The Feast of Trumpets

Some people have said that there is no such thing as a biblical calendar simply because they cannot find the word calendar in the Bible. Such people have forgotten one of the basic rules of Bible study, which is to look for synonyms and to look for definitions. The word calendar simply means a record or a means of dividing time into days, weeks, months, and years.

                                   
If we go to the book of Genesis in the first chapter, we will find that each day is defined as an evening and a morning. The first day was an evening and a morning. The evening and the morning were the second day. The evening and the morning were the third day and so on. And this is defined six separate times, showing that God intends that an evening be the beginning of a day and the morning a continuation to complete a full 24-hour period. And the evening then ends that day and begins a new day.

So, we have the definition of a day.

In terms of a week we can turn to Genesis 2:1, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.”

For all orther calendar events; Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:  Here the term "seasons" actually comes from the word for Festivals [Strong's 4150].

                                    So, we see that a week is a cycle of seven days, six work days: six days of creative effort and activity and the seventh day is a day of rest from creative activity, from our daily labor. Even as God rested, so we should rest. We call this the Sabbath Day. And when the Sabbath ends in the evening, a new work week begins.

                                   
The month is determined by the moon. Each month, there is a full moon. And when the moon is big and round and full, it begins to slowly decrease, to wane, to get smaller until after about two weeks, it reaches a point where one sees nothing at all. No light whatsoever from the moon.

                                   
Astronomically, they call this the new moon or the conjunction of the moon. Religiously, spiritually, we call this a time when there is absolutely no light. And shortly after this, in the next evening, or so there is the first visible light of the moon.

                                   
This first visible light is a new light in the sky because there was no light in the sky, the previous night. Being a new light and being the light of the moon, we call this the new moon, or the first light of the new moon, or the first light of the new crescent moon. And this for us is the beginning of the month. At this point, the moon begins to wax and get larger and larger each evening until it reaches the state of complete fullness. After which it begins to wane to the point where there is no light at all. And a day or so after that, there is the first light of the new moon in the sky. This determines our months. The new light in the sky is the beginning of the new month.

                                   
God set these things up so people didn't need complicated calendars and they didn't need to rely on mathematicians or astronomers or priests. They could just look up in the sky and know the day ended when the sun set. Most people could count up to six and know that the seventh day was the Sabbath. And they could again just look up at the new moon and know that the month was beginning.

                                   
God made this basic and clear and obvious for anybody who took  the time to look. Anybody could know when the months began, the days or the weeks and we can go on and demonstrate the year. For a clear understanding and explanation of these things, please visit our Biblical Calendar page at our primary site. Link at the top of this page.

                                   
When Israel was delivered from Egypt by God and led out of Egypt, God gave them a series of holy days and special occasions. The first special occasion being Passover, then the Holy Days of Unleavened Bread, a second special occasion called the Wave Sheaf or Wave Offering and finally the Holy Day of Pentecost or the Feast of First Fruits. These were the spring holy days; representing the spring harvest, or the harvest of first fruits; the early harvest of the year in Palestine.

                                   
After this, there were no holy days during the summer until the autumn. And on the first day of the seventh month begins the Feast of Trumpets. We can find a list of these holy days in Leviticus 23.

And we find in Leviticus 23:23; and the Eternal spake unto Moses, saying, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, in memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Eternal.

                                   
Now, the word 'servile' means work of any kind, any kind of work whatsoever. You are to do absolutely no work except the specific work which God commands. And that has to do with offering certain sacrifices and the blowing of trumpets. This is a festival of the blowing of trumpets.

                                   
This year, as the sun sets on the 10th of September, the first light of the new moon will be visible shortly after the sun sets. This is the first light of a new crescent moon. And because the day of the 10th ends at sunset, the next day the 11th begins at sunset. The new moon day is the 11th since the new moon is seen directly after sunset. Therefore, this year the new moon is the Feast of Trumpets and that is falling on the 11th of September.

                                   
Some who observed the Rabbinic calendar will attempt to observe the Feast of Trumpets on the 9th. The 8th of September is the conjunction of the moon. There is no light whatsoever. Your calendar will call this the astronomical new moon but it is not the new moon as far as God is concerned. It is the end of the previous month, the last day of the previous month.

