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Israel’s 7 Apocalyptic Days
The Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah)
Chapter 1, Part 3 Preview: The Day of Trumpets represents a triumphant return of both “The Lord and His Christ” to claim Their earth (Acts 4:26, Revelation 11:15, 12:10). But for what purpose? The verses in Part 3 comprise some of the “fine print” of the event that has captivated the thoughts of Christians for many centuries (but not so much their intellects). When we look at the shofar (trumpet) Scriptures of prophecy we see the unmistakable connection between the Day of Yehovah (the “Lord”) and trumpet blasts declaring war one more time—the big one! This war will dwarf all previous wars. The Victor will be totally unscathed while the losers will completely cease to exist!
“The Year of Payback”
Again, as we read from the closing remarks of Peter’s Pentecost address, we should bear in mind that Peter thought that his words were strictly a message to “all the House of Israel” as they were entering the end time Day of Yehovah. This will truly be the message that the Two Witnesses will deliver to the 144,000 “sealed” Israelites, as well as the “great multitude” that follows them “out of Great Tribulation”. What other message could possibly be appropriate as they approach their Independence Day?
Acts 2:36-43 So the entire family of Israel should know for certain that Yehovah has made this Yeshua [Jesus], who you crucified, both Master and Messiah.” 37 When they heard these things their consciences were pierced, so they asked Simon and the rest of the envoys, “What should we do?” 38 Simon said, “Amend your ways and be immersed, every one of you in the name of the Master Yeshua for the exoneration of sins, and you will receive the gift of the kadosh spirit, 39 because the promise belongs to you and to your children, and to everyone living far away that Yehovah will call.” 40 ‘Using’ many different ‘approaches’ he plead with them, “Escape from this crooked generation.” 41 Some of them eagerly accepted his teaching and were immersed. That very day about three thousand ‘people’ were added to the assembly. 42 They devoted themselves to the doctrine of the envoys, and fellowshipped together in prayer and in breaking bread. 43 A sense of awe came over everyone, and many miraculous signs and wonders were done ‘by’ the envoys in Jerusalem.—The Gabriel Bible
Here is the perfect illustration about how the truth concerning the Messiah will be received. Israel, and the Jewish people in particular, will undoubtedly be “cut to the heart”. Here is proof that Yehovah’s plan of repentance and physical salvation will come to fruition.
Zechariah 12:6-11 When that day comes I’ll make the leaders of Judah like a like a firepot in a woodpile, like a burning torch among sheaves. They’ll burn up all the surrounding nations right and left, while the people of Jerusalem will once again be secure. 7 Yehovah will save Judah’s tents first, so that the splendor of the David’s dynasty and the splendor of the inhabitants of Jerusalem won’t surpass Judah.
8 When that day comes Yehovah will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the weakest of them will be like David, and David’s descendants will be like Elohim, like the Messenger of Yehovah going before them. 9 When that day comes I’ll begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 Then I’ll pour on the dynasty of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of favor and supplication. They’ll look at Me, the One they’ve pierced, and they’ll mourn for Him, like someone mourns for their only son, and they’ll grieve bitterly for Him, like someone cries over a firstborn. 11 When that day comes there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadad rimmon in the valley of Megiddo [Armageddon].
Firstfruits are Israelites—the people that Elohim first revealed Himself to! No, “Elohim didn’t reject His people, those He foreknew”. But you have to admit that Plan “A” —national salvation—didn’t work too well, but ancient Israel was given the opportunity. Plan “B” is Elohim working with an Assembly of chosen individuals rather than a “chosen” nation. Plan “B” is not working too well at this point in time either, but that is prophesied to change. I urge you to become a part of the “moral minority”!
