were debating the result when negative and positive numbers are added together. They were not quite sure if the result would be positive or negative. The easy way to calculate this concept in my mind is to consider the absolute value of each number. For those who haven't worked with absolute values, one way to look at the absolute value of a number is as its distance from zero. For example, if the absolute value of a negative number is bigger than the absolute value of the positive number, when these two are added together, the result will be negative. Today our world is sort of balanced on that equation, where evil has an absolute value that is higher than good. The Feast of Trumpets is about restoring good with a higher absolute value than evil, and to a degree where evil ceases to exist. Sometimes we focus so much on being right with God that we forget this can begin by doing good. Even Jesus had to remind others of this idea.

Matthew 12:1-13
At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.

Jesus had to remind the Pharisees, the experts in reading and interpreting the scripture that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath day, and for them this was a novel concept. The pathway to this future time foreshadowed by the Feast of Trumpets where good triumphs over evil can begin with how we live our life every day and the degree to which we choose to do good and help those in need. When we think of the return of Jesus, we need to remember that when this happens, Jesus will separate the spiritual sheep from the spiritual goats, and when this happens, you really want to be a sheep.

Matthew 25:31-45
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

The Feast of Trumpets does foreshadow the return of Jesus, and it also is a holy day that reminds us that at this future time we will be judged by many things including how we have cared for others in need, because when we care for others in need we show love to Jesus and we are able to celebrate what is good, embrace what is good, and do what is good.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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