                                   
The first light of the new moon will begin the 11th of September, which is why we observe the Feast of Trumpets on that day; because we observe the Festivals according to God's commandments and not according to the traditions of various groups who create their own calendars to serve their own purposes. We use strictly a biblical calendar as revealed by God.

                                   
In the Bible are two main types of trumpets, which we shall discuss in a minute. To begin, I would like to point out that the little player at the top of this page is a recording of the Shofar or ram's horn, the sounding or blast of the ram's horn. I was going to put this to run automatically when the page was opened but I thought it might startle some of our more delicate visitors. So, I put it on a manual play. You can just press that and play it. Please do not do so while this recording is also going on. It would have been best to play that first before starting this particular talk, this recording.

                                   
Now, we find in Numbers 10 that God tells the people. He tells Moses, who tells the people, Numbers 10:1, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ‘Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.’”

                                   
So, we find that there are two trumpets to be made. Each one of a complete piece of silver and their purpose is to call the people to assembly, to assemble the people. Verse 3, “And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” When the trumpets are blown, that is to call all the people to gather together and meet at the door of the tabernacle.

                                   
Verse 4, “And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes or the leaders, who are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to thee. And when ye blow an alarm, then the camps shall lie on the east parts shall go forward. And ye blow the second time, then the camps that lie on the south shall go on their journey and they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.” So, the trumpet is also sounded to cause the people, or the congregation to move from one place to another; to continue on their journey.

                                   
Verse 7, “But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm.” Now, the alarm was a special kind of sound as opposed to the regular sounds.

                                   
Verse 8, “And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations.” So, these trumpets are to be blown by the sons of Aaron, the priests. Now, at the present time, I have no recording of a silver trumpet. This is commanded by God to be done by the sons of Aaron only.

                                   
“And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God; and ye shall be saved from your enemies.” So, the sound is an alarm of war. It is to gather the people to assemble and it is to bring the people up, in remembrance before God so that God will hear their cry and come and deliver them. It is in effect a calling upon God.

                                   
Verse 10, “And in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, in the beginnings of each month, you shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the Eternal your God.”

                                   
So, these trumpets were also to be blown over the burnt offerings and the peace offerings to bring them up before God so that God will acknowledge them and remember them. These trumpets were very special and have a special meaning to God. They were to get the attention of the people; to call them to assemble before God and in such a way, as to bring the people into close communion and communication with God.

                                   
These trumpets, these silver trumpets are very special instruments. And this is an analogy in the Scripture of the two prophets who are to come. They will turn people toward God. They will assemble the people before the Eternal God. In the spiritual sense, they will establish the people in a proper relationship with God. They will bring people to repentance through their witnessing. Their purpose is to witness that the Eternal is God, that the Eternal is the Almighty, that He is God indeed and that there is no other god besides Him. And their job is to witness that the Eternal is God indeed; and that these false prophets and this final false prophet are not God and are not godly.

                                   
They are to witness that the Eternal is God and their job is to turn the hearts of people toward their Heavenly Father so that His heart may be turned toward His people, who have become repentant and obedient to Him. And this is what the call of the silver trumpets was about: to bring people to assemble before God, to turn them to God and to turn God's heart toward them, to bring the people and God together.

                                   
And the job of the two prophets is to bring the people, especially those claiming to be converted, claiming to have God's spirit, to bring them to repentance, to turn them away from their idolatry and man worship and their laxness and to wake them up, straighten them up, turn them toward God, and bring them and God together.

                                   
As it says in Malachi, "Elijah shall come and turn the hearts of the children to the Father." Now the term Father used in Malachi is simply a plural because of the concept that the translators have on that point. In fact, singular and plural in that context was simply up to the mind of the translator. God’s intent was that Elijah should come to turn the people toward their Father in heaven, toward Almighty God. And in so doing, God's heart would be turned toward the people.

                                   
That is what will spare the earth from destruction. If Elijah fails and the other witness fails to turn the hearts of men toward God or at least some men toward God and therefore to turn God's heart toward His obedient and loving children, then the earth will be struck with destruction, with a curse.

                                   
The two trumpets here are typical of the two prophets, the two witnesses. They are calling people to assemble before their God. They are turning the hearts of men toward their Creator and in so doing; turning the heart of God  toward His people because He loves His people. And this people who are turned to Him in faith and obedience with a contrite heart and a repentant spirit, God will not despise. He will accept them. His heart will be turned toward them. And they shall be saved.

