As Prophetic Words Rise About 2017's Rosh HaShanah, Here's What You Need to Know About This Holy Day - SANDRA TEPLINSKY/LIGHT OF ZION CHARISMA NEWS

On Rosh HaShanah, Jews dip apple slices into honey and say a prayer asking God for a sweet new year. (Pixabay/cstpdx)

As Prophetic Words Rise About 2017's Rosh HaShanah, Here's What You Need to Know About This Holy Day

 9/19/2017 SANDRA TEPLINSKY/LIGHT OF ZION  CHARISMA NEWS

Last week, Israelis began excitedly preparing for Rosh HaShanah, the secular Jewish New Year. As you may know, Israel observes two main New Year's. According to Exodus 12:2, the new year which God gave us starts in the spring. The secular or civil New Year's celebrated the first day of the seventh month ("Tishrei").

Rosh HaShana literally means "Head of the Year." The holiday falls this year on Sept. 20-22. It is traditionally celebrated with liturgical worship, merry greetings and gatherings, gift-giving and sounding the shofar. A hearty consumption of apples and honey symbolizes hopes for a sweet new year. Prophetic words about the upcoming year (which will be 5778) now add to the mix, as more and more Christians celebrate this special day.

It is good that Gentile followers of Messiah are engaging in the biblically Hebraic roots of our faith. We Messianic Jews encourage your authentic celebration of the feasts. What you may not know, however, is that some of the most critical, biblical aspects of Rosh HaShana are overlooked by many Jews and Christians due to a focus on extra-biblical traditions. Restoring the purity of God's appointed day in your celebration could bring even greater blessing to you, others—and Him.

What are some ways we can restore the foundations of this week's feast known as Rosh Hashanah? First, Rosh HaShanah as the Jewish new year is not a biblical feast. It is not mentioned or even directly referenced in the Scriptures. The feast that is commanded on what has been popularized as Rosh HaShanah is actually the day of blasting trumpets (Num. 29:1) or according to Leviticus 23:24, memorial of trumpet blasting. The Hebrew name for the day is Yom Teruah.

There is reason to believe Rosh HaShanah was likely observed by the ancient Israelites. It developed as a major holiday during the Jewish exile in Babylon in order to accommodate the pagan culture in which Israel had become immersed. Eventually, it overshadowed any national emphasis on the new year God actually designated for His people, which is the first day of the first month, called "Nissan." Unfortunately, Rosh HaShanah also eroded much of the significance of Yom Teruah. This is reflected in the fact Yom Teruah is the only feast rarely called by its biblical name. So to start, to help restore the pure essence and meaning of the day, Rosh HaShanah ought rightly be called, and observed as, Yom Teruah.

One rationale for the replacement of Yom Teruah with Rosh HaShanah, and resulting new year focus, is the rabbinic belief that Yom Teruah marks either the creation of the world, or of Adam and Eve, or both. (Believing in both could impact the meaning of seven "days" of creation.) This is based partly on a complex, mystical word play on the first word of Scripture, bereishit. In any case, I believe we would do best to call the day as God calls it, namely, a day to sound trumpets:

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you will have a holy assembly. You will do no ordinary work. It is a day of blowing the trumpets for you. You will offer a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord ... [a] grain offering] ... [and other offerings] made by fire to the Lord" (Num. 29:1-6).

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath, a memorial with the blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work, and you shall offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord (Lev. 23:23-25).

According to the Scriptures, God wants us to honor what we call Rosh HaShanah as a Sabbath. Instead of our usual daily work, we are to gather in holy assembly with His people. He instructs us to make temple offerings and sacrifice, but thankfully, the atonement of Yeshua fulfills this command. In Yeshua, we are to approach Yom Teruah (and everyday) with a spirit of sacrificial surrender: "I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God" (Rom. 12:1). Perhaps most importantly, the Scriptures say God wants us blasting trumpets loudly and repeatedly throughout the day. According to tradition, the shofar was (and is) sounded in Israel 100 times.

