Shabbat - Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashanah) 2003

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BLASTS FROM THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

MANY HORNS, ONE VOICE

"Tell the people of Israel, 'In the seventh month (Elul), the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with the blast of the Shofar!" (Leviticus 23:24). All you inhabitants of the world, you who live on the earth; when a banner is hoisted on the mountains look! When the Shofar is blown, listen! (Isaiah 18:3)

'Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the Land will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with tremendous power and glory. He will send out his angles with a Shofar Gadol;" (Matthew 24:30)

What is the deal with all these Shofars being blown? Did you know there are over 100 scriptural references to the Shofar with over 40 being significant? Well there is! Beware translations (most of them) that translate Shofar as trumpet, this is not an accurate translation from, Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. When the Lord keys in on something that gets our attention throughout the scriptures we better seek out its importance and recognize it.

Why is it that we have an appointed time that is named for blowing the Shofar, Rosh Hashanah, by its Hebrew name Yom Teruah, or day of blowing. Scripture doesn't explain why!

So why Blow?

1. God commanded in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 29:1

2. 100 plus other scriptures, there is a message in the blowing

3. Obedience

I remember as a youth trying to drag myself through services at Rosh Hashanah, The services were long, and They were boring. I looked for any reason to flee the service, a drink of water, or the restroom, illness. Funny thing is I would find my peers waiting with the same excuses! This was true Except for the blowing of the Shofar!

There has always been something special that not only attracted me, but others to the sound of the Shofar. There was a great anticipation by young and old , people flocked to their seats, you could hear people asking others is it time yet? Should we go back in now? I think the reason the blowing is spread out in the service is to keep people engaged! I remember the blower, a guy named Charlie Garbow, he was 3-4 years older than me, and I was amazed at what he could do with that Ram's Horn.

I had never blown one then, and had not seen anybody else, The Blowing gave me chills , yet I did not know why. In the traditional service it is blown 300 times , spaced out in the morning and afternoon services (Mincha, Maariv). You could hear the ooh's and aah's, the echo as the Cantor bellowed out the name of the calls, Tekiah, Shevarim, Teruah, Tekiah Gadolah , the blasts of each note reverberated through out the synagogue. To this day I get chills and goose bumps talking about it.

Why does the Shofar have that affect on so many people? W hy do Jewish people who have not been in Temple all year long yearn to hear the calls? Why are many of us pierced by the wail of the Shofar today?

I tell you the reason, for the Shofar is the Voice of ha-Shem!

It is an ENCOUNTER with the Lord Himself! God is speaking to us, urging us to return to Him with a sense of urgency. The sound of the Shofar is not sounded idly in scripture but has purpose, It has an attitude , and it is almost always precedes, accompanies or announces an important event that God is involved directly or indirectly.

The first blowing identified as the Shofar is Exodus 19:13. God "CREATED" the Shofar, it is not an invention of man! Moses has just told the people that Mt. Sinai was holy ground not to be touched. This was sealed by the Blast of the Shofar from Mt. Sinai, God's intention was that all the people that were for him would come up the mountain at the sound of the Shofar. (READ EXODUS 19:16-19)

Did you hear it? Millions heard this. Who's blowing? Who is the only one that could GOD! God is communicating and preparing hearts. It is a call to Fear of God, to be humbled, and to be obedient. It is a supernatural wonder to be talked about till the end of time, He didn't just blow it, it shook the mountains, it grew louder and louder. I believe that those that could not yet hear the voice or heart of God heard the blasts! Be ready, prepare for the Return of God, his judgment and mercy.

