Blessings, Precious Family, and L’shanah tovah!
“Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘In the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with blasts on the shofar’” Levicitus 23:24 CJB.
Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashana) is upon us once more. The day of the awakening blast! The first of the Appointed Times of the fall season that Christ will fulfill with His return.
“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; and thus we will always be with the Lord. So encourage each other with these words” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 CJB.
What a time of rejoicing!
What is Rosh Hashana?
We, as Messianic Jews keep this sacred time of meeting, blowing the shofar and eating apples dipped in honey, to remind ourselves and our children that our God is a God who keeps His promises. We can live lives that seek Him and His righteousness because of His wonderful gift of His Son, Yeshua, and the work He did on the cross. Because of what He has done for us, we can enjoy the full blessings of the Lord. All because of His great and undying love for us. What a wondrous thing to be loved so much!
The blast of the shofar in this appointed time signals a wake-up call to believers! It begins the ten Days of Return, Teshuva (turning or repentance). It is a time to praise and worship the Lord, to seek His presence in His Word and prayer. Most importantly it is a time when we look inward and upward, asking the Lord to reveal any hidden sin that would keep us from experiencing His presence and glory. Unforgiveness, in particular.
“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours” Matthew 6:14 CJB.
Aseret Yemei Teshuvah
The Ten Days of Repentance, or Return, are a time to humble ourselves and seek reconciliation with anyone we are at odds with—even if we feel we are not at fault. Pride has no place in the presence of the Most Holy God. We mush seek peace at all costs, for our Lord is the Prince of Peace.
Yom Kippur
The end of the Ten Days of Return culminates in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This Appointed Time is announced with one final great blast of the shofar. The High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of the people.
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Through faith in Jesus Christ, we now have been granted access to the Holy of Holies. Many believers receive amazing words of knowledge, dreams, and visions during Rosh Hashanah and Teshuva, and why not? If our Lord makes an appointment to meet with us, will He not show up?
Rosh Hashanah also marks the birth of the universe, the day God created Adam and Eve, and so it is the beginning of the Hebrew New Year. It is the seventh (Divine Completion) month in the Cycle of Redemption which began with Passover and the new beginning of God’s initial cycle, the Cycle of Blessing. God’s Cycle of Blessing was broken by Adam’s sin, but is now made possible again through the Cycle of Redemption. This is why we say, “L’shanah tovah!” which means have a sweet year! We look forward to another year of God’s blessings that comes from being reconciled with Him through His Son, and we celebrate by eating the sweet fruits of His creation. This reminds us that we, as new creations in Christ, must also produce the sweet fruits of the Spirit.
5780
This new Hebrew year is especially exciting to me because it is 5780. As I’ve mentioned before, 5 is the number of grace, 7 is the number of Divine completion, and 8 is the number of new beginnings. Multiply 8 by 10, the number of ordinal perfection, and you have the potential for a very exciting year! A year of new beginnings!
Seen in a different way, the factors of 5780 are 2, 5, and 17. Two is a number that can represent unity or division, and also Christ Himself as God and man. Five, again is the number of grace, and seventeen, like eight, also signifies newness. However, I must also mention that newness is born out of destruction. Before Noah’s Ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat on the seventeenth day of the month, “all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the sky were opened” Genesis 7:11—also on the seventeenth day of the month.
Jesus himself said:
“Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless a grain of wheat that falls to the ground dies, it stays just a grain; but if it dies, it produces a big harvest” John 12:24.
So, don’t be disheartened, beloved, if things seem to be getting worse rather than better. Remember the blast of the shofar signaling a wake-up call and look up! For your redemption draws near!
Declaration
I declare and decree open ears and open doors over you this year in the mighty name of Yeshua! I declare new beginnings! Let the old man return to the dust, and step into your newness, now! I declare and decree an invasion of the Holy Spirit in your life and ministry in all His Power and Glory, and I release His Sanctifying Fire! No turning back! No turning back!
“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” Ephesians 3:14-19.
In the name of our all-powerful Savior, Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen. And Amen!
God’s grace and peace be yours!
Rebecca
