"'On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets."(Numbers 29:1)
This is one of my favorite times of year. I love the climate, the beautiful fall colors...and the anticipation of what lies ahead.
This coming Friday evening marks the start of Yom T'ruah--the "day of blowing." It is the Biblical calendar day that is marked by shabbat (rest) and by the blowing of shofars. While Scripture has little to say about the purpose for this day, we know from context that it is all about one word: PREPARATION!
Most of you know this day as "Rosh Hashanah"--the Jewish New Year. In reality, it is anything but. If there is a "Jewish New Year" (or really, Biblical New Year), it would be Passover which falls on the 14th day of the 1st month. Yom T'ruah falls on the 1st day of the 7th month--hardly a "New Year."
While it may not be a literal new year, it does hearken us to renew our commitment to Yahweh's covenant with us. For those of us who follow the Jewish Messiah Yeshua, this season carries with it a remarkable sense of awe. It is cause for us to examine our lives and make the proper adjustments necessary for continuing to abide in Him.
The Talmudic rabbis proclaimed that this is the day in which God opens up books of judgement and inscribes each person--be they righteous, wicked, or "in-between," into one of those books. While this belief is NOT found in Scripture, and I do NOT agree with it at all, it does hearken to one word: PREPARATION.
Yom T'ruah immediately precedes Yom Kippur--the one day on the Biblical calendar in which the High Priest was able to make entrance into the Holy of Holies. On Yom Kippur, atonement was made for the entire nation of Israelites. So Rosh Hashanah is in a real sense PREPARATION TIME--preparation, that is, for us as followers of Yeshua to enter into our role as priests to serve Him (Revelation 1:6). It is PREPARATION TIME--time for us to be cleaned up, purged of all idolatry and filth, and made ready for our appointed time in the Holy of Holies. We don't have to fear judgement books. We only need to fear Him Who is the Author of the Books. It is PREPARATION TIME--time to prepare to make intercession for not only the nation of Israel, but for our friends...our families...our neighbors...our leaders...that they, too, may share in the joy of communing with and serving Him Who ransomed His life on our behalf.
Comments