A New Year---A New Creation

Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה), literally meaning the "head [of] the year", is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah ( יוֹם תְּרוּעָה), literally "day of shouting or blasting". [Wikipedia]. This time ushers in the High Holy Days of the Jewish year. It is a time to reflect on the previous year and look ahead to the one to come.

The Jewish calendar counts from Creation, and at this Rosh Hashanah, our new year, we will be entering the year 5780. This feast and celebration begins this year on sundown, September 29th and concludes on October 1,2019.

Rosh Hashanah not only marks the start of the Jewish New Year, but also the beginning of the 10-day period known a "the days of Awe", [this I will delve into further in my Yom Kippur blog] and commands Jews to blast the shofar (ram’s horn) and cease work on that date (Leviticus 23:24-25), Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, saying: "In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a Shabbat rest, a memorial of blowing (shofarot), a holy convocation. You are to do no regular work, and you are to present an offering made by fire to Adonai.”

Traditionally, we are taught that God pronounced judgement on His people for each upcoming year on this day, and 10 days later, the people were to seek repentance, on Yom Kippur. Yet, in reality, the entire time from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur, is to be spent in examining ourselves before the Lord and asking for forgiveness and favor in the next year. The 10 days between the two Holy times are focused on making amends with others.

According to Jewish tradition, God determines the fate of each Jewish person for the coming year primarily on the basis of their actions over the previous year. Everyone, however, has the opportunity to ameliorate a negative judgment in three ways.

teshuvah, which literally means “returning” but is usually translated as “repentance” A Jew must perform teshuvah by feeling regret for a sin, apologizing to God and/or to the person against whom they have sinned, and pledging sincerely not to commit the sin again.

Another way is tefillah - prayer.

Jews can also earn leniency through tzedakah, which literally means “justice” or “righteousness.” In practice, tzedakah usually refers to charitable giving, but it could also conceivably be interpreted as participation in pro-justice work.

As those who are believers in Yeshua as our Messiah and Saviour, we know that we no longer need to "earn" our forgiveness, nor our righteousness or justice, as it has been given us. And we no longer need to burn sacrifices unto the Lord. Even so, this is no reason to eliminate prayer, or giving of time or money; it is merely no longer a requirement for our salvation, praise God!

Even though we, as Messianic Jews, know that He has sealed us with His blessing and favor for eternity through Messiah, (Ephesians 1:13 “After you heard the message of truth – the Good News of your salvation – and when you put your trust in Him, you were sealed with the promised Ruach HaKodesh), we too can benefit from this time of reflection, as can all believers. By examining ourselves before the Lord, asking Him to search our hearts and bring us to repentance for wrongdoing during this time period, we are representing how all believers should be living and what our focus should be throughout the year. This fall feast time should be observed as a special time to stop the daily grind and truly focus on this important part of each believer's life and connection with Yeshua and to thank him for saving us from ourselves; from sin and death.

The most precious difference between a traditional and Messianic celebration of these fall feast days is the prophetic significance that is observed, with a strong correlation to end times events.

In order to see this, let us remember Yeshua’s words advising us that:

"We are to remain busy with His kingdom work until He comes" (Luke 19:11-26)

"As we see the signs of the Last Days, we are to stand up and lift up our heads because our redemption draws near" (Luke 21:28)

The Spring feasts have been fulfilled by Yeshua in the New Testament, as believed by the followers of Messiah, whereas we believe the Fall feasts are yet to be fulfilled by his return.

The Day of Trumpets [Rosh Hashanah] holds the most prophetic significance for End Times revelation, since as believers, we are desperately awaiting that time when the Lord Himself will return to this Earth. Scripture states in 1Thessalonians 4:16-17 that the “Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise; then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord.” Thus, the call of the shofar, signifies our rapture (rapture, or raptum, being the Latin word for "caught up") unto the Lord.

The Day of Atonement [Yom kippur] demonstrates the opening of the books and judgment of those dead and alive, while The Feast of Tabernacles [Sukkot] paints a picture of our receiving our mansions in heaven. [I will delve further into these as we approach these feasts]

I do not believe it necessary, nor obligatory, for Gentile believers to celebrate these holy days as our salvation is by God's mercy and grace, and His Son's sacrifice. We are saved by trusting in Christ alone, not by trusting in him + being circumcised, or + keeping the feast days, or + any works. As Paul states in Romans 14:5-6 "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks."

By this, we can conclude that participation is a personal choice and based upon what God has placed upon an individual's heart by the Ruach, (Holy Spirit). Some may feel more of a connection to God and to Yeshua by maintaining the ancient ways of the Jews, and some do not. There should be no judgment either way. Yet, I also believe that a basic understanding of these ways and original commands for His people, is important to our understanding of God Himself. Although, I will still caution that one must never look upon the observation of these feats as an elevation of themselves above other believers in Yeshua, or above the Jews for that matter. What matters in the end is that we know him, and the power of his resurrection.

L’shanah tovah!!

***Here, I have merely touched upon the significance behind the Rosh Hashanah feast days, but there are many traditions performed during this time, of which would be quite lengthy to explain. If you would like to study further on this topic, feel free to visit: https://lifeinmessiah.org/resources/jewish-holidays/rosh-hashanah/ and

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4830/jewish/How-Is-Rosh-Hashanah-Celebrated.htm