The Day of Yehovah (the “Lord”) is foreshadowed annually on the Day of Trumpets:
Here are some highlights of the coming Day of Yehovah:
Isaiah 12:6-12 Cry loudly, because the Day of Yehovah is near! It will come like destruction from the Sovereign. 7 That’s why everyone’s hands will go limp, and everyone’s courage will fail. 8 They’ll be terrified. Pain and sorrows will overcome them. They’ll writhe in pain like a woman in labor. They’ll look at each other in astonishment. Their faces aflame with fear. 9 The Day of Yehovah is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation, and to destroy all the sinners within it. 10 The stars in the sky and their constellations will no longer shine. The SUN will be darken when it rises, and the MOON won’t reflect its light. [This event precedes the shaking of v.13, when the Day of Yehovah is “at hand”] 11 I’ll punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their wickedness. I’ll put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and humble the pride of the ruthless. 12 I’ll make people scarcer than pure gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
Zechariah 12:1-3 A revelation [not oracle]. The Word of Yehovah concerning Israel. Yehovah, who stretched out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, says: 2 I’ll make Jerusalem like an intoxicating cup that sends all the surrounding nations reeling, Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem! 3 When that day comes I’ll make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for everyone. Anyone who lifts it will be severely injured. And every nation on earth will be gathered to fight against it.
Here is what will happen to all of the traditional religious leaders of our people who survive the Day of Yehovah:
Zechariah 13:2-5 When that day comes, says Yehovah the Commander, I’ll banish the names of the idols from the land, and they’ll no longer be remembered. I’ll also remove the false prophets and the unclean spirits from the land. 3 If anyone continues to prophesy, then his father and his mother who gave birth to him, will say, “You must die, because you have told lies in the name of Yehovah.” Then his father and his mother who gave birth to him will stab him with a dagger [daqar] when he prophesies. 4 During that future time, every “prophet” will all be ashamed of the visions that they had prophesied. They’ll no longer wear a hairy mantle [religious costume] in order to deceive. 5 He’ll say, “I’m not a prophet, I’m a ‘farm worker. I’ve been one since a man bought me as a slave in my youth.”
The Day of Yehovah involves the whole world—EXCEPT for most of Israel:
Zechariah 14:1-5 The Day of Yehovah is coming, [and when it does then] your possessions will be distributed right in front of you! 2 I’ll gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half of the residents will go into exile, but the rest of the people won’t be cut off from the city. 3 Then Yehovah [the Son] will go out and wage war against those nations, as He previously fought in battle. 4 And in that day His [Yeshua’s] feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, forming a very large valley, [Elohim is on Mt. Zion, Isaiah 10:12] so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 You’ll flee by My mountain valley, because My mountain valley will reach to Azel. Yes, you’ll flee just like you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yehovah my Elohim will come, and all of the kadosh ones with Him.
On the Day of Trumpets, of what is likely to be 2031 AD “Yehovah (the “Lord”) and His Messiah” will take over the earth by force! All of the armies of the world will be fooled into thinking that they should fight against this “invasion from space”! When we look at the shofar [trumpet] Bible verses of prophecy, we see an unmistakable connection between the Day of Yehovah and the use of shofars to declare war! The Day of Trumpets commemorates the Day of Yehovah which lasts a full year (Isaiah 34:8)! The Day of Yehovah is referred to in nearly thirty prophecies. At the very same time that Israel is coming out of the Great Tribulation, the rest of the world is entering the Day of Yehovah! It is the final year of the sixth millennia—the Jubilee year. It is also “Judgment Day”!
Isaiah 34:8 Because Yehovah has a Time of Vengeance, a year of payback settling the dispute over Zion. [Also see Isaiah 61:2 and Isaiah 63:4]
Unlike Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, Trumpets has virtually no explanation whatsoever in Exodus and Leviticus. All we are specifically told about Trumpets is that it is a special “memorial of blowing of trumpets”, and when to celebrate it. The only way to determine why it is celebrated is by understanding its placement in the end time sequence of events, especially as revealed in the book of Revelation, as well as reading the prophecies associated with the sounding of trumpets.
The following ten passages all use the word “trumpet” in virtually every modern version, yet in every one of these particular examples, the Hebrew (and English) word is shofar, which is a ram’s horn. The first two references tie trumpets to the first time that Israel was formally introduced to Yehovah, following their Egyptian captivity.