                                   
Right now, those people claiming to be God's people, claiming to have God's spirit, claiming to be the Church of God are very far from God indeed. There are ministers, who instead of pointing the people toward God, which is their job: are jealous for their positions, their responsibilities, their authority.

They are busy thinking in their hearts, "my Lord delays His coming" Mat 24:48. And abusing and taking advantage of others and being more concerned about protecting their own positions than about leading the people toward God.

                                   
Meanwhile, the people are very concerned about following their leader. They are proud of their particular group or their leader. And they are not so concerned about keeping the commandments of God. And the people have been led into idolatry.

                                   
The appalling abomination of the Primacy of Peter heresy has been used to lead people away from God and to allow the ministry to come between the people and God. So that instead of teaching the people and pointing them toward God, which is their responsibility, they are pointing the people toward themselves and toward their organizations. This is idolatry. It is a sin which will result in serious correction.

                                   
At the same time, God's people trod all over the Sabbath Day. They tread on the Sabbath Day and pollute it. They go out and buy and sell. Some will work a little bit and so on. This again, is an appalling sin. The church which consists of those people who have God's spirit have resisted that spirit to the point where it is being quenched. And Jesus Christ is going to spew these people out of his body, unless they repent.

                                   
And the Great Tribulation is coming to correct these people, to destroy the flesh, to save the spirit. So that these people might be made repentant, might be corrected, and might be brought back toward their God, brought back to seeing God with all their hearts and all their minds so that God's heart will be turned back toward them.

                                   
And this is what will save them: repentance from all of the evils into which we have fallen. This is what the silver trumpets are about. It's what the two prophets are about, which is to call the people to meet their God. Call the people to assemble with their Creator. That is the job of the two prophets and that is what the two trumpets, the two silver trumpets symbolized.

                                   
Apart from the silver trumpets, there is another type of trumpet called the Shofar. This Shofar is made from the horn of a ram or an ibex. And this has a very particular type of sound, a very loud and piercing sound. It can; by varying the amount of air forced through it; make a few different notes or a few different sounds but it is a very loud, piercing sound. And this was the trumpet used in ancient times before the invention of the metallic trumpets.

                                   
This was used to sound alarm and to call people as well. It was also used to call the people to rejoice. It was something to do, or had something to do with great rejoicing. And we find this in David's psalm, Psalm 81, “Sing aloud unto the Eternal our strength and make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp within psaltery. Blow up the Shofar in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob that He ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when He went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.” God ordained or commandeed all of the Festivals when Israel went forth from Egypt; this Psalm is about when and what God had commanded and is not about what Holy Day was observed in Egyot.

                                   
At the time that God brought Israel out of Egypt, He ordained that the trumpet, in this case the Shofar, was to be blown in the new moon of a solemn assembly. And the only solemn assembly of a new moon is the Feast of Trumpets. The Shofar is to be blown on the Feast of Trumpets and it is a very special sound, a sound of great rejoicing and giving glory to God. It is a sound of praise and rejoicing before God.

                                   
In Psalm 150, David writes, “Praise ye the Eternal. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the Shofar: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Eternal. Praise ye the Lord.”

                                   
The Shofar along with the other instruments was an instrument of praise to God and rejoicing before God. It was indicative of heartfelt rejoicing with God and over the many blessings that God has given the people. A very special day of rejoicing is the Feast of Trumpets. The Shofar is also an instrument, of warning. As we read in Ezekiel 33, “Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ‘Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, [that is the danger coming], he blows the trumpet, the Shofar and warns the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the Shofar, and takes not warning; if a danger come, if the sword come, and take him away, his own blood shall be upon his own head because he did not respond to the warning.

                                   
[Verse 5,] “He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that takes warning shall deliver his soul, his life. But if the watchman see the danger coming or the war coming, the sword coming [verse 6], and blows not the trumpet Shofar, and the people be not warned; if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.” Because he did not sound the trumpet, he did not give the warning.

                                   
So, the Shofar besides an instrument of great rejoicing and praising God is also an instrument of warning. We can then see that these two types of trumpets were meant to call the people to come before their God to bring the people before God, to bring about that close relationship between God and the people. The trumpets were to be sounded in terms of great rejoicing, in terms of praising God and in terms of bringing about a memorial or being a memorial of the relationship between God and His people, bringing the people to remembrance before God.