Understanding certain Hebrew nuances of the name Yom Teruah can help us grasp deeper realities of the day. The Hebrew word which is translated "sound trumpets" or "blow trumpets" in Numbers 29 and Leviticus 23 is teruah. According to Strong's Concordance, the Hebrew root for teruah means (1) to disfigure or shatter by breaking; (2) to split ears by loud noise, such as by shouting for joy, sounding an alarm or intense crying and (3) loud destruction or triumph. Based on the root meanings of teruah, Yom Teruah can be translated as a day of loud clamor or noise, loud acclamations of joy, piercingly loud alarms, shattering battle cries and jubilee. This is significant!

Collectively, the Hebrew meanings of teruah describe kingdom breakthrough. Not just humankind, but the earth and spirit realms may be affected by the ear-piercing cries, wails and triumphant declarations and decrees released this day through the shofar. One (admittedly exra-biblical) possibility is that heaven's shofars are sounded over the earth realm on Yom Teruah. As we come into agreement with the declarations and decrees of YHVH by likewise blowing trumpets, His kingdom on earth is released in greater measure.

When Yom Teruah was divinely instituted, the Israelites would have associated shofar blasting with their first and only direct, national encounter with YHVH. The literal heaven- and earth-shaking encounter took place at Mount Sinai. After a great and mighty shofar blast, God gave His people the gift of His holy Law (Ex. 19:13, 16-19; 20:18). Therefore, to the ancient Israelites, Yom Teruah would have served as a memorial—but also reaffirmation or renewal—of divine covenant: "If you will faithfully obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My special possession out of all the nations ...Then all the people answered together and said, ' All that the Lord has spoken we will do: (Ex. 19:5, 8a). If you, too, are in covenant relationship with God, Yom Teruah can be a special day to remember and reaffirm or renew covenant as the shofar blasts.

Before long, trumpets were associated in Israel with other key events. They were used to call sacred assemblies. They sounded military battle cries to which God promised to respond: "When you go into battle ... sound a blast ... then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies" (Num. 10:1-10). If you assemble (with or without others) before God this Yom Teruah, or are engaged in battle (and who isn't?) why not ask Him to apply trumpet blast victory to your situation?

A final primary purpose of trumpets was to declare the coronation of a king or anointing of a high priest (1 Kings 1:34, 39; 2 Kings 9:13; 11:12-14, 2 Sam. 15:10) Therefore, on Yom Teruah, observant Jews still declare the kingship of YHVH over creation. Yom Teruah is also an ideal time to declare Yeshua as King and High Priest over your life, your nation, Israel and all the earth.

With Yeshua as its focus, Yom Teruah is not just a memorial or new year celebration. It can serve as a prophetic act of intercession, worship, repentance and re-alignment with YHVH. It is also a form of spiritual warfare. "Dream" with me, for a moment. What might possibly happen if on Yom Teruah, Holy Spirit-filled shofar blasting resounded across Israel and the nations? What kingdom breakthroughs could transpire if His people around the world gathered in their respective nations, in unity by the Spirit, and sounded trumpets for a day to affirm covenant with YHVH, declare Yeshua's kingship and posture themselves for Kingdom advance?

In addition to all the above, Yom Teruah is a prophetic foreshadow of Messiah's return and resurrection of the dead. When Yeshua comes to earth, heaven's trumpets will sound loudly (1 Thess. 4:16-17, 1 Cor. 15:52, Matt. 24:30-31). Some believe that on a future Yom Teruah, followers of Yeshua will be caught up in the air to meet Him. Others say Yom Teruah is the day on which He will physically return to judge humankind. Still others say both could take place simultaneously.

