Rosh Hashanah & The Rapture of the Church

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. And as always, it is a joy and honor and a privilege to join you each week.

And I want to thank you for tuning in. We are two days away from a very, very important holiday. And no, I'm not referring to Labor Day that we celebrate here in the United States of America, but I am referring to the two day Feast of Trumpets, which this year is scheduled to run from September the 6th through the 8th. This is a very, very important occasion. And let me state up front that as believers in Jesus Christ, for those of us who have accepted him as Lord and Savior, we're not required to celebrate these feasts.

But I do think it's important that we have them on our radar. And when I say them, I'm referring to what the Bible calls the seven feasts of the Lord. Because if we look in scripture, we find that Jesus Christ at his first coming, he literally fulfilled the spring and summer feasts, the Feast of Passover, unleavened bread, firstfruits, and weeks. So if that same pattern continues, it is very safe to say that our Lord is going to fulfill the fall feasts at his second coming. And so that is why we're going to look today at this Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah. And again, this pattern that has been established by our Lord is why I believe the rapture of the church is likely to take place during this Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which marks the Jewish New Year. It is considered a day in which everything begins anew. It is one of the Jewish high holy days, one of the most important days of the year.

And so this year it begins at sundown in Israel on September the 6th and ends at sundown September the 8th. Remember that our Lord, when Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, he gave the Israelites these Feasts of the Lord. Remember, the Bible does not say the Feast of Israel, but they're called the Feast of the Lord as commandments of a remembrance.

And so when we look at this feast, it is known by many different names. And so I want to share with you today some of the many names that it's known by and how it ties into the scripture prophetically and how I think it is pointing to our Lord's second coming. So turn with me, if you will, in your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 23. Let's look at verses 23 through 25. The Bible tells us, 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 trumpets, a holy convocation.

You shall do no customary work in it, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. So as I've already stated, this feast is known as the Feast of Trumpets, and it is really the best known alternative name for Rosh Hashanah, which again is the Jewish New Year. During this time of Rosh Hashanah, according to tradition, the priests would blow the shofar, which is a ram's horn that is often translated trumpet in the Bible. He would blow it 100 times. So that would be nine different sessions in which this priest would blow the trumpet 11 times. So that brings us to 99 soundings of the shofar, which leaves a final trumpet blast for the end. The last trumpet blast.

This 100 blast is the loudest and the longest. Here is one way in which the apostle Paul described the rapture of the church in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, verses 51 through 52. He said, Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. The rapture has been associated with trumpet blast since the first century, and it is linked to the blast of the shofar in scriptures. Now, as a side note, there are some out there that believe that when the apostle Paul refers to this last trumpet that he's talking about, the seventh trumpet of Revelation, Chapter 11. Now, I will not go into detail today as I've had previous shows on on that topic as to why I do not believe that the apostle Paul is referring to the seventh trumpet of Revelation. But for the sake of this show, I'm going to to stay on track with looking at it as a time in which it is tied to the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah.

So another name for this feast is what's known as Yom Teruah, which means a day of blowing or the day of the awakening blast. So when the trumpet sounds at the rapture, it is not just a noise to get our attention. Yes, the sound will get people's attention, but it is also an awakening blast for those who are in the graves. If we look at First Thessalonians chapter four, verse 16 and 17 reads, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

So for thousands of years, the Jewish people have been calling Rosh Hashanah the day of the awakening blast. And that is exactly what is going to happen at the rapture of the church. The Bible says the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them. The dead in Christ are going to be roused from their sleep. They're going to be awakening and they're going to rise into incorruptible bodies. And then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And then the Bible says, therefore, we should comfort one another with these words, because from that time on, we will be with our Lord for eternity, living in his presence.

And that gets me excited. That brings a lot of joy to my heart. The thought of this event in which those, everyone from the church age who has put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Remember, this does not include the Old Testament saints. This includes only those from the church age, from the time in which Jesus Christ was on earth and he died on the cross.

He rose from the dead and then he said he will establish his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. All the people that have lived during this age in which the church began that have died, they will be awakened by this trumpet blast. And again, folks, this is a time in which we as believers in Christ should be paying close attention to. And a lot of people today ignore this event known as Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets.

But I think it is prophetically pointing to what is going to take place concerning our Lord's second coming. So another name that I want to share with you that this feast is known by is called Yom HaDen. This is a reference to the day of judgment. The Jewish prayers during this feast emphasize it as a time during which the world is judged or put on trial.