God speaks to us in many ways , in a small still voice through the Ruach , through visions and dreams , through his word , and through His instrument , as he did on Mt. Sinai. Do not be deceived by who does the blowing. In Zechariah 9:14, Zechariah tells us it is Adonai Elohim. Adonai speaks not only to his people through the Horn but to the enemies of his people. In Joshua chapter 5-6 God leads them to the city of Yericho (Jericho). Outside the gates he meets the commander of Adonai's army. Y'hoshua (Joshua), falls to the ground and worships him (Yeshua, in the Flesh). And then they march on the city. (READ Joshua 6:6-10)

This went on for seven days, not a word was spoken, but wasn't it? God was speaking trough His Shofars. How could it be and what was he speaking? He was speaking to Israel, once they started marching no instructions were given, not a word of encouragement from anybody. Yet the din of the Shofars grew louder, and louder, The people were being ministered to and empowered through the presence of God. By the presence of the Ark of the Covenant and the pounding of the Shofars, the earth must have been shaking!

For seven days the cohanim blew, and the army marched, t he power of God was being ministered upon the city of Jericho and its people, can you imagine the terror, for those inside the walls! On the seventh time around the city walls fell at the sound of the Shofar and the shout of the people. I suspect that at that moment, it was not only the Israelites that believed the God of Israel lives, everybody in that city did!

So the Lord spoke through the Horn, His voice, his will, commanding nature and breaking physical laws. Do not be led astray, the power in the Shofar, is the voice of God, it is what brings down powers and principalities.

Not convinced? Then you should talk to Gid'on!

In Judges chapter 6 we find God seeking out an unsuspecting hero 6:12-14 "The angel of Adonai appeared to him and said to him: " You valiant hero! Adonai is with you!" Excuse me, sir," answered Gid'on, (you mean me?) "but if Adonai is with us, then why is all this happening to us? And where are all his miracles our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Didn't Adonai bring us up from Egypt?' For now Adonai has abandoned us and handed us over to Midyan."

Here Gideon is speaking with the Angel of Adonai, the same as Joshua. This is Yeshua , God incarnate in the flesh, the visible image of the invisible God! God promises that Gideon will defeat Midyan as one man with the help of the Lord. The funny part is Gideon like any good Jewish boy wants a SIGN! The Lord indulges him by disappearing before his eyes. God chooses 300 men out of 10,000 to defeat Midyan and Amelek. In chapter 7 vs. 8 this how they prepared; "So they took the provisions and the Shofars of the people;" Gideon divided the three hundred into three divisions, giving them each a Shofar! The instructions for the battle? Blow your Horns! And say "For Adonai and for Gid'on!" (Vs 8) (READ JUDGES CHAPTER 7:19-22)

So how do we frame these victories? By men, no, by God of course, look at the details. This is the second time we see victory with four different constants in each event:

• The Angel of Adonai , (Yeshua) speaks with the leaders, Joshua and Gid'eon
• Yeshua is conne cted the horn
• The victory is one with all but no words
• Shofars are the weapon of choice

What an amazing set of events. The Lord won each of these battles, and it is getting clear he is speaking, from the clarion of a Shofar! The Shofar is clearly a spiritual weapon of choice by God!

MY CALLING TO MY ROOTS

When I came to know the Lord, it was not long before he called me to my Jewish Heritage. The whole story is not for today, the part I want to share has to do with, what else the Shofar.

My commission and calling came at Yom Kippur in 1994, but it was not sealed until my Second Messiah conference (A yearly Gathering of thousands of Jewish believers). The congregation has rented a booth in the marketplace to sell home made Judaica by women of the congregation to raise money for our Torah Scroll. Next to our both was a vendor I call the "Shofar Man". As I mentioned earlier, I had never been able to blow a Shofar, but always wanted to.

Like Abraham, for Sodom, I played Let's make a deal” with the Lord. I now digress back a year to my visit to another Messianic Jewish Congregation. I and a few others set out to see how other congregations worshipped as at the time we were small and seeking direction from ha-Shem.

We stayed overnight with our new friends, Rabbi David Rosenberg, and he gave me a gift a set of tzitizit (fringes), you know the strings that God commanded the men of Israel to wear in Numbers 15:37-41. To be honest, at that moment in time there was no way I would ever wear the tzitizit, no way no how, it was not for me (which translates into I am too embarrassed and a big chicken, afraid of what people might, so will say).