Exodus 19:16-19 On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud shofar sounded. Everyone in the camp was trembling with fear. 17 Moses led the people out of the camp to meet Elohim, and they stood at the base of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was entirely covered in smoke, because Yehovah descended on it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled severely. 19 As the sound of the shofar escalated more intensely, Moses spoke, and Elohim replied to him.
Exodus 20:18 Everyone heard thunder and saw the lightning, and heard the sounding of the shofar, and saw the mountain smoking. When they saw all this, they trembled, and stood off in the distance.
Psalm 81:3 (more about this later).
The following passages deal with the end of this age, when the Day of Yehovah is about to begin. At this time “The great shofar” will signal the end of Israel’s captivity—when they will be introduced to Yehovah. See for yourself:
Isaiah 27:12-13 When that day comes, Yehovah will thresh [harvest] from the Euphrates river valley to the Nile * of Egypt. You Israelites will be gleaned one by one. 13 Also during that day the great shofar will sound, and those who were dying in the land of Assyria and those who were banished to the land of Egypt will come and worship Yehovah on the Kadosh Mountain in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 4:19-20 My anguish, my anguish! I’m writhing in pain. My heart is racing. I can’t remain silent because I’ve heard the sound of the shofar, the alarm for war. 20 Disaster after disaster is announced. The entire region has been devastated. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains gone instantly.
Before the next captivity, Yehovah will send watchmen, with a message of war and a message of repentance.
Ezekiel 33:5-6 since they heard the sound of the shofar, and ignored the warning. Their shed blood will be their ‘own fault’. But if they had heeded the warning, they could have saved their lives. 6 But if the watchman sees swordsmen coming, and doesn’t blow the shofar, and the people aren’t warned, and the swordsmen come, and ‘kills’ any one of them, they are being punished for their own sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their shed blood.’
Joel 2:1 Blow the shofar in Zion. Sound the alarm on My kadosh mountain! All the inhabitants of the land should tremble, because the Day of Yehovah is coming, it’s soon!
Joel 2:15-20 Blow a shofar in Zion, announce the fast, summon the Festival Assembly. 16 Gather the people. Announce an assembly. Gather the elders. Gather the children, even the nursing babies. The bridegroom should leave his chamber and the bride her chuppah. 17 The priests who serve Yehovah cry between the portico and the altar. They’re saying, “Spare Your people,” Yehovah, and don’t allow Your heritage to be scorned by the enemy, ridiculed by foreigners. Why should the nations ask, ‘Where is their Elohim?’” 18 Then Yehovah will be zealous for His land, and have pity on His people. 19 Yehovah will say to His people: “I’ll send you grain, new wine and oil, you’ll have an abundance! I won’t allow you to be ridiculed by the nations any longer. 20 I’ll remove the northern army far from you, and drive him away into a parched and barren land, with its vanguard driven into the 'Dead' Sea, and rear guard into the 'Mediterranean' Sea. His stench will rise up, the stench of his putrefying will rise, because 'he' has done great things!
Leviticus 25:9-12 Then you will sound the shofar alarm [Literally “shofar shofar”, not Jubilee] on the tenth day of the seventh moon, on the Day of Atonements you’ll sound the shofar alarm thruout your entire land. 10 You’ll dedicate the fiftieth year, and shout liberty thruout the land to all of its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee for you, and each of you can return to your own property, and each of you will return to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee year. During ‘that year’ you won’t plant, or preserve the “after crop”* from what grows by itself, or make wine* from any leftover* grapes. 12 It’s a Jubilee, it will be a ‘time of dedication’ [special] for you. You can eat the fresh voluntary produce from your fields.
Israel will not be driven into the sea!
Zephaniah 1:14-17 The great Day of Yehovah is near, it is near and coming very quickly. Just the sound of the Day of Yehovah will be so bitter that even valiant men will cry out. 15 That day will be a day of fury, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and deep darkness, 16 a day of shofar blowing against the fortified cities and against the high corner towers. 17 I’ll bring distress on mankind, so that they’ll fumble around like the blind, because they’ve sinned against Yehovah, and their blood will gush out onto the ground, and their intestines like manure.
Zechariah 9:14 Yehovah will appear over them, and His arrows will flash like lightning, and the Sovereign Yehovah will sound the shofar, and march into the storm winds from the south.
