[Darris McNeely] We’re at the biblical Feast of Trumpets, a high holy day among the many that God gave to Israel. October 3rd, Monday, this year, is the Feast of Trumpets. Leviticus chapter 23 is the key thought to begin to understand what is the purpose and the meaning of this holy day. Among those festivals that God gave to His people, Israel, this one as He spoke to Moses – it says, “Speak to the children of Israel saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You’ll do no customary work on it. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’” So it is a blowing of trumpets.

Now, a trumpet in the ancient world was a call to alarm. It was a call to war. It was a call to assembly for those that heard the shrill blast of what was called a shofar. Today, we think about a brass instrument, a trumpet or a horn that we would refer to, but in the ancient world the trumpet blast was given from what was really a ram’s horn, called a shofar. And this would emit a very sharp blast going for miles, and everyone who heard it would know exactly what it meant and the call that they were to assemble for, and something was up. So it woke people up. It made them alert, and it made them aware. As we translate the Feast of Trumpets – meaning from the Old Testament into the New Testament, and understand its application and meaning for a Christian today – we have a much deeper, fuller distinction of what this day means as we look at the New Testament teaching. Essentially, we have the comfort of Christ’s calling and His coming to help us to understand the deeper spiritual meaning and the actual literal fulfillment of the meaning behind the Feast of Trumpets.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we have an interesting passage that begins to talk about the resurrection of the dead. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, beginning in verse 13. It says – the apostle Paul writes to the brethren in the church – he said, “I don’t want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep.” In other words, those who have died. He said, “Don’t sorrow as those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). The dead in Christ are the group that are being talked about here. “For this we say by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.” So we’re talking about the coming of Christ, the second coming, His appearance. “The Lord Himself,” it says, “will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God.” So here in Paul’s writing about the return of Christ, the coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead, they rise to a trumpet blast. The immediate connection to what we have back in the festival of Trumpets is obvious. He goes on, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore,” he says, “comfort one another with these words.”

Now, there’s another scripture that we ought to note, Revelation chapter 11, beginning in verse 15. We’re in the midst of the story of the flow of the book of Revelation – the unfolding of the various seals and plagues and trumpet blasts that are taken there. We come down to the sounding of the seventh angel. And in verse 15 it says, “The seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever’” (Revelation 11:15). And so, with the sounding of the trumpet blast of the seventh angel, we find the return of Christ and the inauguration on this earth, in its full form, of the kingdom of God – a long-hoped for, a long-dreamed of promise, of God’s kingdom being brought to this earth and all that that means. So the Feast of Trumpets symbolizes the second coming of Jesus Christ and the glory and the power of the universe and the resurrection of the dead in Christ. That is the glory and that is the hope that should motivate us as we observe this time, as we are pointed to it by the very words of Christ Himself.

We wait for this event as Christians. In our world today, we see about us a great deal of turmoil, war that continues to erupt – we see events rushing this world to the close of this age. The escalation of nuclear war and the threat of nuclear war continues to loom over the nations of the west and other parts of the world.  Right now there are four nuclear powers that are arrayed against the other powers of the world – America and Europe and other locations – all of them seeking to assert themselves with their particular power, creating concern, unrest, and uncertainty in our world situation today. The world and America is at a very critical moment. In our Beyond Today personal appearances, we have been talking about this and taking a message that this is the time for America – for anyone – to repent and to turn to God, and to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God.

The Feast of Trumpets is a time of alarm, and a time to awake from any sleep from any obliviousness that we might have to our world, to the times in which we live, and to our own spiritual condition. Use the Feast of Trumpets, begin to observe it, begin to learn exactly what it is about from the Bible, from the Scriptures. And most importantly, begin to observe it in spirit and in truth as God intended, and let the message of the Feast of Trumpets stir you to a spiritual alertness to be prepared for the days that are ahead of us, and most certainly, for the day of Christ’s coming and all of the events that are foreshadowed by this holy day. The Feast of Trumpets – an important one to keep. The time is now for you to keep the Feast of Trumpets.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.