I do not want to contend with that at all. Several years ago, my dad gave a sermon on the story of Joseph being a memorial of the day of Trumpets. This is the question we are going to look into today. But, what does it look back on, what does it memorialize? We know that Trumpets looks forward to the return of Christ. We know that it looks forward to something like every other of God's holy days. We know that the Days of Unleavened Bread memorialize the Exodus from Egypt, and the coming out all the way through the Red Sea.Īnd we understand that Pentecost remembers both the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, as well as the giving of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem after Christ's resurrection from the dead and His ascension into heaven.īut, what does the day of Trumpets memorialize? If they had the blood on their doorposts and lintel they were passed over. Now, we understand that Passover is a memorial of God's passing over the children Israel during the 10 th plague in Egypt, when all the first-born were killed. Some people do this when a loved one dies, and they keep something of theirs as a memorial to this person. We have a memorial to our living veterans, and others.Ī memorial could also be a keepsake, or memento that we might keep. We have a memorial to our working citizens. We, in the United States have these memorials to George Washington and other presidents. Memorial, if you look it up in Webster's or any other dictionary, would be defined something like this: "Something that keeps remembrance alive," such as a monument would or as a commemoration would by a speech or as a ceremony ritually performed each time or a day that is set apart like the day of Trumpets. Normally the Hebrews considered the ram's horn-the shofar-to shout not to blow, or to sound, or to peal, or some other term as we normally would think. If you will remember from prior sermons that have been given on the day of Trumpets, this is literally "a remembrance of shouting," this phrase that is translated as "a memorial of blowing of trumpets." Another way it could be translated is "a remembrance of the shout of the shofar."
The one detail that I skipped in that is that it is a memorial of blowing of trumpets.
Also, we are to make an offering, which we did a few moments ago. Since last night, we have all not worked at our jobs, which is what that basically means-no work that we customarily do on the other days of the week, except the Sabbath. It says that we are to do no customary work on it. We are meeting together in a church service made holy to God. Also, it is a holy convocation, which we are doing right now. The details we have here are things like, it is an annual Sabbath. It gives the details of the offering that is to be made on the day of Trumpets. The other one in Numbers 29:1 says roughly the same thing. You shall do no customary work on it and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.'"
Leviticus 23:24-25Speak 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. In fact, there is only one other and it is found in Numbers 29:1-just the two of them: Go back to Leviticus 23:24-25, and you will see the best known command in the Bible for keeping the day of Trumpets. World conditions seem to be conforming ever so slowly toward that end, but it is plodding very deliberately to the end. And we think that it is going to happen just about any day now. We anxiously and hopefully anticipate Jesus' second coming. Of course the Church of God has believed for many years that the return of Christ fulfills this Feast of Trumpets. However long it has been since Adam was created, we know that the return of Christ is close. As far as we know it is off by about 250 years because if you do the math in the Bible, the 6,000 years is pretty much finished. This Feast of Trumpets starts the beginning of the year 5765 on the Hebrew calendar. The battles of Jericho and Armageddon provide the opening salvos establishing God's chosen people in occupied territory, driving out the abominable influence of the previous occupants. Jericho, undoubtedly the most invulnerable fortress in all of Canaan, nevertheless was delivered (as an inheritance) into the hands of God's chosen people through the blowing of trumpets or rams' horns (announcing the presence of God). One major incident involving the blowing of trumpets, occurring at the outset of Israel's incursion into Canaan, was the fall of the city of Jericho, when Joshua (a type of Christ) meets the Commander of the Armies of the Lord, whose sword is drawn in a posture of judgment.