                                   
The trumpets were also sounded as a warning of danger, which is in spiritual terms a call to repentance. And that is what is needed in the church today, a call to repentance and a warning of the consequences of failure to repent. It is also a call to great rejoicing before God that ultimately when we do come in to a good relationship with Him, He will deliver us.

                                   
Now, there are many who have taught in the past that the Feast of Trumpets represents the resurrection of the first fruits. They get this from sources such as Unger's Bible Dictionary. You can go there and look up the article festivals and you will see that the teachings of the church of God were taking very largely from these kinds of commentaries. We know that the Feast of Trumpets cannot picture the resurrection of the first fruits.

                                   
We know this because the first fruits are the spring harvest, the early harvest. Therefore, they must be reaped and harvested in the spring. If they are reaped, harvested, resurrected in the fall, they are not the spring harvest. They are the fall harvest. The fall harvest is harvested in the fall and the spring harvest is harvested in the spring. What could be more basic than that? A spring harvest takes place in the spring and a fall harvest takes place in the fall or in the autumn. This is absolutely basic brethren.

                                   
The harvest of first fruits takes place in the spring, or it is not a spring harvest. If the harvest of the first fruit takes place in the fall, it has become a fall harvest. That's absolutely basic and it should be obvious but it hasn't been because people just read these commentaries, which by the way were written by commandment-hating, law-rejecting people who despised God's commandments and refuse to keep them and didn't even observe the festivals that they are trying to explain.

                                   
How could they possibly understand them when they didn't observe them? And yet so many of our people read this stuff and follow it because, "Oh this guy wrote a book or he must be some special guy." No, they're wrong because they don't keep God's commandments. They don't understand the things of God. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to God. It cannot be. It rejects the things of God. Therefore it cannot understand them because understanding comes through the leadership of God's spirit which is given only to those who keep His commandments. Read it in Acts 5:32. These people don't know what they are talking about. These commentaries are wrong and people who follow them are simply people following blind guides, and this is wrong.

                                   
Spring harvests takes place in the spring. The harvest of first fruits takes place in the spring. The beginning of the harvest of first fruits was Jesus Christ. And it began in the spring and the harvest of first fruits will end in the spring. It is the harvest of spring, the first fruits; the early harvest.

                                   
The Feast of Trumpets is in the autumn. It is not having anything to do with the spring harvest. It has a lot to do with the main harvest or the fall harvest. It is calling the people of the fall harvest to repentance. That is the blast of the Shofar and the silver trumpets. It is calling them to a relationship with God. It is calling them to turn away from all their evils and to embrace the Eternal as their God, and it is calling on the dead to wake up. Yes, absolutely.

                                   
The blast of the trumpet gets attention. It startles. It is enough to wake the dead. And it is a call to resurrection to life of all those who have ever lived; into the main harvest. It is calling into life and calling them into a relationship with God. And it is a time of great rejoicing and praise and giving glory to God that He has done and performed this incredible miracle of bringing this people back to life and giving them the opportunity to have a relationship with Him. What an awesome God. What an awesome miracle.

                                   
Many of us will meet ancestors we have never known. We will meet friends we despaired over, parents, children, brothers, even enemies that we love and wished that they had not made themselves our enemies. We will be able to rejoice over these people. Rejoice over the loved ones who have died rejecting God. We will rejoice because they have been given life, given a chance, given an opportunity, and called into a relationship with God.

                                   
The first fruits, scattered individuals have been called into a relationship with God since Abel, in the time of Abel and Cain and Adam and Eve. And people from Elijah and Moses and Noah and Abraham and people through the centuries have been called into a relationship with God as first fruits. They are represented by the spring harvest.

                                   
At the Feast of Trumpets, the main body of people who were not called yet, who have not yet been called into a relationship with God will be woken up, will be resurrected, will be called into a relationship with God with the sounding of the trumpets, the sounding of the trumpets which would be sounded all day on the Feast of Trumpets.

