Rosh Hashanah

Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It's also called the Feast of Trumpets because the shofar, the ram's horn trumpet, is traditionally sounded 100 times. Two thoughts come to mind on this day. First, Psalm 47 is read in synagogues on Rosh Hashana. It's a great psalm for all of us—Jews and Gentiles—to read today because it calls on all nations to "shout to God with cries of joy." Second, Rosh Hashanah--like all the Jewish feasts--has a prophetic element that points toward the Messiah. The spring feasts (Passover, First Fruits, Pentecost) foreshadowed the First Coming of the Messiah, and the fall feasts (Rosh Hashanah/Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles) look toward His Second Coming. Perhaps the Apostle Paul had this in mind when he announced that the next event in God's prophetic program--Christ's return for His church--takes place with the sounding of a trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

Have a blessed day!