Messiah’s Return in the Feasts of the Lord
The Feast of Trumpets
The Feast of Trumpets presents a remarkable opportunity to consider Messiah’s return.
The feast was scheduled for the first day of the seventh month. But to determine when a new month started, a new moon had to be sighted. In ancient times, special messengers were assigned to watch the night skies for the first sliver of a crescent. They combined their observations with the priests’ complex series of calculations, then telegraphed the news of the returning light to the nation through a series of hilltop bonfires.
The uncertain timing of a new moon made the first day of any month difficult to predict. Months were generally thirty days long, but not always. In order to keep their lunar calendar in sync with the solar year, a day was occasionally subtracted from a month, or a whole month was added to the year. Because of the importance of the Feast of Trumpets and the difficulty of forecasting when it would fall, they had a saying that no man could know the day or the hour when this special feast would occur.
Time’s Up in the Fields
Once the first day of the seventh month was confirmed, shofars throughout Jerusalem called back and forth to each other. Like a factory whistle at the end of the day, their sound meant “time’s up” in the fields. The harvest season that began six months ago with the spring feasts was officially over, and any fruit remaining on the vine would stay where it was. Farmers put away their plowshares and reapers, their threshers and winnowing forks until planting time returned. Like the seventh day of every work week, the seventh month was reserved for a Sabbath rest.
The book of Revelation also includes the sound of trumpets. In chapters 8–11, seven shofars blow, and God’s harvest season for souls comes to an end. With the first trumpet blast, a third of the Earth’s vegetation burns up, stopping Earth’s fruitfulness. Increasingly devastating plagues warn people that little opportunity remains to acknowledge the Lord of the Harvest and turn to him.
Messiah’s Return and the Coming King
While the horns of the seventh month announced the end of the year’s harvest, they heralded the beginning of another season. Spring was normally when kings went out to battle (see 2 Samuel 11:1), but when the rains returned in the fall, so too did the rulers to their thrones. They brought with them the crowns of their defeated enemies and celebrated their victories with public coronation ceremonies. After that, the king could finally sit on his throne once more and rule and reign over his land. This was how kings entered their rest.
All of this brings Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem to mind. In Mark 11:9–10, the crowds welcomed Jesus into the city as they might a conquering king. With palm branches and cheers, they shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” It was a traditional chant for the upcoming feast of Passover. What infuriated the priests and elders was that these words from Psalm 118:25 were recited in expectation of King Messiah’s arrival. The crowds publicly acknowledged what their leaders could not abide. Jesus was the King the prophets spoke and wrote about.
When the seventh and final shofar blows in the book of Revelation, it announces not only the end of God’s harvest of souls, but King Messiah’s return to his land. With the horn’s echoes still lingering in the air, the angels cry out, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Meanwhile, the twenty-four elders sing, “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned” (Revelation 11:15, 17).
Prepare the Way for Messiah’s Return
After the Feast of Trumpets, activity in the temple turns to preparing for the Feast of Atonement. Were the roads cleared and leveled for the Messiah’s arrival? Was his throne room clean? Was the land purified from the bodies left from battle? But most of all, were the people’s hearts ready to greet Messiah as the promised King?
In Revelation, the time between feasts is filled with plague-like judgments that offer people a final challenge. Bend your knees and prepare your hearts. The Feast of Atonement is on the doorstep, when no more names would be added to the Lamb’s Book of Life. The volume would be closed for the final cleansing of God’s holy habitation on earth.
We’ll explore what that means about Messiah’s return next time.
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