GOD said ” … on the first day of the month (ELUL), you are to have a memorial of blowing of the shofar (ram’s horn), a holy convocation …
According to Renewed Moon Report the new moon was seen in Israel at sunset Monday, August 9, 2021. This is sign in the sky that marks the beginning of a new month; the 6th biblical month called ELUL which is early August thru early September on today’s calendar. The month of Elul is consider to be a month of preparation for the three major holy days coming up in the seventh month of Tishri (September/October). That’s why Jewish and Messianic believers blow the shofar every day of the 6th month. It is a time when God Seekers spend some extra time in prayer, getting our hearts and souls ready for the upcoming holy days. The fall feasts are Appointed Times with God that HE commands HIS people to observe and honor the days, give thanks and celebrate. The upcoming appointed times include:
- September 7, 2021 The Day of Trumpets or Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah,
- September 16, 2021 The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur
- September 21 – 28, The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot which are outlined below.
During the month of Elul, the tradition is to blow the shofar (ram’s horn) every day or during your prayer time in the mornings and to read Psalm 27 every day. These traditions are a way of deepening your relationship with the Lord. If you’ve never done these things, try it this year! Don’t worry about your blowing having that perfect shofar sound; God knows your heart. Hopefully, your neighbors will ask you what you’re doing every morning! If so, take the opportunity to witness to them or at least explain the biblical tradition in scripture.
However, if you don’t have a shofar (ram’s horn), try listening to the blowing on this video every morning. Click on this link to hear the shofar:
https://youtu.be/9ht0ailWQf8 . The sound is very spiritually motivating to me personally. In biblical times the Ram’s Horn was used to call people to assembly, to intimidate the enemy, and to declare war. The shofar is one of the oldest wind instruments in the world. The army of Israel marched around Jericho to the signal of the shofar (Joshua 6:2-5). There many examples of its use in scripture. Matthew 24:31: And He will send His angels with a great sound of a shofar/trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 1 Corinthians 15:52 … in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet (shofar) will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
In biblical times, the shofar announced the beginning of each new moon or month and the Jubilee year The seventh month was announced with longer blasts for the special holy days -the Day of Trumpets / Rosh Hashanah, the shofar was blown a minimum of one hundred times, including a series of thirty blasts indicating the hope of the Messiah’s coming.
During the month of Elul I always think of the daily blowing of the shofar as a wakeup call to mankind to prepare themselves for the next biblical month, which is 7th month, (Tishrei) which contains three appointed times with the Lord. We need to pay attention and observe this special time commanded by GOD! The Fall Feasts of the LORD are prophetic shadows of the Messiah’s return you can find them in the bible by studying the book of Leviticus Chapter 23.
September 7, 2021 / Tishrei 1 / The Day of Trumpets or Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah
In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a Shabbat rest, a memorial of blowing of the shofar (ram’s horn), a holy convocation. You are to do no regular work, and you are to present an offering made by fire to Adonai. (Leviticus 23:24-25 TLV)
In modern day Judaism, it is known as Rosh Hashanah, Head of the Year, and is celebrated as the Jewish New Year. Today, Messianic congregations observe the day as described in the Bible. Messianic congregations are faith communities that stress the Jewish context of the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah. The congregations which are Jews and Christians combined; often employ Jewish forms of worship, use Hebrew in their liturgy and stress the connection of Messiah to the Hebrew Scriptures.
In biblical times, the shofar announced the beginning of each new moon or month and the Jubilee year The seventh month was announced with longer blasts for the special holy days of such as the Day of Trumpets or Yom Teruah, The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, and The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot. On the Day of Trumpets, the shofar was blown a minimum of one hundred times, including a series of thirty blasts indicating the hope of the Messiah’s coming.
September 16, 2021 / Tishrei 10 / The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur
For believers in Yeshua, The Day of Atonement /Yom Kippur is a time for worshiping and thanking Yeshua for His death and resurrection, and for the forgiveness of our sins. There is also a prophetic aspect of this feast that has yet to be fulfilled – the turning of the Jewish people to Messiah Yeshua (Zech. 12:10). When He returns, He will lift the veil from their eyes! The book of Revelation foretells this glorious event: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen” (Rev. 1:7). The New Testament foretells of this same event in Romans 11:26, which states that at Messiah’s return “all Israel will be saved.”
The Day of Atonement can be found in Leviticus 16 & 17 and in Leviticus 23:27-28. The tenth day of this seventh month is Yom Kippur, a holy convocation to you, so you are to afflict yourselves. You are to bring an offering made by fire to Adonai. You are not to do any kind of work on that set day, for it is Yom Kippur, to make atonement for you before Adonai your God. (Leviticus 23:27-28 TLV).
In the book of Leviticus (Torah); This is the day that the High Priest would carry the blood of the bull and goat through the veil and into the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle- the Holy of Holies. The High Priest of the Israelites would then pour the blood onto the altar over the Ark of the Covenant and, in doing so, make atonement for the sins of the children of Israel (Lev. 17:11).
The book of Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 tell us that the blood of the bulls and the goats offered up to the LORD in the ancient Temple was a foreshadow of the blood of Yeshua/Jesus. Through the death and shed blood of Jesus, we are forgiven once and for all! Praise God!
September 21 – 28, 2021 / Tishrei 15 / The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot
On this day of Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua /Jesus cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38). By proclaiming this, Jesus was revealing that He was the Messiah!
This feast is a joyous and happy time of giving thanks to God for His provision. We read about this feast in Leviticus 23:34-42 “On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD… You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD… It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations… You shall live in booths for seven days.” . (Leviticus 23:36 TLV).. The eighth day will be a holy convocation to you, and you are to bring an offering by fire to Adonai. It is a solemn assembly—you should do no laborious work.
During this feast, in many Jewish homes and synagogues as well as Messianic believers (Jews and gentiles who accept Jesus/Yeshua as the Messiah); a sukkah will be constructed in the backyard. A sukkah is a tabernacle, tent, or booth, basically a temporary structure made out of lumber, grass, or any other natural substance, and is decorated with natural materials including tree branches, leaves, flowers, vegetables and fruit. During the celebration of Sukkot many people will eat their meals, and sleep, in the sukkah for the entire seven days of the feast. While in the sukkah Jewish people remember how they had nothing in the wilderness but God.
Recommended Resources for Additional Reading
The Feasts of the Lord by Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal
A Christian Guide to the Biblical Feasts by David Wilber
God’s Appointed Times by Barney Kasden
Messiah in the Feasts of Israel by Sam Nadler
Celebrating Biblical Feasts in Your Home or Church by Martha Zimmerman
