Too often we try to understand the Bible from a western mind. Most view the Old Testament as past stories, but the New Testament quotes the Old 300 times! Jesus quoted the Old over 49 times and fulfilled over 47 prophecies. The more we understand Jewish customs and feasts, the better we will understand Scripture. This series will explain the Fall Festivals and how every Christian is part of them.
Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Galatians 3:13,28-29 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
God has not exchanged His love for the Jewish people with Christianity. We “Christians” were grafted into Judaism; not the other way around.
Romans 11:2a,7,11,17-25 “God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew… 7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
We can see through Scripture that we have not replaced the Jews but are being used by God to bring them closer to Him.
So, what can we learn from the Jewish Feasts?
The Feast of Trumpets (The Jewish New Year)
Begins at sundown Sept. 15 and ends at sundown Sept. 17.
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, literally means “the head of the year.”
The focus of this observance is moral and spiritual self-examination as Jews prepare themselves for God’s judgment of the preceding year.
God “writes” His judgment on the world on Rosh Hashanah and it is “sealed” ten days later, on Yom Kippur.
The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as the Ten Days of Repentance, or the Days of Awe.
The Feast of Trumpets was the signal for the workers to come in from the fields and worship God in the Temple. The High Priest blew the shofar (trumpet) so that the faithful would stop harvesting and come worship. This directly ties into the return of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – 52 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.”
Matthew 24:29-31 Jesus said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Hebrews 9:28 To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time,
The Lord will return with the sound of a shofar. Listen!
