The Significance of Rosh Hashanah to Christians and Caregivers

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Call 866-WINASIA or to see chickens and other animals to donate, go to CritterCampaign.org. Welcome to Hope for the Caregiver. I am Peter Rosenberger. This is the nation's number one show for you as a family caregiver. How are you doing?

How are you holding up? How are you functioning as you care for someone who is vulnerable with some type of chronic impairment? Maybe it's Alzheimer's. Maybe it's addiction. Maybe it's autism. Maybe it's trauma.

Whatever. There's no end to the myriad of dysfunctions that we face as human beings on this planet, but there's always a caregiver. Whenever there's a chronic impairment, there's a caregiver, and this is the show dedicated to you.

If you want to be a part of the show, 877-655-6755. For more than two or three years now, maybe more than that, I have had the privilege of serving on the last Monday of every month with my friend, Rabbi Eric Walker, with his whole broadcast. He's got a whole network called Igniting a Nation Ministries out of Birmingham, Alabama, and he's a bestselling author, and he spent a lot of time in corporate America, built up all kinds of stuff, and then was called into full-time ministry, and he founded one of the largest messianic congregations in the world.

His resume is just really, really, really long of all that he's been featured on, just an amazing speaker and teacher, and he's been a great mentor to me to understand things that are going on in the Hebrew calendar, in Scripture, what's going on in biblical prophecy, all those kinds of things. Well, how does that relate to being a caregiver? Well, we're going to talk about today because we're in the middle of, well, not in the middle of, we just started Rosh Hashanah, and so I asked him to come on and just share what does this mean? What does this mean to us as believers, and why as caregivers is this important?

What can we glean from that? And I think it's so important to stay grounded in the Word of God and understanding what's going on around us, that we're not just kind of stumbling along here, there are things going on every day that are important for us to know, and Rabbi Walker has just been a great friend to help instruct me on this. So, Eric, thank you for being here.

How are you feeling? I feel great, and it's an honor to be on your show. You know we stand behind your vision, your mission, your journey with Gracie, and the message of hope that you bring, and that's exactly what the message of God's appointed times from a biblical perspective are, is a message of hope. Well, let's jump right into this, because in Leviticus 23, 4, the Lord says that these are His feasts. These are His times.

These are His things. So jump right into that and take us down this path of what does that mean as we see the nation of Israel and Jews around the world looking and celebrating Rosh Hashanah? What about us as believers? What does all this mean?

Just jump right in. When you look at Leviticus 23, God makes it very clear that His instruction to Moses is, speak to those who like and tell them, these are My appointed times. As we look at how that applies to believers, they are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. So in a broad stroke, He's saying to all those who belong to Me, who believe in My promises, in My covenants, and in the sacrifice of My Son for your salvation, you too get to enjoy the richness of the depth of meaning behind My appointed times. So as we take a look at the spring feasts, we look at beginning with Passover, which was the death, then the resurrection, and ultimately the ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit.

There's a progression there, and the progression was fulfilled, and it was fulfilled in a very unique way. Jesus was crucified on Passover. He rose on the Feast of First Fruit. He gave us the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, on Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. All that is laid out for us in the text in certain days of the year on the Hebrew calendar. As we look at the fall feasts, we're looking at a time that has yet to be fulfilled by Jesus' return. So our full expectation based on understanding what these feasts are, their names, and their meaning, gives us a great deal of hope. So let's start with what's called in the world today as Rosh Hashanah, but it's actually in Leviticus 23, it is the Feast of Trumpets.

The trumpets in this case are not the silver trumpet. This is a commemoration of the shofar, or the ram horn, and this was the redemption of Isaac on Mount Moriah from Genesis 22. So we all remember this amazing story of events taking place where God instructs and tests Abraham, and he tells him to go to the place that he will show him. It's Mount Moriah, that is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and as he ascends it, there's parallels to the crucifixion of Jesus. They were considered to be the only begotten sons of their father. They both carried the wood for their offering up the mountain.

They both did the will of their father. There are so many parallels to setting the stage for what would take place on the last day of Jesus' life. But as we come to this season in the fall, beginning with the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah, that translates head of the year, it is the civil new year, the changing of the calendar. So in the Hebrew calendar, we went from 5780, which is counted from the sixth day of creation, to 5781, so it's actually a new year. And it is a day that we celebrate the blowing of the shofar, reminding us that Jesus will return at the trumpet blast.

So let me jump in real quick. So the spiritual feast set by God, the theological feast, has been kind of combined with a civil new year holiday. Did I understand that right?

That's correct. So just like in America, we celebrate January 1st as New Year's. However, when your kids went back to school, the new school year wasn't January 1st. It might be August or September.