                                   
How many of you have gone to a church service on the Feast of Trumpets year by year, perhaps decade by decade and have never heard the sound of the Shofar? You can go on this page to the particular player and play the sound of the Shofar. And it is only about a minute or even less, and hear the sound that God intended that we hear on this day. And you can imagine in your mind that some sound multiplied many times with many Shofars and being played often and in connection with the sound of other trumpets and other musical instruments like the psaltery or the bagpipe and the harp or the guitar and the many other instruments. Put all together for a time of tremendous rejoicing, rejoicing at the waking of the dead who never had a chance, never had an opportunity.

                                   
A time of praising God for the wondrous, absolutely fantastic [joyous] miracle that He performs; and rejoicing over the fact that these people are being called into a relationship with Him. They are being called to assemble before Him, to assemble before their Creator and to enter into a relationship with their Maker. What a joyful, joyous occasion.

                                   
The Feast of Trumpets is the hope, the beginning of hope for all mankind because until that moment, the hope of all mankind, all of the dead will have been lost. As it is written in Ezekiel in the Valley of the Dry Bones, our hope is lost, we are nothing but bones and dust. And God Almighty will blow the trumpets and bone will come together to His bone and sinew and flesh upon them and they shall be raised up and called to assemble before God and He shall become their God.

                                   
And they shall be repentant and become His people, all mankind except for perhaps a handful or a very few who will be in total rebellion and totally unrepentant. And even then, they will also have an opportunity to be saved, even if they choose not to avail themselves of that opportunity. What a tremendous miracle. What a tremendous joy.

                                   
The Feast of First Fruits and the harvest of first fruits in the spring is only the first step in a tremendous, magnificent plan. God is not willing that any should perish: none, not one. Not even the so-called monsters of this world. They will be given the opportunity. They will be called to awaken, to rise up and they will be called to assemble with their God, who hopefully will become their God, if they bow before Him and repent and seek Him with all their hearts.

                                   
The veil will be removed. The veil of blindness over their eyes will be removed. The deceptions of Satan will be removed. And they will have the opportunity to see clearly perhaps for the first time in their existence and they will see before them their God and they will turn to Him with a whole heart. Isn't that wonderful?

                                   
This day, this Feast of Trumpets, is so much more the just first fruits. Yes the first fruits will be resurrected and yes they will be changed to spirit and become part of God's family and be in the kingdom of God. But that is the spring harvest and it is only the first step, the first step in the reaping of the main harvest which begins in the autumn, in the fall. The main harvest will be reaped. And the reaping begins with the call to life and the call of the trumpet to assemble before God.

                                   
What a wonderful, wonderful thing. This festival is all about the resurrection of the main fall harvest of lives. The next festival is the Day of Atonement which we will get to in a few days; it is a picture of fasting and repentance and the putting away of sin. And the Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering, pictures the gathering in of all people and all nations into the family of God.

                                   
There is so much more to the festivals than what is described in these commentaries and what has been taught in the past. The Festivals are so much more than some selfish desire to dominate others and to get our revenge over those who have done us some injustice. No, it is just the opposite. It is about loving others. It is about teaching and encouraging and leading them by the hand into the family of God. It is about the saving of our friends, our family, our ancestors, and our children.

                                   
These fall festivals are a wonderful time. And the plan of God is most magnificent and most worthy of rejoicing over. Let us rejoice on this Festival of Trumpets and through the fall Festival of Tabernacles and the Great Day, understanding what it really means and what it's really all about. Let us understand that God means to save humanity and reap the harvest of this earth, bringing people into His kingdom and saving everyone. But understand that when this is done, there will be peace, harmony. Life will be the way God intended it. There will be no more war. No more suffering. No more violence and robbery. No more stealing. No more adultery. No more of any of these evils.

There will be peace and harmony going forward into an eternal future of love and happiness and joy.

                                    And that is what people are being called to, it’s the first fruits now, they are to help others, to help others, to help to bring these others into the family of God. The first fruits are being called to be laborers, to help bring in the main harvest. They are not being called to dominate or to abuse or to rule over with rigor and authority. They are being called to lead them, to destroy sin where it's necessary and to be vigorous against sin and to lead people toward peace and harmony, joy and happiness, toward an eternity of a loving, peaceful relationship with each other and with God. What a wonderful thing.

                                   
The Feast of Trumpets is about the main harvest. It is about calling the main harvest to life and about calling them to assemble before their Creator so that they can be brought to repentance and delivered from the sting of death.