By Doug Cox

For many Wyomingites fall brings mostly thoughts of hunting and football. Israelis think of Rosh Hashana, Israel’s first fall feast. AKA Feast of Trumpets is found in two short passages in the Old Testament, which mark out a specific time where God calls His people to rest from their work and present sacrifices and offerings to the Lord. The Feast starts with the blowing of trumpets.

The Feast of Trumpets begins on the 1st day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. The ‘seventh’ month seems to coincide with one very important aspect of the Bible where the number seven is associated with holiness and perfection. So, it is in this seventh month that God gives the call to His people to examine themselves and consider their ways, getting ready for the Day of Atonement after which comes the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles.

The days between these two feasts are called the Ten Days of Awe, named so because each day as the Jewish people hear the trumpet sound, it is to be a stark reminder that they are to examine their lives and repent of things that are ungodly.

In ancient times before the destruction of the Jewish Temple these ten days counted down to the Day of Atonement when the High Priest would sacrifice before the Lord, one goat and a bull. A second goat was led into the wilderness and released. If the live goat didn’t return it was symbolic that their sins were covered. The sacrifice of animals was to show the people that sin has a price. It also showed them that God was willing to be merciful, an animal life instead of theirs.

While we as humans often wink at sin, God in His holiness cannot. Exodus 18:20 says, “the soul that sins shall die.” Thankfully Leviticus 17:11 says “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The writer of Hebrews 9:22 tells us “…according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

This means facing God without a sacrificial substitute means doom. That’s why Jesus came. He died for our sins, was resurrected then ascended into heaven itself to appear in the very presence of God for us, “…to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (see verse26). The book of Hebrews tells us that the earthly Temple was a copy of the heavenly and that all the Feasts and sacrifices pointed in some way forward to the redemptive work that Christ would do for sinful man.

Five days following the Day of Atonement comes the Feast of Tabernacles where God required His people to build crude shelters from branches, then stay in them remembering how He orchestrated their deliverance from Egypt, then tabernacled with them in the tent of meeting and as a cloud by day and fire by night.

This Feast carries a twofold reminder, first to His people about His past dealings with them but also of a future promise to come to rule and reign and judge His people and the world of sin. This time not as a suffering Servant but as conquering King. He’s coming back! Are you ready? The signs of His soon return are here for everyone with eyes to see. My prayer is that you will join me in surrendering to Him and receiving His salvation.