This next two references to shofar blasts concern the time when Yehovah’s truths begin to spread out beyond Israel:
Isaiah 18:3 Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, everyone who lives on the earth. When a warning banner is raised on the mountain, you’ll see it! When the shofar sounds, you’ll hear it!
Revelation 11:15 The seventh Messenger blew his shofar, and there were voices [the Greek adds “in heaven”, unlike the Aramaic] and thunder that said, “The kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of Yehovah and of His Messiah, and They will reign forever and ever.”
(As a side note, the word ‘He’ above is not in the Greek. The context indicates that “They” will reign. Certainly if “we will reign” {Revelation 20:5}, then both of “Them” are qualified as well.)
I believe that all of these shofar blasts have to do with the “hidden” meaning of the Day of Trumpets.
Leviticus 23:24 “Say to the Israelites, “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a Sabbath assembly, commemorated by blowing shofars, a kadosh public assembly.
While technically the usage of the word “shofars” in the above reference has a somewhat broader meaning than shofar, and can refer to shouting, the use of a wind instrument has always been the preferred means of sounding an alarm in Israel, as in Numbers 31:6. Even a siren is just an “automated shofar (trumpet)”.
This expanded use of the word, that includes the shofar, would fall right in line with the trumpet like voices in the following references: 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Hebrews 12:19, Revelation 1:10, 4:1 and 8:13
The Karaite Korner (a non rabbinic Jewish website) interpretation of “the Day of trumpets”, is interesting. Quotations from Nehemiah Gordon’s web site (a cuddly Anti-Messiah, a Karaite) are provided below. However, because he rejects “the Revelation of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah” his understanding is limited. Because the Jews actually shout prayers, they, grasping to add meaning to the day, believe that the symbolic meaning of the day is actually fulfilled by shouting out prayers!
“Yom Teruah is a holiday on the 1st day of the Seventh month (Tishrei). The Rabbis wrongly call it New Years (Rosh Hashannah) when really it is a Day of Shouting (Teruah) in prayer to God. On the 1st day of the Seventh month (Tishrei) the Torah commands us to observe a ‘Day of Shouting’ (Lev 23:23-25; Nu 29,1-6) on which work is forbidden. This holiday is widely known today by the Rabbinic misnomer ‘Rosh Hashannah’. The Bible never calls this holiday Rosh Hashanah but instead variously calls it Yom Teruah (Day of Shouting) and Zicharon Teruah (Remembrance Shouting). The Rabbis renamed the holiday Rosh Hashana (New Years) claiming that the Jewish year actually begins in Tishrei. The absurdity of this claim is immediately apparent since the Bible refers to this holiday as falling out in the Seventh month (Tishrei is a later name never used in the Torah). How could New Years fall out in the Seventh month?”
“Undoubtedly the Rabbis felt a need to associate Yom Teruah with New Years because they felt uncomfortable that the Bible does not give us a reason for celebrating this holiday as it does for all of the other Biblical holidays (such as the Exodus for Hag Hamatzot and Harvest for Shavuot). However, the true nature of Yom Teru’ah can be adduced from its name. In the Bible ‘Teruah’ means to make a loud noise either by blowing a horn (e.g. Shofar Lev 25:9; Silver Trumpets Nu 10:5-6) or by shouting in prayer (Ps 100:1). The purpose of Yom Teru’ah then was probably to shout to YHWH in prayer similar to the idea commonly expressed in the Psalms such as ‘Shout unto God with a singing voice!’ (Ps 47,2) which uses the same verbal root as ‘Teruah’. The Rabbis claim that this noise making can only be done with a Shofar (ram’s horn). There is no Biblical evidence for this assertion and on the contrary as has been shown the word ‘Teruah’ can indicate various methods of noise making from shouting in prayer to blowing on the Silver Trumpets (Nu 10) all of which the Bible describes as acts of worshiping YHWH (see also Psalm 150).”
