The Feast of trumpets
(in gematria)
According to Leviticus 23, William Kelly wrote about the
feast of trumpets:
We find ourselves in presence of an entirely new scene from verse 23.
23 And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying,
24 In the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall have a rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
25 You shall do no regular work; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to YHWH.
So far from the gospel being a continuous work to the end of
the world, as many suppose, we see here that the Lord will begin a fresh
testimony with a suited instrumentality for this new aim when the church is
gone. Observe that it is said here in the seventh month; this was the last month in which Jehovah instituted a
feast. He here brings to a completion the circle of His ways on the earth and
for Israel.
In the very beginning then of this closing period of God's dealings, what do we
read?
A memorial of blowing of trumpets.
God is inaugurating a fresh testimony. The trumpet is clearly a figure of His intervention to announce some signal change. It may be for judgment, as we find in some cases; it may be a distinct testimony in grace, as we know elsewhere.
It is clearly a loud summons from God to people on the earth. Here, as we read, it is not merely a blowing of trumpets, but a memorial of blowing of trumpets. It is a recall of what had long passed out of memory. It is God calling to mind what had once been before Him, but long dead and gone. What can this be?
It is the recall of His ancient people on the earth.
The Jew is again brought into remembrance before God. No wonder that there should be such a memorial of blowing of trumpets.
Hundreds, one might say thousands, of years had passed since
they had stood before Him as His people. For the return from Babylon was only a
partial work: as a whole, Israel never returned, but remained a dispersion over
the world. Where was the bulk of them? They were lost among the Gentiles; and
so to this day they have remained in a peculiar condition, unlike any other
since the world began. They are in all countries without possessing one of
their own, and yet a people; they
are without a king or a prince, and yet a people; without the true God and
without a false god, yet a people (Hosea 3): a standing rebuke to the infidel, yet largely and
deeply infidel themselves!
But this very people, as the same prophecy lets us know, are yet to return to
their land, and seek
Jehovah their Lord and David their king; they shall fear Jehovah and His
goodness in the latter days. But what does God do in the first place? He awakens them. The day of
shadows is gone for ever. The cross of Christ has closed unrealities. By the
power of His resurrection the Christian is introduced into the new creation.
The old is gone, the new come; and before God we have our place in Christ. When
this work is finished, grace will begin to act in Israel, and they shall be
awakened.
Nothing more distinctly proves that God will have done with the Christian;
for the gospel went out to the Gentiles (though to the Jew first), and in the
church, as in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek. The Feast of Trumpets
is God's taking up Israel afresh to awaken them.
Undeniably then this feast is after and quite distinct from Passover and Pentecost in which we have our interest. Hence the first thing disclosed in it is God's loud summons to a people who once had a place before Him and again come into remembrance for mercy, not judgment.
It is evident that this could not consistently apply to the
gospel that has been at work since Christ's death and resurrection. We have had
His sacrifice, and call to practical holiness, and the gift of the Spirit long
ago. But when God has done with our blessing, the chapter reveals that in the
seventh month dead Israel is to be raised from the grave by God's trumpet, as
Ezekiel predicted long after (Ezekiel
37). As this is clearly a new work for a people long disowned, let us trace
what light other scriptures furnish on it.
Let us refer to the Psalms. There you may learn how truly they and the prophets
agree with this figure in the law. See Psalm 81. There is a plain enough
testimony as to its forge:
Sing aloud unto God our strength; make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the time appointed, on our solemn feast day (Ps 81:1-3).
If men were not prejudiced, none could deny the application to Israel. The moon, that luminary which wanes and loses her brightness, once more renews her light, as mercy will do for the rebellious people.
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Sing aloud unto God our strength; make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. |
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Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. |
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Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. |
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For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. |
The NV (numerical value) of this Scripture part is 7695,
correspondent to John 13:20 >>
Most assuredly I tell you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me, receives him who sent me.
And 1Timothy 2:5 >> For
there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Mashiach
Yeshua.
How strikingly is this, Psalm 81, to be verified in Israel! It could not be said of the world-church, or Christendom…
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