In Hebrew, den means judgment. So for the Jews during this time of Rosh Hashanah, they believe it is a period in which God weighs our rights and our wrongs from the previous year. So you ask the question, how does this tie into the rapture of the church in the end of the age? Well, if you look at Revelation Chapter 22, verses 12 through 13, we find and behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. So at the rapture of the church, this is a time in which Jesus comes to judge the church. But he's not judging us for sins. He's not coming to hand out punishment because our sins have already been atoned for at the cross. When Jesus shed his blood, he took care of our sins forever.

And we need not worry about that. That is why there's no longer any need for animal sacrifices, because when Jesus came as that perfect lamb, therefore he fulfilled the Passover in which every year they would slaughter this lamb to cover their sins. But it did not actually atone.

It just covered their sins. But Jesus Christ, when he came, when he died, he was the perfect and forever sufficient sacrifice, the sacrificial lamb to take care of our sins. So he's not coming to judge us for our sins, but instead he's coming to give out rewards, our eternal rewards. And so this is going to be a time of judgment in which, again, he's going to look at the things that we've done on this earth. He's going to hand out rewards that we will have for all of eternity.

So it's going to be a great time. Another name in which this feast is known by is Yom Hazakar, which means the Day of Remembrance. During this feast, the Jews pray that God will remember them during the upcoming year. So it's a time of remembrance. And what we look at when we see the rapture of the church, God is remembering those who are his. He's remembering those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, those who recognize him as the true Messiah. So this is a great day of remembrance. And so, again, folks, it's a time in which, no, we as believers in Christ, we're not required to to celebrate these feasts. But when you really understand what these feasts mean, what they stand for, and the fact that our Lord, again, at his first coming, he literally fulfilled these feasts. And so I think we see a picture of what is going to take place at our lower second coming in which he is going to fulfill things that are still yet to come. And we are looking forward to that great and wonderful day. So we're going to take a short break, but don't go away on the other side. We're going to talk more about Rosh Hashanah.

Don't go away. You are tuned into the God First program. You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage and the significance of Lesson Israel, just to name a few.

You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our Web store. So please visit us at Godfirst.org. Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's message. Welcome back to the program as we are looking today at the great feast known as Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Feast of Trumpets. And we've been looking at numerous names and how it ties into the Bible prophetically. Again, as a picture of, I think, what is pointing to the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now, everything that I've shared with you thus far is important. All of the Bible is important. But but what I'm going to share with you next is when I really, really start to get excited, because another thing that has long been connected to Rosh Hashanah is the wedding day of the Messiah. There are many Jews out there that are still awaiting the Messiah. They don't believe Jesus Christ is the true Messiah. But we as believers in Jesus Christ, we as Christians, we know that he is the true Messiah, that he came as the one that the Bible prophetically stated would come as the Messiah.

And he's coming back again. If you look at John Chapter 14, verses two through four, it tells us in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. So, again, folks, this is where I really get excited when I start looking at this topic.

And so as as your old school teachers used to say, let's let's really put on our thinking caps right now, because I really want you to lock in and get what it is that I'm about to share with you. In the Jewish culture, there is a wedding tradition. And when you look at John Chapter 14, verses two through four, you find language that is directly tied to the Jewish wedding tradition, because in the Jewish wedding tradition, the groom would leave his father's house with a bride price or a dowry. He would go with this this gift that he would present to this woman who he wanted to be his bride. He would present it to her parents as a gift. And so upon accepting that, then he would then take a glass of wine and he would present it to his bride that he is desiring to be his bride.

He presents it to her. Now, this is a very important moment because she has the opportunity to reject this glass of wine. If she refuses it, then there's no wedding. There's no engagement period.

Everything is off. But if she accepts it and drinks from it, then that is the sealing of the betrothal, what is known as the betrothal period, what we call today an engagement. And so if she accepts his offer, he would drink of this glass of wine along with her. And this would be, again, the sealing. This would be the establishment to say, OK, we are now betrothed to one another.

We are engaged to one another. But after the drink, he would then say that he is promising not to drink of that glass again until he would drink it with her in his father's house. This is identical to what Jesus said to the disciples in the upper room at the Lord's Supper, which is what we call today communion when we take part of it in church, when we eat the bread and take of the wine or the juice. In Matthew Chapter 26, verse 27 through 29, then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, drink from it all of you.

For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shared for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. So, again, folks, you see the the parallel, you see the direct correlation that just as in the Jewish wedding tradition, the groom would not drink of that wine again until he would take his bride to the father's house.

