The first of the Fall Feasts is called Yom Teruah-The Day of Trumpets. In modern day Judaism, it is known as Rosh Hashanah, Head of the Year, and is celebrated as the Jewish New Year. A common custom is to say “L’shanah tovah”, which means, “May it be a good year.” Another custom is to eat apples dipped in honey. The apples and honey represent God’s provision and sweetness that He will manifest to us in the coming year. We read about this feast (Yom Teruah) in Leviticus 23:24 – “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, in the seventh month, on the first of the month (Tishri), you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of (shofars) trumpets.” But what does the shofar help us to remember? In the Holy Scriptures, there are two passages that speak of the LORD, Himself, blowing the shofar.

The first passage is found in Exodus 19:13, when the children of Israel prepared themselves to go up to Mount Sinai to meet the LORD. The second is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the LORD Himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise; then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air…”

In both of these instances the blowing of the shofar announces God’s manifest presence. In Exodus 19, the sound of a shofar from heaven grew louder and louder so that the people who stood at the base of Mt. Sinai began to tremble. Then God spoke, and more than a million Israelites heard the audible voice of God at the same time. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16, God again blows His shofar from heaven, as Jesus the Messiah returns to the world manifesting the glory of God!
The Blowing of the Shofar Announces God’s Manifest Presence.

At the sounding of the Shofar each year on Yom Teruah – The Feast of Trumpets, we remember that Messiah Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach, is returning soon!