“Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon … where I heard a language I did not understand”
(Ps 81:3 & 5)
Joel 2:1 says the shofar needs to be blown in Zion. Zion is the mountain of the Lord where the Bride (the spiritual Bride) resides. It is both a group of people (Rev 21:9), but also the place of the high calling in Christ (Phil 3:14). The Bride had woken up (Micah 2:13; Matt 11:12) to this calling, the church had alas not. The shofar is God’s instrument to call us back to this high calling in Christ. Ps 81:3-5 spells it out accordingly – “Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon … For this is a statute for Israel, this He established in Joseph as a testimony, when He went throughout the land of Egypt, where I heard a language I did not understand.”
You and I need to become familiar with the symbolic language of the shofar – it speaks of a depth which can cut through history and eternity, which sounds through heaven and earth, proclaiming the ancient message of God’s desire for descendants (Mal 2:15)! Ps 46:6 (a Psalm which the Jews repeat seven times on this feast day), happily announces – “God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of trumpet.”
God ascended with the sound of the shofar?! Indeed, and through this He takes captivity captive and give gifts unto man (Eph 4:8). We ascend IN HIM to our high calling in Christ! Awake, awake o Zion!
Kelly Varner, in his book Sound the alarm turns the word AWAKE into an acronym, using it to explain how the Bride of Christ needs to start thinking in a different way –
- Awareness of your ascension (1 Kings 5:1-4; Eph 1:18-23).
- Wisdom for this new order (2 Kings 3:6-12)
- Accountability in every aspect (Matt 13:1-23)
- Knowledge of the Kingdom (2 Pet 1:3-8); en
- Enterprise of the Kingdom (Acts 1:8)
Ps 89:15 aptly encapsulates the prophetic importance of Yom Teruah – have a look at the different translations –
- “Happy are the people who have knowledge of the holy cry: the light of your face, O Lord, will be shining on their way.” (BBE)
- “Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise, who shout on parade in the bright presence of GOD.” (MSG)
- “O the happiness of the people knowing the shout, O Jehovah, in the light of Thy face they walk habitually.” (WLT)
At Yom Teruah the Jews greet one another with “ketiva ve-chatima tovah”, which means “May you be written and sealed for a good year”. You are written and sealed in the secret language of the Shofar, who is none-other than Jesus Christ Himself (Rev 1:10-11) J.
- Sela: Pray through the AWAKE acronym.
- Read: Deut 23; Jonah 1; Hab 1
- Memorize: Deut 23:5