Observant Jews who do not believe in Yeshua (and some who do) have traditionally regarded Yom Teruah as a day of judgment. It is said that heaven contains books in which every person's words and deeds are recorded. There are also books of life and death, and all are opened on Yom Teruah. On Yom Teruah, God carefully reviews the books. Some rabbis believe Satan is given access to heaven's court on Yom Teruah. There he stands and accuses humankind, proverbially throwing the book at us. God hears Satan's case, then gives us 10 days to repent of our sin. Ten days later He closes the books and seals our destiny for the upcoming year. The day of sealed or final judgment is known as Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:26)

Such a scenario could well foreshadow the end of this age. After followers of Yeshua are caught up to join Him in the marriage supper of the Lamb, those remaining will have 10 days, so to speak, to turn to God before they are judged. If this is so, the trumpet call this Yom Teruah offers an ideal time to praise God for the gift of forgiveness of sin and to pray for the salvation of others. He desires that none perish, but that all gain everlasting life. Pray especially for Israel's salvation as our people gather in synagogues this Yom Teruah, read His Word and leave hoping to be inscribed in God's book of life.

Yom Teruah is a day to hear, and then do, what the Spirit is saying through the shofar. It is a day to engage with fresh revelation of and from God. It is a day to celebrate a fresh start—and new year, if you will. I encourage you to eat the scroll that is trumpeted on Yom Teruah, and then, feel free to enjoy your apples and honey, too! 

Sandra Teplinsky has been in Messianic Jewish ministry since 1979. She is president and founder of Light of Zion, a Messianic outreach to Israel and the church based in Jerusalem.

This article originally appeared at lightofzion.org.

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COMMENTARY: Are We Working Too Hard For God? | Brian Hennessy ISRAEL TODAY

COMMENTARY: Are We Working Too Hard For God?

Sunday, January 24, 2016 |  Brian Hennessy  ISRAEL TODAY

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Bible

Most have heard the expression, ‘Our arms are too short to box with God.” But it’s equally true that “our arms are too weak to work for God.” Which is why every time we tackle a work for Him in our own strength we become exhausted. Burned out. Both physically and spiritually.

To prevent that problem God gave us the Sabbath. He introduced the concept as a day of physical rest at the end of the week under the Mosaic Law. Six days of work followed by one day of complete inactivity. It was His signature piece of legislation upon which all His other precepts hinged. And He made sure everyone understood its importance by attaching the ultimate penalty for non-compliance. “Therefore you are to observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people." (Ex. 31:14)

But as welcome and God-honoring as that day off was, it was the principle embedded in the commandment Father most wanted us to learn. Our 24-hour rest from physical work was simply a means to teach us about ceasing from unprofitable ‘works of the flesh.’ We became aware of those carnal works when we met the Savior and saw how our best efforts to save ourselves were, to quote Paul, “like dung” (Phil. 3:8 KJV). 

But once saved, many believers stop resting in Yeshua’s salvation. They return to living a divided life, seeing their career and family life as secular and separate from their spiritual life. They work as if everything depended upon them. And their spiritual life continues to be understood as participation in religious activities, even full time, without regard to the leading of the Holy Spirit. They do not yet see they have died in Messiah and are risen with him. That we are no longer our own, but are part of Yeshua’s body.  And in him we are summoned to rest in his completed work 24/7. “For the one who has entered God’s rest [in him] has himself rested from his works, as God did from His” (Heb. 4:9). 

Nor do they consider, that if death was the penalty for violating the Sabbath command given on Mt Sinai, how much more attentive should we be to honor God’s new covenant Sabbath sprinkled with Yeshua’s blood?  For those found working their own programs when Yeshua returns, it will be gut-wrenching anguish. “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will say to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me you who practice lawlessness'” (Matt 7:22,23). Lawlessness? Yes, they broke the Sabbath!

How then should we live?

When the disciples asked Yeshua, “what shall we do, so that we may do the works of God?” he responded, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom He has sent” (John 4:28,29). In other words, if we want to walk with God, yoke yourself to Yeshua.  “I am the vine, you are the branches, apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We are in him now! Exhaustion is the early warning signal we are working apart from him.

To each follower, Yeshua continues to call, “Come to me you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).   

Yes, rest for our souls. But at the same time, obedience to God’s Sabbath command, as Isaiah declared: “Turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways and seeking your own pleasure” (Isa. 58:13). 

I’m convinced we are well into the night of the sixth day. God’s full kingdom rest is about to dawn. Are we learning to rest in Yeshua now so “he may cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?” (Heb. 9:14)

Or are we still straining and sweating away?