They had a new school year. So you might work for a company and the company has a new fiscal year and it might be in June or July. We all celebrate many different new beginnings. This happens to be the time set for the new beginning of the civil new year. And so where January 1st rings in on the Gregorian calendar, we ring in on the biblical calendar a new year. And it's a time that begins in the month before leading up to this seventh month, which God tells us the dates in the seventh month.

In the sixth month, the month preceding, we begin in traditional Judaism, a time of reflection. Repentance, examining where we've gone astray, things we need to turn from, preparing ourselves for a season of spiritual renewal, an opportunity for a new beginning. Reminded of the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 and 17 that anyone who's a Messiah is a new creation.

The old is gone, the new has come. So think about salvation. You accept Jesus as your Messiah, but there is not an instantaneous transformation that takes place. You don't automatically get zapped into this new life and all of your past is erased in the kingdom of heaven, but you still have the habits that you had.

You still have some of the language, the behavior, the thought patterns. Well, this is a time of accepting that mantle of a new beginning and self-examination. Am I conforming or transforming into the image of Messiah? And as I celebrate this time, it's a time of reflection, a time of celebration that God has sustained us for another year. And in the world of believers, as I am a Jewish believer, I believe that my name is forever inscribed in the Lamb's Book of Life. And the non-believing in Jesus' Jewish community, they believe it's an annual renewable inscription.

And therefore, through the celebration of these appointed times, they begin to work through the process of first the celebration, then the 10 days. So Leviticus 23 says on the first day of the seventh month, you're to hold a sacred assembly and celebrate it with the blowing of the trumpets. The trumpet was a, the shofar was in biblical times.

It was the call with the battle call. It was a signal, a warning from one village to another village that an enemy might be coming. It was also celebrated as a wake-up call to those who had kind of backslidden, wake up from your slumber, awaken, renew this relationship with God, take inventory. It was also a warning to Satan, the enemy, that the Messiah was coming.

And so we read in scripture that the Messiah will come at the last trumpet blast. So we look every year to the east as told to us in Ezekiel 43 that the Lord will return when he breaks through the eastern skies of Jerusalem. So every synagogue in the world and almost every church is built facing Jerusalem. Most people don't know that, but it has to do with the dedication of the first temple where King Solomon interceded for both Jews and non-Jews that if prayers were offered while you were facing toward that place, then God would hear from heaven and answer your prayers. So that was the first intercession made in the dedication of the first temple for non-Jewish people. So pretty interesting that the path to God was paved through this Jewish book, the Bible.

So the two days ago, on the 18th of September, we began the celebration as a sacred assembly for the blowing of trumpets and celebration of a new year, but it's a very intentional time. We all have problem areas in our spiritual lives, and most of us know what they are. We also have ways we've turned from God to follow other things, some of which we may not even realize. So during this period of time from this celebration until 10 days later when we celebrate the Day of Atonement, we are to take an inventory and examine ourselves and look to see.

King David wrote, you know, search me, O God, and see if there's any unclean thing within me. And as we examine our lives, we also are to look at the people in our lives. You know, Jesus secured our vertical relationship with God. And so when we accept the Messiah, we become in right standing with God as our sin is forgiven. But there's another aspect to our life, and if salvation was the ultimate end experience, all of us would be taken out of this world the minute we said yes to Jesus.

But yet we still remain here. And so when we look at what Jesus said, what were the two greatest commandments, it was first to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your strength, and the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. And so, in this 10 day period between the New Year, and the Day of Atonement, we're supposed to look at ourselves and think about the words of Jesus, who said, if you bring your gift to the altar, and thereby realize that your brother has something against you, leave your gift and go be reconciled to your brother, then come and bring your gift and it will be acceptable to God. So during this time, imagine you as a caregiver, how many times you were frustrated with the system, that the paperwork, the insurance companies, the doctors, maybe a... Well, you know, when you have family and friends who, and I get that a lot on the show, I get a lot of calls from people who are struggling with family members that don't help the way that they would want, they feel like they've been abandoned, they feel resentful. Resentment is a huge issue for so many family caregivers.

And this is why I wanted to bring you on and talk about this, because this is the time set aside once a year in the Hebrew calendar, but it certainly can be extended throughout the whole year of that reflection. Am I understanding that right? Absolutely. So think about the people in your life. The joy which you are relinquishing, because I truly believe we have a choice. We have a choice and a command to forgive.

And is there any unforgiveness in our hearts which are keeping us separated from the love of God? Are we that doctor that just didn't do what he said he was supposed to do? And we're living with the consequences of that. Have we searched our hearts and examined it and said, you know, I'm holding this grudge against my brother. And God says that's like murder.

