EARLY FALL FESTIVALS

From the West Meadow
By Pastor Wesley Higgins

In the fall season of the year, several very significant festivals occur that the Bible says are to be proclaimed (Leviticus 23:2). You will find them listed on many calendars as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. These festivals have been largely ignored by practicing Christians as “Old Covenant”, and therefore unrelated to the modern Christian movement.

But are they? The New Testament writers, even Jesus Christ Himself, did not ignore them, but referred to them often.

When we see the term “trump” or “trumpet”, it is usually a reference to the admonition in Leviticus 23:24 to memorialize the blowing of trumpets. Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:31 that the gathering of His people will be announced with the sound of a trumpet. Paul tells us that at the last trumpet “the dead will be raised...and we shall be changed” (I Corinthians 15:52). Paul told the Thessalonians to “comfort one another” with the knowledge that at the sound of the trumpet, those who are “dead in Christ” and those who are “alive...shall be caught up together...in the clouds to meet the Lord...” (I Thessalonians 4:16-18)

The last trumpet, or the great trumpet, is also written about by John in Revelation 11, where the seventh trumpet blast heralds the return of Christ to earth as King, and ushers in the resurrection and judgment of the saints. (See Revelation 11:15-19) These are but a couple of references to the blowing of the trumpet that God tells us in Leviticus 23 to memorialize or remember. Not only is the trumpet blast a memorial for us to remember what God will do for us; it is also a reminder to God of His covenants with us. (Compare Numbers 10:9-10 with Exodus 2:23-24).

Another reference we read over and over in the New Testament is the reference to the “Day”. It usually refers collectively to the day of judgment and the return of Jesus Christ. Often there is a reference to the Day of Atonement, or as the writer of the book of Acts simply states, “the Fast” (Acts 27:9). “Day of Atonement” is translated from the Hebrew Yom Kippur, which means “day of covering”. This is the same term used in Exodus 25:17 for the mercy seat that covered the Ark of the Covenant which contained the written Law of God. This reminds us that our transgressions of the Law (which John tells us in I John 3:4 is sin) are covered by God’s mercy or atonement.

In Hebrews, there is an admonition to assemble together and “(exhort) one another...so much more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) This is a reference to the “Day of the Lord”–the time of Christ’s return, and resurrection and judgment of the church. (See Isaiah 2:12) Paul told the Thessalonians to “edify one another” , “that this Day should (not) overtake you as a thief.” (I Thessalonians 5:4,11) Jesus tells us to “take heed to yourselves, lest...that Day come on you unexpectedly...Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape...and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36)

The celebration of God’s fall festivals of Trumpets and Atonement are for His people a call to repentance and renewal.

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