For a more detailed explanation of when the Biblical year really begins, see “How Yom Teruah Became Rosh Hashanah” —by Nehemia Gordon
“No man knows the day or the hour”
Exactly what is it that “no one knows the day and the hour” of? There certainly are a lot of clues!
If Yeshua already told us that all of these things happen “immediately after the tribulation of those days”, and we know that the Tribulation lasts 1,260 days, then what is this “But of that day and hour no one knows” business all about? After listing all of these specific and unmistakable signs, did Yeshua then decide to confuse the issue? Actually, He was adding the final detail! But first let’s read the account:
Matthew 24:29-36 Immediately after the time of Tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon won’t shed her light and stars will fall from the sky [See footnote on Isaiah 34:4], and the inherent power of the skies will be shaken. 30 Then the miraculous sign of the Human Son will be seen in the sky, and then all the nations on earth will mourn when they see the Human Son coming on the cloud [singular, as in Luke 21:27] from heaven with great power and splendor. 31 Then He’ll send out His spirit messengers with a loud shofar blast and they’ll gather together His selected people from the four winds [north, south, east and west], from one farthermost bound of the horizon [heaven] to the other. 32 Learn from an analogy about the fig tree. As soon as its branches become tender and it produces leaves, you know that summer is imminent. 33 Similarly, when you actually see all of these things, you’ll know that He’s near the door! 34 It is certain that the Israelite nation [Aramaic Sharebtha: tribe, people, nation] will not disappear before all these things have taken place. 35 Heaven and earth will arrive [4], and My words will never disappear. 36 But no one knows the day or hour, not even the Messengers in Heaven, but the Father alone.
[4] Parerchomai can mean both “pass away” and “come near, come forward, arrive!” It could be that this is a play on the word contrasting the future “arrival” of the New Heaven and the New Earth with the present and eternal nature of His words never “passing away”.
While today’s typical Bible reader has no idea about a surprise Festival Day, Yeshua’s audience was fully aware of the one Festival Day that comes every year, but never with advance notice. In fact “no one knows the day or hour” of the visible New Moon of the seventh month, until the crescent is actually seen—then the “shofar” is sounded signaling that the Day of Trumpets has just begun:
Psalm 81:3 Blow the shofar at the sighting of the New Moon, [root word, not the assumed full moon] , in the month when one of our Festival Days is conceiled [1].
[1] This is how it is translated from the oldest known Scriptures*, the Aramaic targums: “4 Blow the horn in the month of Tishri, in the month in which the day of our festivals is concealed.” The verse numbers differ slightly. The Day of Trumpets sneeks up on us like a thief in the night. Your Bible probably translates kece as “full moon” rather than “covered moon” here, like the NLT, the NASB and the NKJV etc. But the root word indicates the exact opposite. The moon is virtually covered or concealed or hidden at the New Moon. It is impossible for the New Moon and the full moon to coincide.
Rather than obscuring the timing of His return, Yeshua was actually indicating that He will be returning on the first day of the seventh month—following these events—just like the crescent moon would be making its “surprise” appearance.
Some of us actually rely on a true observance of the crescent New Moon, from Jerusalem, to determine when the seventh month begins and this signals the Day of Trumpets. Others in Israel are awaiting a Sanhedren before returning to the use of actual sitings. Modern Jewish calculations do not consistently coincide with visible New Moons, calculations are “approximate New Moons”—actual New Moons must be witnessed! My friend Rick remarked that the Day of Trumpets came as a “thief in the night” for us in 2004. Cloud cover often delays the sighting of the New Moon—adding a day to the sixth month. Was it an oversight on Yehovah’s part that the Day of Trumpets can come as a total surprise even with modern computer forecasts? We can still be surprised, and “not know the day or the hour” when the sighting of the New Moon arrives on a “too close to call” year. Consider each Feast of Trumpets as a preparedness check! Spring, 2031, the year I believe will be the Jubilee year, and the Fall Feast of Trumpets when Yeshua visibly returns, will be one of those “too close to call” years. It is beyond computer projections! Unfortunately the US Naval observatory is no longer online showing that the miniscule percentage of the moon possibly visible is too close to call. But the end results thru 2050 are here!
