On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the Lord.’
Leviticus 23:23
God instructs Israel to celebrate, hold as a sacred assembly, everything for the sake of one thing: to remember (commemorate) the sound of the blowing trumpet. It must mean that the very sound of the trumpet is very important to God.
The Lord is very specific in this scripture about what it is about this feast He emphasizes: Zikhron Tru’ah (זכרון תרועה) — The sound of blowing trumpets. For some reason, the very sound of it holds a very important and prophetic meaning!
When the people of Israel were just brought out of Egypt in the book of Exodus, they had just witnessed the most amazing display of God’s miracles and power. Then, they were brought into the desert, given the 10 commandments followed by a series of instructions. One of those instructions was precisely how to commemorate the Feast of Trumpets.
It must have been extremely important for God if he gave instructions on how to commemorate the Feast of Trumpets out of all things to a people that has just been brought out of slavery and into the desert, with no home or means to survive their journey.
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.
Exodus 19:16
Can you imagine being up in the mountains, and hearing such a loud trumpet blast, that the very sound makes everything and everybody tremble? It was an absolute holy moment that made time stop. A sound out of eternity that made everything and everyone stop and stand in absolute awe!
That is the very sound that God says we are to commemorate during this Holy Feast of Trumpets because that sound speaks of something imminent, of what is to come. It’s the sound that announces the power, the glory and the very manifestation of God Himself!
As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
Exodus 19:19
The people of Israel heard God’s voice. All of them, not the selected spiritual few. The entire nation standing at the foot of the mountain witnessed the sound of the trumpet, trembled and heard it intensify until they heard God’s very voice.
The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain.
Exodus 19:20
The people of Israel witnessed all that, and that is what they were to remember and commemorate for all generations: the sound of the trumpet that preceded the visitation of God!
When we speak now about the loud sound of the shofar (trumpet), we speak about the voice of God speaking to His people as He prepares to visit them.
New Testament on the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets
When we read about the Feast of Trumpets in the Old Testament, we get a picture of a powerful feast with a strong prophetic message behind it, however, the fullness of this feast can only be found in the New Testament.
Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
Matthew 24:40
Reading this scripture in the context of everything we learned about this feast in the Old Testament reveals a whole new dimension of its profound significance.
Yeshua HaMashiach — our Lord and Savior, coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, while all the nations will see Him and recognize Him as who He truly is.
And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet…
Matthew 24:31
In Hebrew it reads: HaShofar HaGadol (שופר הגדול, The Great Trumpet). But shofar isn’t just any trumpet, it is actually made out of a horn of a ram. So it isn’t a man-made trumpet, it is a God-made trumpet, from His own creation.
…and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:31
That is the fulfilment of the Feast of Trumpets! It points to the return of Jesus — a glorious day of God’s visitation! When He will return to take His bride.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1 Thessalonians 4:16
Paul teaches the same message, the fulfilment of the Feast of Trumpets.
We learned that when the people of Israel were in the wilderness, waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, they heard a loud voice, a shout, a trumpet of God.
Father God Himself will blow His trumpet, and the whole world will hear and see what the Feast of Trumpets was teaching us all along — to prepare for the Lord’s coming.
Feast of Trumpets was first given to the people of Israel in the desert, when it was accompanied by loud voices from heaven, a big shofar blast, and a thick cloud (in Hebrew: anan kaved – ענן כבד – heavy cloud) was descending while the trumpet sounds was growing louder and louder. It was the first time people of God were receiving commandments from Him, the Word of God accompanied by the sound of His trumpets.
God specified that the Feast of Trumpets is to be called: “Zich’ron Tru’ah” – זכרון תרועה – remembrance of the sound of the trumpet. It isn’t just about the trumpet, it is about its sound and what it represents.
The Feast of Trumpets is all about remembering what God has done for His people in the desert, when He delivered them from slavery, as well as remembering the Day of the Lord is near!
Rosh Hashana / Feast of Trumpets concludes by blasting the shofar loudly, while we proclaim “The Lord is coming!”
The Spirit and the bride say: “Come!”
I pray that during this season of Feast of Trumpets, God will give you divine visitations and appointed moments with the Lord, with your family and friends. Because these are special High Holy days for God’s miracles and the release of His joy.
Beit Hallel is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Ashdod, led by pastor Israel Pochtar, serving holocaust survivors and the poor and needy locally and throughout the nation of Israel, while building up the body of Messiah in the promised land of Israel.