Jesus, when he was at the upper room and he presented this to the disciples, they received it. He said, I will not drink of it again until I drink it with you in the father's kingdom. So many people today, though, do what the bride in the Jewish wedding tradition has the opportunity to do. She can refuse that glass of wine.

She can refuse the offer. And so many people today are rejecting the offer of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice at Calvary, in which he shed his blood so that we can have eternal life. That is the only way to the father. That is the only way to the father's house. But so many are rejecting it. And so Jesus is pleading with people today through the Holy Spirit to accept my offer, to drink of what I am offering you, because that is the only way to inherit eternal life.

And so that is my plea today for all those out there who have not received him as Lord and Savior, come to accept and know Jesus Christ, because that is the only way through which you can inherit eternal life. So if we look back at the Jewish wedding tradition again, after having presented and drink, drink, having drink this, this wine with with the bride, he would then go to his father's house to prepare what is known as a Koopa or a small house or room for him and his bride to live in. So he would go there and he's working on this room at where?

At his father's house. After his father approved his construction, at some point, it may be days, it may be weeks, months or even years later, he would turn to his son, who was eagerly awaiting the command and say, go get your bride. Only the father knew when the approval would come. The bride did not know. So she had to be ready at all times. And as the bridegroom in his wedding party would go to the bride's house as they walked through the streets, they would blow the shofar or the trumpet as an announcement to everyone.

And if it was at night, it would wake up the entire town. And when the bride heard the trumpet, she would know the wedding is moments away. But see, only the father knew when this approval would come. It was all up to him. The bride didn't know.

She had to be always ready at all times. And that is why Jesus said only the father knows. He said not even the angels know.

He said only the father knows. And so we likewise are to be ready at all times. We need to always be prepared because we don't know when the father is going to give the command to the son Jesus Christ to say, now go. And so the groom in the Jewish wedding tradition, he would take his bride to his father's house, where they were sealed in a room for seven days to partake in the wedding feast and the consummation of the marriage.

They would then exit celebratory. Jesus Christ is the groom and the church is his bride. He purchased the bride by paying the price for our sins at Calvary.

He is now at the father's house. He's preparing a place for us. At some point, God the father will turn to God, the son who is eagerly awaiting the command and say, go get your bride. And at the father's word, the trumpet will sound and the rapture of the church will mark Christ's return for his bride. And when he comes back for his his bride, when that trumpet sounds and when we are taken up, when we're caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, the Bible says we will go to heaven, to the father's house, where we will be sealed for a period of seven years. That is the seven year tribulation. During that time, we will partake in what the Bible calls the marriage supper in Revelation, chapter 19, verse nine. And at the end of this marriage supper, we will exit victoriously with our Lord, all of us riding on white horses as he comes to claim his earthly kingdom.

I don't know about you, but that gets me excited when I see this, when I see this picture and I see things that our Lord was telling us as to what to look for. There's another phrase that this feast is known by in the Jewish culture. They describe Rosh Hashanah as the day in which no one knows the day or the hour. This is why this holy day is not a single date on the calendar. It has everything to do with the new moon. So the ancient Jewish calendar is based on cycles of the moon.

It's a lunar calendar. All of the other Jewish holidays were time to occur on the full moon. But Rosh Hashanah falls during the new moon.

It was at the first of the month at the beginning of a new year. It's easy to tell when there is a full moon. Any of us can wake up during the night and you don't even have to have your curtains or your blinds open and you can see the brightness of a full moon. And definitely if you look out the window, you can see how bright it is even at night from a full moon. So you can easily tell when there's a full moon in the sky. But discerning a new moon is more difficult because the moon disappears altogether. So according to the ancient Jewish tradition, the new month would not officially begin until two witnesses would go out to the Mount of Olives and report seeing the sliver of the new moon to the high priest.

But what if they go out and it's cloudy? Then they don't they don't see the sliver of the of the new moon. So the feast does not start. So they would maybe wait an hour or so, go back again and look. If they would see the sliver of the new moon, they would report it to the high priest. The sounding of the trumpets will begin.

But if they did not, they would go back. So it may not begin that night. It may be the next day in which they would go out and see finally this sliver of the new moon.