---

Brian Hennessy is the author of Valley of the Steeples, available at: ketchpublishing/BrianHennessyBooks.htm

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Since last Yom Kippur, millions of Jews have begun searching for the Messiah - Joel Rosenberg

Over the past year since the last Day of Atonement, millions of Jews around the world have begun a quest to find the Messiah.

New post on Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

A big, untold story: Since last Yom Kippur, millions of Jews have begun searching for the Messiah, and for atonement for their sins. The media isn’t reporting this. But it’s worth examining. by joelcrosenberg At sundown, we begin Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This is the highest holy day on the Jewish calendar, and one of great Biblical and historic and cultural importance to my people. I so wish I was home with Lynn and our sons in Israel tonight. Instead, I am in the U.S. speaking at a number of events, from Dallas to San Luis Obispo to Washington, D.C. to Toronto. I am speaking about the darkness that is falling in our world. But I am also explaining to people about a fascinating phenomenon that I'm observing. Since last Yom Kippur, millions of Jews have begun a quest to find the Messiah. For reasons I cannot fully explain, Jews are suddenly searching for answers to the deepest and most important questions concerning life and death and God and atonement and eternity, in numbers unprecedented in history. Some are searching through the Hebrew Scriptures for answers. A stunning number are actually reading the New Testament, most for the first time. They are searching on Google for information about the Messiah. They are even watching a new series of videos by Jews who claim to have found the answers. The videos -- some of which have gone viral -- were produced and posted on a new website called www.imetmessiah.com. To me, these are fascinating developments. They certainly aren't being reported by the media. But they are worth examining. That said, more on all that in a moment. First, a few thoughts about Yom Kippur itself. In the Scriptures, the Israelites were commanded by the Lord to fast and pray and bring their sacrifices to the Temple in Jerusalem, and then to ask for the Lord’s forgiveness for all the sins they and their nation had committed that year. And the Scriptures were clear: only the sacrifice of a perfect animal -- a sacrifice performed with a humble, repentant, sincere heart, and with faith in God’s mercy and grace -- could bring about forgiveness of sins. “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (Leviticus 17:11) “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22) But here's the problem we Jewish people have face since the destruction of the Temple: What does one do to receive atonement in the modern age, without a Temple? How can one make sacrifices, and thus receive forgiveness of sins — and thus the right to enter the holiness of heaven and live with the Lord in heaven forever and ever — without being able to sacrifice a perfect lamb at the Temple in Jerusalem, where the Lord designated all sacrifices to occur? The destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D. was a huge blow to Judaism for many reasons, but chief among them because it deprived us of the one place to receive atonement from God. The good news was found in Daniel 9:24-26. The Hebrew prophet Daniel explained to us that: someday the Messiah (or “Anointed One”) would come to us when the Messiah came, his purpose would be “to atone for wickedness” and “to bring in everlasting righteousness” the Messiah would then be “cut off and will have nothing” after the Messiah was "cut off," then Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed Daniel specifically noted that foreign invaders “will come and will destroy the city and the sanctuary” Think about that. Daniel told us something extraordinary — that a coming Messiah would bring atonement for our sins before the Temple would be destroyed. That, in retrospect, makes sense, right? Why would the God of Israel take away the Temple before providing a new way for atonement? Now, add in what the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah explained to us that not only was the Messiah coming to the Jewish people, but that He would bring a "new covenant," a new and exciting and God-ordained way by which we would have a personal relationship with the Lord our God. The Hebrew Prophet Isaiah gave us still more details about this coming Messiah. He explained that the Messiah would serve as King of the world eventually, but first the Messiah would be our "Suffering Servant." That is, He would be rejected by the people, would suffer, and then die as our atoning sacrifice. Consider these extraordinary passages from Isaiah 53: 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 13 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Who does that sound like to you? When I was younger, I tried to process these and other Hebrew prophecies of the Messiah. Among them: the Messiah will born in Judea, near Jerusalem, in Bethlehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2) the Messiah will live and minister in the Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-2) the Messiah will teach in parables (Psalm 78:2) the Messiah will enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9) the Messiah will be the Savior of the Jews but also a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 49:5-6) These were fascinating, specific, detailed clues as to the identity of the One the Lord was sending to save and rescue our people. Each piece of the puzzle was helpful, but two clues I found especially interesting -- first, that the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem Ephratah, the city of David; and second that the Messiah absolutely had to come to bring atonement and righteousness to His people before the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed in 70 A.D. Why? Because the God of Israel told us so through the Hebrew prophets. I came to the conclusion that Jesus (Yeshua) of Nazareth is, in fact, the Messiah that Moses and the prophets spoke of. His death and resurrection were foretold by the prophets, and they prove that He is who He said He is: the “Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him” (John 14:6). Jesus’ shed blood provides the only atonement for sins for Jews and Gentiles today. Jesus brought us the “New Covenant” — the new deal, as it were, between God and man — that the Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah told us to wait for. True, many Jewish people have rejected Jesus over the centuries. But have we really stopped to examine what Moses and the prophets said, and how Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled every single one of those prophecies? By God's grace and kindness, my eyes were open. I received Jesus as Messiah, Savior and Lord when I was young. I humbled myself, confessed my sins to God the Father, believed in my heart by faith that Jesus died on the cross, and was buried, and rose again, according to the Scriptures. I confessed with my mouth that Jesus is the Lord. And so, as He promised, Jesus atoned for my sins. He washed them away, all of them, never to be remembered or held against me for all of eternity. He gave me eternal life. He -- the King of the Universe -- adopted me into His royal family. He gave me peace that passes all understanding. He gave me hope as an anchor for my soul. He gave me a purpose and a meaning for me life. Why? Because I deserved it? No. Because I earned it? No. Because I could buy it? No. He gave all this to me for free, because He loves me, because He wanted to rescue me. And so I received Him into my heart by faith. For as the Scriptures explain so clearly, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12) When my father, who was raised an Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn, discovered in 1973 -- after a careful study of the Gospel According to Luke -- that Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Jewish Messiah, and received the Messiah by faith, my father thought he was one of the first Jews in history who believed this. He had never met a Jewish believer in Jesus. He had never heard of such a person. And in 1973, there were fewer than 2,000 Jewish people on the planet who were followers of Jesus. But today, some 300,000 Jews around the world are followers of Jesus. And millions of Jews are searching for the Messiah and thus reading the Hebrew prophecies, and comparing them with the writings of the New Testament, and trying to decide whether Jesus really is the Messiah we have desperately longed for over so many centuries. Today, on Yom Kippur, you can watch short videos of Jewish people explaining how they met the Messiah. More than 10 million people have watched these videos just in the past few months. Remarkably, more than 900,000 Hebrew speakers have watched the Hebrew-language versions of these videos in just the past four months. Given that there are only about 7 million Hebrew speakers in the world today, this means that nearly 1 in 7 of them have recently watched videos by Israeli Jews explaining how they came to discover that Yeshua is our Messiah. The website is www.imetmessiah.com. Please visit, watch the videos, share them with family and friends, think about them and discuss them. And then I encourage you to humbly pray to God and ask Him to show you whether Jesus -- Yeshua -- is, in fact, the Anointed One who came to rescue and redeem us and atone for our sins and write our names in the Book of Life. It is my earnest hope you will discover — or rediscover — Jesus for yourself this Yom Kippur and the days that follow. I’m praying for you to find His amazing love, grace and forgiveness, and the hope and joy that only He can give us. May the God of Israel and His Anointed One bless you and your family beyond what you can hope for, dream of, or imagine. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE GOSPEL: “My Spiritual Journey” — audio and text versions of how  my parents and I became followers of Jesus the Messiah Would you like to know God personally? (a simple explanation of the Gospel in English) Read a simple explanation of the Gospel in Hebrew. …. or in Arabic. …. or inother languages. Watch on-line videos of Jewish people from all walks of life who came to know Jesus as Messiah. (over 10 million individuals have watched these videos so far) joelcrosenberg | September 22, 2015 at 12:24 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-3mW