Now this takes us fast forward back to the conference. The deal I “proposed” to the Lord was this, if I wear the fringes, He will teach me how to blow the Shofar. Well I put the tzitizit on that afternoon. Yikes I had not Idea what doors this would open for my life. Well to make a longer story shorter, by that night I was blowing like crazy (not good mind you but noisy), bloody dripping from my swollen lips, people yelling enough already! But my Righteous Prayer was answered, if we are faithful to God he will honor our heart, when it is also his heart and desire.

It continues to be a blessing of a lifetime, one that I have passed on to the next generations. I have learned of it power and anointing. It can bring people to their knees as we see in scripture, and it can bring them to their knees in the congregation. More importantly it can bring the enemy to its knees and destruction

We need to see through the proof of scripture and the proof we have in our own eyes, and recognize that the Lord is speaking to us, calling us, exhorting us, and speaking to us through the Shofar. How else could it carry such results:

• It is just calcium, bone, no soul yet it has a soul
• It speaks but does not draw breath
• It has life in the hand of the righteous, when anointed by God
• It speaks and it judges, and it makes right what is wrong
• It does not need the words of man, only that of its creator
• But it works most of the time in the Hands of Man
• Isn't it just like God to take a hollow lifeless form and fill it with His spirit

Hmm... sound familiar? Like us!

And when it isn't sounds not of man, I set before you that it is blown by the lips of Yeshua. Those of us familiar with Shofars, especially in Messianic circles and those of our brothers of the Orthodox persuasion know that the Shofar is used for several purposes.

• For Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashanah)
• A call to assembly. God wants our attention, and that of all nations
• A call to spiritual warfare
• A call to anticipate that God is going to Judge at Yom Kippur

To prepare our Hearts, for Messiah is coming and we are to be judged, Other Godly uses are:

• Coronation of a king : II Chronicles 5:12-14 (Solomon crowned)
• To Battle , worldly and spiritually: Numbers 10:9
• New Moons : Psalm 81:4-5 (God's provision and abundance, dependence)
• Rejoicing : II Samuel 6:16, 1 Chronicles 15:28 (the ark brought forth)
• Sing Praises Psalm 98:5-6
• God speaking : Rev 4:1 Heaven opened and a voice as a Shofar spoke "come up"
• Warning of trouble : Ezekiel 33:1-6 (a sword coming against the land)
• Horn can also be a warning of us not being right with God ; Hosea 8:1-4, Jeremiah 6:16-19, Jeremiah 4:3-6
• Calling a fast , call to repentance: Joel 2:15-17
• The proclamation of the Great day of the Lords coming : Zephaniah 1:14-17, 2:1-3, I Thessalonians 4:16-17 (the last blast blown on Rosh Hashanah)

Matthew 24:27-31

• Judgment : Revelation 8:1-2 Seven angels, seven horns, seven seals
• The dead will be raised : I Corinthians 15L:51-52, 53

In all of these examples (and they are just a few), God is speaking to us through the Shofar, in a sense it is an extension of God himself, working in our midst. Yeshua is called the "horn of our salvation" (Luke 1:68-69), he is connected to the Shofar. Yeshua I believe blows the Shofar when it thunders from heaven . It is He, Yeshua that gives the horn its power. I believe we need to grasp that God does not live in linear time like us . He sees the ages past present and future seamlessly, linked. The Shofar calls of our ancestors resonate throughout eternity, connected to each other from beginning to end. They are still fresh in Gods view, relevant They are not just individual moments, but a part of the whole of God's plan of revelation and salvation to all nations.

• So do we heed the call? Do we take it too lightly, not literal enough?
• Its just a horn, nice but just a horn
• That goes against everything brought forth out of God's own word!
• What is our obligation?
• Are we going to be obedient to scripture?
• Will we heed the call of the past, of today and of tomorrow when we hear the Shofar

Gadol, the great blast, will we be ready for Messiah*?