And so, again, once it was seen by these two witnesses at the Mount of Olives, they were reported to the high priest. Then Rosh Hashanah would begin. Jesus described the rapture similarly in Mark chapter 13, verse 32 through 33. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the sun, but only the Father. Take heed and watch and pray for you do not know when the time is. So when we look at this feast of Rosh Hashanah, the Jews know the approximate season when the feast will take place, but they don't know the exact day or the exact hour because they don't know when the weather would allow them to see the sliver of the new moon. And so that is why it is known as the feast of which no one knows the day or the hour. I think that Jesus Christ in making that statement that he was given clues as to his return.

Now, again, we have to be careful in what we're saying here because we're not making predictions. But our Lord did say we can know the season. He said we cannot know the day or the hour, but we can know the season. And that his coming should not catch those who are believers in him as it does as a thief in the night for those who are rejecters of Jesus Christ.

He should not come upon us as a thief in the night. We should be looking for it, knowing when that season is. And I truly believe that the next major prophetic event on God's prophetic timeline is the rapture of the church. And so every year when this time comes around, I'm paying close attention. And so this year, September the sixth through the eighth, I encourage all of you to be on alert, to have your minds and your hearts prepared for could this be the time in which our Lord is going to come and catch us away to be with him in the air?

Now, I want to caution to say that this is not date setting, because some people, when they hear this, they will say, oh, you're setting dates. But again, we don't know in what year this will take place, nor do we know exactly what date, because we don't know the day or the hour. Our Lord made that clear.

But he said we can know the season. Now, for years, I was cautious to to present this teaching to a group in which maybe not everyone there was solid, grounded Christians. And what I mean by that is for those who are very solid in their faith, I know they won't try to abuse this teaching.

But there was a concern once that, well, you know, there could be those out there that will say, OK, the Feast of Trumpets came and went. Jesus did not return. So now I can go and live my life of sin and just get right again next year, just before this time of year and be prepared. Well, you know, the Bible says that we are not to abuse the grace of our God. It is not a license to sin. And true believers in Christ will not look at it that way anyway, because, folks, even if we don't go away in the rapture, you can die at any moment. You can die from from a heart attack. You can go out and get killed in a car accident. Covid-19.

Yes, I believe that there are those out there who are using it for manipulative purposes, but it is real. And there are people that do get sick and die from it so we could die at any time. So we should always be ready to be with our Lord. And I personally, I'm always ready and watching and trying to make sure my heart is ready for going away to be with Jesus Christ, whether it come by natural death or whether it come by the rapture.

But every time the Feast of Trumpets come around in September, I began to pay closer attention. I began to look for the return of Jesus Christ. And when we look at the state of our world today, when we look at things that are taking place, I mean, so much chaos. So many things that the Bible said that would be the condition of the world prior to prior to our Lord's return.

Lawlessness, pestilences, earthquakes. We see wars and rumors of wars. We just had this this long 20 year war in Afghanistan is coming to an end very controversially, by the way. But we see so many things we we see in what looks like there are systems that are being put in place to to usher in the the new world order, the one world government system. And so we see things that it would not be a surprise to me at all if the time is upon us. In which our Lord says.

He is going to come back for his bride. And so we as believers, we should not be surprised by this. No, we're not setting a date. But Jesus said we should not be caught off guard.

We should know the season. And he told us in his great love and compassion and grace what to look for. So if the return of our Lord by way of the rapture were to occur this upcoming week in the Feast of Trumpets, will you be ready? There are many Christians today that are not excited about their wedding day. And I think about young ladies who I know of girls I've heard stories in which from the time they were young children, they were already looking forward to their wedding day.

I know women who prepare for years for their earthly wedding. My wife for our wedding, she prepared. She had this three ring binder.

I think it was at least a four inch binder, may have even been six inch binder, but she had it full of material in which she was preparing for that day. Because she was excited. She was looking forward to taking me as her groom and me taking her as my bride and us being joined as one for all of eternity. But I see so many today as believers in Christ. They don't have that excitement. When the thought of going away to be with our Lord, it just seems to be an afterthought. It just seems to be, you know, whatever.

Whenever it happens, it happens. But I'm encouraging you to get excited just like these brides. They get excited and they plan and prepare and they look forward for so many years to their wedding day, to their earthly husband. Let's get excited even the more for the wedding with our great Messiah. Because when he comes, when he comes to rapture us from here, when we go to meet the Lord in the air, the Bible says we will forever be with our Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. I am excited. I'm looking forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope you are as well.

Well, folks, we are all out of time, but please come back and join me next week. That is if we have not been taken away by way of the rapture as we continue to encourage you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. To the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Thank you for tuning into the God First program. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. And seek first the kingdom of God.