This would be a great time for our planet to return to a symetrical predictable 360 day year with no more surprise New Moons.)
Here is my favorite “thief in the night” verse, but with the metaphoric meaning explained by two Strong’s numbers. I did use the word “minister” instead of “teacher”, because that is what they call themselves today.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 because you know for certain that the Day of Yehovah will come like a thieving false “minister” in the time of moral stupidity and darkness. 3 When people are saying, “Peace and tranquility”, then suddenly destruction will overtake them like the labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they won’t escape. 4 But you, Friends, aren’t in darkness. That Day won’t catch you off guard like a thieving false “minister”,
If you are seized by the Day of the Master as if by a thieving false “minister” in the time of moral stupidity and darkness, it is because you will have been asleep!
The Masters’ Day
The book of Revelation goes into great detail describing the events that are accompanied by trumpet blasts.
Revelation 8:2 I saw the seven Messengers who stand before Yehovah, and they were given seven shofars.
In the next verse, Yehovah’s Day (aka “the Lord’s Day) translates exactly as “the Day of the ‘Lord’” in Hebrew—the most prophesied event in the Bible.
Revelation 1:10 I was in the spirit realm on Yehovah’s Day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a shofar that said,
The entire Book of Revelation is about the Day of Yehovah. There is only one reference to “Lord’s Day” in the Greek translations, but there are over thirty other places in the Tanak (Hebrew Scriptures) describing the same events that John was describing in Revelation, using the term “Day of the Lord”.
The Day of Trumpets is associated with a battle cry. Historically, battle cries have usually been accompanied by the sounding of trumpets. The next great event, in the saga of end time prophecy, following the Second Exodus, is the Day of Yehovah. The nations of Israel will have been in captivity for most of the 1,260 day period. Yet at the sounding of this triumphant trumpeting “voice”, Israel’s woes will end and the woes of her enemies will suddenly begin as Yehovah and His Messiah return!
The Day of Trumpets memorializes, in advance, Yehovah And Hid Messiah’s conquest of the Earth!
Revelation 4:1 After this, I looked and saw a door open in the sky! The first voice that I heard was like a shofar talking with me. It said, “Come up here and I’ll show you the things that must happen after this.”
This again, is a reference to the trumpeting voices that will be heard “on the Lord’s Day”, concerning “things that must happen after this.”
This culmination of the Trumpet plagues is described in the most wonderful of terms. This is when “Yehovah AND His Messiah” “reign forever”!
I believe that actual shofars will sound, preceding some astounding voices, as was the case just before Israel was given the Ten Commandments, as we saw in Exodus 19:18-19 and Exodus 20:18.
The voices of Yehovah and His Messengers can be quite frightening. That is why Israel, in the wilderness, asked to listen to Moses instead of Yehovah directly. (Exodus 20:19)
2 Samuel 22:14 Yehovah thundered from heaven. The Highest’s One’s voice resounded.
Job 37:5 Elohim’s voice thunders extraordinarily. He does amazing things that we can’t even comprehend. [Also Job 27:2-5]
The “Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10) is the climactic conclusion of “this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). Once the seventh Messenger (angel) sounds, Yehovah’s absence will no longer be a mystery. False religions and Atheism will be history:
Revelation 10:7 When the time comes for the seventh Messenger to blow his shofar, the mystery of Yehovah will be finished, just as He announced to His servants the prophets.
In fact from that point in time and onward, there will be precious little knowledge withheld from humanity:
Habakkuk 2:14 The earth will be as filled with the awareness of the splendor of Yehovah, as water covering the sea.
The following quotation describes the entire “first coming” mission as described in Luke 4:17-19. Of course Yeshua was actually declaring, to anyone familiar with Isaiah, that He would fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1-2.
Luke 4:18-19 “The spirit of Yehovah is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the oppressed and to herald release from bondage to the captives, to give the blind vision, to assure the penitent by liberating them from their sins, 19 and to announce the Acceptable Year [1] of Yehovah”.