Have our hearts turned to him this day, how about in two week at Yom Teruah, Rosh Hashanah, will it be ready? Will the blast of the Shofar open us up to looking inside our own hearts? We must not ignore the message of the horn, is it piercing our hearts and minds? Are we willing to change today, tomorrow on Yom Teruah, on Yom Kippur? Today's blasts are intertwined with yesterdays and tomorrows. The ancient messages found in the blasts of 4000 years are connected to today, they are crying out to us proclaiming the promises of yesterday, today, and tomorrow

There are 4 holy calls, What do these calls mean?

Tekiah: The "blast," one long blast with a clear tone. Signifies Rejoicing and Hope .

The second Tekiah which follows, calls one to the new standpoint , to the new attitude to life, to faithfully giving oneself up to following the road set out by God , which alone is the path to freedom and which is blessed by the favor of God.

Shevarim: A "broken" sound of 3 short calls. Like sighing. It is a reminder that we need to be broken before a coming King who will judge the earth.

Teruah : An "alarm". A rapid series of 9 or more staccatos notes. Like crying. It is a reminder to plead for mercy before the King who has come to judge the living and the dead. To break off and away from every attachment that estranges us from God , and from consciousness of having the power of moral freedom of will, and leaving everything worthless behind , in short giving up everything in our present mode of life which is displeasing to God.

Tekiah Gedolah : A single unbroken blast held as long as possible. A reminder that at the sound of the last great trumpet sound , the King will be back with power and glory to rule forever.

In fact, on the wall of the ancient Temple was a sign that read: To the House of the blowing of the Trumpet (Shofar)". So important was the sounding of Shofars that rabbinic tradition tells us that on each Sabbath in the Temple, there would be 2 men with silver trumpets and one man with a Shofar doing three trumpet blasts two times a day.

Why is the Shofar so important to the Jewish people? And should be for all believers

Maimonides (Jewish philosopher and physician born in Spain in the 12 century) writes:

"Awake, sleepers from your sleep! Arise, slumberers, from your slumber! Scrutinize your deeds and return to repentance (teshuvah) and remember your creator! Those forgetters of the truth in the vanities of time and those who stray all their year in vanity and emptiness which can neither help nor save. Look to your souls, better your ways and deeds. Let each one of you abandon your evil way and your thoughts which are not good .” Hilkhot Teshuavah, chapter 3

A CALL TO MY SON IAN, KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY OF GOD

You know what grabs me with passion? Seeing Gods ways and traditions passed on, Li'dor vi'dor, generation to generation. When I hear Shofars being blown by many generations, Shofars being blown by a new generation of Jews, Shofars being blown by a new generation of Messianic Jews. A Shofar being blown by my sons Ian and Tyler.

Many of you have commented on how you are blessed and how Ian's blowing fills and chills your heart, physically and spiritually (Mine too!) I did not ask Ian to partake; it was a calling on his life from a very early age, and one that also seems to be on his younger brother Tyler. Ian has learned at an early age the power and responsibility that comes with this gift of blowing, and I have strived to teach him to honor and share this blessing.

We need to continue to encourage our people Jew and gentile to embrace the call of God through his Shofar, it's scriptural! And it appears to be mandatory, for all!

Let this Yom Teruah be different, let us all embrace the clarion call of the horn. Let us feel the call upon our mind and spirit, and in our flesh. We need to embrace, accept, grasp, and cling to this expression of God! This Shofar is the voice of God. Over the centuries since Exodus, Israel has heard the chilling echo's of the Shofar, we must recognize it for what it is, the VOICE of the Lord , El Gibor, mighty God. It is not just noise, or something to break the silence, it is meant to pierce our hearts and minds. Let the call help separate us from our old nature, i t is meant to lead us to change, to repentance. It is meant to lead us to action, It is meant to lead us to Messiah Yeshua, for He is the Horn!

• Many Horns, but ONE VOICE
• Zechariah 9:14: Adonai Elohim will blow the Shofar!
• Matthew 30:24 The Lord sends out his angels with a Shofar Gadol blast!
• Know its cadence, know its source
• Know the Shofar sounds for you

Joel 2:1 Blow the Shofar in Zion. Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain, blow the Shofar in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm!

Blow unto the Lord!

Amen

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