Grafted-In Ministries

The Feast of Trumpets, Yom Teruah, is a day when the Shofar is blown to awaken Israel to an amazing event. (Amos 3:6)  It is a call to Israel for the coming judgment and the return of Messiah Yeshua.  Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of Yehovah is near, it is near, and comes quickly, even the voice of the day of Yehovah: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.  Zephaniah 1:16 A day of the trumpet (Shofar) and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.  Yom Teruah is the first seventh month feast falling directly on the day that the new moon is seen.  It is the only feast specifically commanded by Yehovah to be kept on the new moon day.

The seventh time the shofar is blown to proclaim the new moon in Yehovah's calendar is the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.  Yom Teruah is the beginning of the count for all the seventh month moedim.  If Israel was not ready for the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of Ethanim, the High Priest would surely not survive his commanded sprinkling of blood in the holy of holies.  Yom Kippur is a holy time and the nine days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are a time to prepare and a time to be thankful that Yeshua is Messiah and High Priest.  Atonement was the only time that the High Priest was allowed to enter the holy of holies for ceremony.  This is an important testimony to the amount of preparation we are to make for the Day of Atonement.  The only chance that we have to survive spiritually is in the following of Yeshua's example.  One of the commands for example that Yeshua observed is the set apart Yom Teruah.

In Leviticus 23 we find that Yehovah gives instruction to keep the weekly and annual Sabbaths.  In the seventh month on the first day we are to keep Yom Teruah.  Yehovah calls this feast Zikarown Teruah, which is translated as the memorial of the blowing of trumpets.  Yom Teruah is called a holy convocation which means that it is a day when Yehovah's people are to come together in worship.

Leviticus 23:23-25 Then Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.  'You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yehovah.'

The Hebrew word for "trumpets" is not actually found in Leviticus 23:24 the Hebrew "teruah" is translated blowing of trumpets.  This is a memorial to commemorate a future start of the Messianic Kingdom with the return of Messiah Yeshua.  Since Yom Teruah relates to the seventh new moon it shows the perfection of Yehovah's plan for salvation through Messiah Yeshua.  This is also a connection between the torah and Messiah.  The blowing of the shofar was the thunder that the children of Israel heard when Moses was given the law on Mt. Sinai.

Exodus 20:18-20And all the people saw the thunder, and the lightning, and the noise of the trumpet (shofar), and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed themselves, and stood afar off.  And they said unto Moses, You speak with us, and we will hear: but don't let Elohim speak with us, or we will die.  And Moses said to the people, Fear not: for Elohim is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, so that you don't sin.

The word "trumpet" in Exodus 20:18 is the Hebrew word "shofar" (Strong's #7782).  This loud shofar blast really scared the people so much so that they asked Moses to speak with Yehovah for them.  Solomon was inspired to write that the fear of Yehovah is the beginning of wisdom.  (Proverbs 9:10)  Yeshua demonstrated this wisdom throughout his life by giving the glory to Yehovah.  We must forsake evil and live like Yeshua!  Sin should be the farthest thing from our mind.  We are Yeshua's chosen if we live as he teaches.

The sacrifice that Yeshua the Messiah gave to cleanse his people has given each of us the ability to step from the waters of immersion without sin.  Sin is an immense problem today just as it has been since the beginning of time.  People of the world do evil today that would have never even been thought of thirty years ago.  The world is perpetually accepting sin but those that do follow Yehovah are condemned as being unloving or legalistic. (John 15:18-27)  The truth is that if we love one another we look out for one another.  Yom Teruah shows that we must be ready at all times because as in the time of Noah people of the world went about their business as if nothing was wrong.  They missed the boat and all the signs of the impending flood. (Mat. 24:35-39)  There was only one family that Yehovah found uncorrupted.  Conform to Yehovah and He will inform you of impending disaster just as He did with Noah.

We have to be careful always watching what we allow in our lives.  Cleansing in our own lives starts with Messiah Yeshua.  The cleansing can be painful but like a cut once it is healed we don't cut ourselves again.  Yeshua has given us the path to the Father through a different life than the world.  Part of that different life can be found in Yom Teruah which is a feast of joy for the return of Messiah Yeshua.  At the last blast of the shofar on Yom Teruah, we look for the change to an imperishable form.  (1Cor. 15:50-57)

There are certain places in the Scriptures where two silver trumpets are used and others when the ram's horn is used.  These two silver trumpets were to be used by the priests only and depending on the sound the Children of Israel would be moved accordingly. (Numbers 10)  The ram's horn was blown at the new moon. (Ps. 81:3)  The teruah of the shofar is a cry for us to awake and become an active part of Israel.

Teruah is Strong's Number 8643 ter-oo-aw' from 07321; is translated in the AV as "shout" 11 times, "shouting" 8 times, "alarm" 6 times, "sound" 3 times, "blowing" 2 times, "joy" 2 times, and others 4 times for a total of 36 times it is used.  1) alarm, signal, sound of tempest, shout, shout or blast of war or alarm or joy; 1a) alarm of war, war-cry, battle-cry; 1b) blast (for march); 1c) shout of joy (with religious impulse); 1d) shout of joy (in general).

In both Numbers 29:1 and Leviticus 23:24 the word for "blowing" is "teruah".  The shofar that was used to announce the arrival of Yom Teruah was preferred to be of a ram's horn.  Jewish authorities prohibited a cow's horn from being used because of the worship of the golden calf.  Teruah is a rhythm that can be sounded on the shofar.  Teruah is usually defined to be a long blast with three peeks during the blowing.  There is some controversy over the exact sound that is to be made but the shofar was blown throughout Yom Teruah.

Now is the time to awaken and walk with Yehovah as the prophets of old.  You have been given the calling and you have heard the calls for change.  Yehovah is calling and with only a short time left we cannot be lukewarm.  We must be on fire for the word.  We must be willing to teach in season and out of season.  When it is convenient and when it is not.  Our decisions effect our children.  To whom or what have we dedicated our children?  Have we dedicated them to succeed or fail?  I pray that we set our children on the right path which leads to becoming the children of Yehovah through Messiah Yeshua.

We must use our lives to serve Yehovah because when we don't our spouse and our families follow our example.  We must rely on Yeshua for the example we will follow.  Each year as we prepare to keep Yom Teruah we must keep in our minds the thought that this could be the day that Yeshua returns especially as we see things getting worse.  We must read the scriptures and walk as Yehovah desires of us to walk so that we are a good example in our families.  Following the torah of Yehovah because we love Yehovah and all our brethren.  We must ask, "do we have seven years left?"

Only Yehovah can answer some of these questions, but be sure of one thing.  We must be awake and zealously working because the time is short.  I pray one day that each of you hear Yeshua utter some of the most beautiful words we could ever hear.  "Well done, good and faithful servant." (Mat. 25:21, 23)