But in this case, the one who's in prison is not the doctor. It's not your friends and family. It's you. You've locked yourself in a prison of resentment and unforgiveness. And this is the time to examine that and say, you know, Lord, you're sovereign. My trust is in you.

People are going to disappoint me and I have to find a way to release that. And this is a time that if there are people you need to talk to, to restore relationships, to reconcile if you can, then God gives us this window so when the Day of Atonement comes, we come with clean hands. You know, the Bible tells us who can ascend the mountain of the Lord, the one with clean hands. You know, most of us in the Pentecostal, Charismatic, spirit-filled world lift our hands in the sanctuary. And I've always considered that to be a time of presenting my hands to the Lord and saying, search my hands, O Lord, and see if they're clean.

See what I've set my hands to do during this week. Have they been for your kingdom, for your glory? Have I blessed those that curse me? Have I prayed for those that despitefully use me? Have I forgiven my brother? Even the brother that sins against me, the therapist that just is always late, or somebody who commits to do something and doesn't ever do it, and I've been holding on to that. I'm going to release them, and when I release them, I'm releasing myself.

It's a time for God to speak to us and to show us as we reflect, we then move into once something's revealed to you, God's looking for response, and that response is repentance. What do I need to do, Lord? What do you want me to do about this situation? Lord, help me to turn from this anger and resentment and come fully back to you without resistance and with a trusting and grateful heart.

Ask them, do you want me to make amends with somebody, and if so, who and how? And what can I do to help keep me focused on what you've called me to do in this coming year? Imagine having an opportunity. One of the things I wanted to have you on, that's why I wanted you on today, because I have found over and over and over that one of the big issues for family caregivers is this quagmire of resentment and despair over the fractured relationships that go on in our horizontal relationships and also the fracture we have with God because we get into that place of resentment. And I think it's fascinating that way back in Leviticus, a time was set aside for just that thing. It's not limited to certainly these 10 days, but it is a corporate thing where the collective nation of Israel came together for this purpose. And individually we can do this anytime we want, but this was also a collective time. And I look at so many of these principles. Oh, would they be applied to our collective nation if we would come together for a time of reflection and a time of repentance as a nation? And then that flips back to in Chronicles where he said, If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray, then I will hear from heaven and heal their land. And so again, to that collective group, and we as caregivers are not going to collectively come together as a nation of caregivers, but the principle is still the same. Of learning to reflect and say, okay, this was important enough for God to establish this for the entire nation to do this every year. And then Paul went even further, Jesus and then Paul built on that went even further saying, look, every time you come to the communion table, this is where your headspace needs to be. And so as we prepare this and then go into repentance, and one of the things I hope my fellow caregivers want to understand, forgiveness doesn't mean it doesn't matter. Forgiveness means you're going to take your hand off of someone else's throat and let go of that resentment that you're hanging on to that's just destroying you.

And I see that so many times with fellow caregivers. And so I thought, well, this is a time just to kind of reflect on those thoughts. Okay, how is this benefiting me to hold on to this resentment? In the last two minutes, take us up to Yom Kippur and then quickly, I know this is asking a lot, and then throw it to the final feast, the Feast of Tabernacle. We've got about two minutes. Okay, so we go through this 10-day period, and then we have a day that God has instructed us to fast or deny ourselves so that we can come into His presence, not focusing on the things of the world, but the things above. We use that time to confess, just as it tells us, confess your sins one to another, and God is faithful to forgive us our sins.

Well, this is the opportunity to do that if you haven't done that. This is the opportunity He gives. And then five days later is the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Ingathering, where we celebrate in the past the 40 years that God would go out with us. He was there by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night for 40 years, and we celebrate that we lived in temporary booths, but now we celebrate the fact that Jesus is going to come back and set up this time.

So it's a very hopeful time of celebration. It actually extends a period over eight days, the first day ushering in this Feast of Tabernacles, and then people in Israel build these on their balconies. They build temporary shelters or tents, and they sit out there and they read the scriptures at night. And then on the last day of the celebration, they were reminded of what the priest did. They had what was called a libation ceremony where they poured out water on the altar, praying for the latter rain and for the coming of Messiah. And so this was a harvest festival in the fall and one where we take a look and we examine the fruit, the fruit of the field, the fruit of our labor.

And what is it producing? If it's not producing good fruit, it's got to go. And God is going to take that branch and cut that branch off. Well, listen, we're out of time on this. Rabbi Eric Walker, my dear friend and just a tremendous teacher, we're going to have you back on as these topics continue to unfold in this, because I think it's very important for us as caregivers to reflect on these things. Take it to God. Let go of these resentments and then look forward to those moments when we are with God in it. Thank you for joining us, ignitinganation.com.

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