[1] This reference to “the Acceptable Year of Yehovah” as well as 2 Corinthians 6:2 is usually and correctly associated with the Jubilee year, tho unfortunately there is seldom any significance attributed to Jubilees. The quote is directly tied to the Day of Atonements fast in Isaiah 58:6, when the Jubilee was announced in advance, but NOT begun—(keyword: FAQ)! The Jubilee year is also the Day of vengeance or “Day of Yehovah” from Isaiah 61:1-3 that ends year 6000.
The fact that He abruptly quit reading the second verse midway thru was an indication that the later portion would be fulfilled later. He did not fulfill: “And the day of vengeance of Yehovah; to comfort all who mourn...” and all of the other “millennial” prophecies expressed in the rest of the chapter that pertain to the “second coming”. Yet the former things were fulfilled, within His human mission including the proclamation of the Jubilee year in Luke 4:19.
These later prophecies of Isaiah 61 will be fulfilled in the next Jubilee year. Yeshua will personally proclaim liberty to the captive nations of Israel as the scales are falling from their blinded eyes in the next “acceptable year of Yehovah”.
You may want to continue reading Isaiah 61 to get more of the context concerning the next “acceptable year”.
The Time of Vengeance and Redemption
The earth will be as filled with the awareness of the splendor of Yehovah, as water covering the sea.Isaiah 61:2-3 to proclaim the favorable year of Yehovah, and the time of vengeance of our Elohim [Yeshua] (Jesus) stopped quoting here.], and to comfort everyone who mourns [due to the end time holocaust], 3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them head coverings instead of ashes on their heads, the oil of joy instead of mourning, clothing of praise instead of a spirit of weakness, so that they can be called terebinth trees of righteousness, a cluster planted by Yehovah, so that they can display His splendor.
Here are a couple of the many other references concerning the Day of Yehovah:
Jeremiah 46:10 That day is the day of the Sovereign, Yehovih the Commander, a day of vengeance when He will take vengeance on His enemies. His sword will devour until it has had enough, and drink its fill of their blood, because the Sovereign Yehovih the Commander has an atoning zebak to make in the North Country by the river Euphrates.
We associate the number seven with Yehovah and good things, and even such things as the seven last plagues. The Day of Yehovah will occupy exactly one year, and it will follow the last Sabbatical seven year cycle of this age. Daniel 9:26-27 indicates that most of the last Sabbatical cycle belongs to an evil “prince”, one whose “abominations... makes desolate”. Even in this, Satan’s last hurrah, Yehovah is in control—regulating the Beast’s coming and going within an exact time frame.
In this passage we see the Redeemer, the “Messenger of His Presence” contemplating the coming time of vengeance:
Isaiah 63:4-9 The Day of Vengeance was on My mind, and My Year of Redemption has come. 5 I looked around, and no one was there to help, and I was appalled that there was no support, so I supplied My ‘own’ deliverance, and My wrath sustained Me. 6 I trampled the people in My anger, and made them drunk in My fury, and I spilled their lifeblood on the ground. 7 I’ll mention the loving kindness of Yehovah, and the renown of Yehovah, because of everything that Yehovah has done for the nation of Israel, that He has done for them in His compassion, and by His unlimited mercy. 8 He said, “Surely, these are My people, children who won’t defraud Me.” So He rescued them. 9 In all their distress He too was distressed, and the Messenger of His Presence rescued them. In His love and mercy He reclaimed them. He lifted them up and carried them for many years in the past.
Following Satan’s allotted time, he is cut short of finishing his destruction of Israel. This is when Yehovah avenges the enemies of Israel for a full year.
There is yet another aspect of the coming Day of Yehovah that I am quite interested in participating in. A trumpet blast will also signify the resurrection of “those who are the Messiah’s at His coming”! We will not miss out on this splendid occasion! The “first fruits” aspect of “His coming” alludes to a Pentecost “resurrection of the dead”. But further into the “Resurrection chapter” it says that the resurrection will take place “at the last trumpet”, and that would be after the whole “shootin match”. If this is the case then we would not be resurrected until the Philadelphian members of “the seven Churches” (actually “Assemblies”), and perhaps some others had already been protected from the Great Tribulation (Revelation 3:10) within a place of safety called New Jerusalem! If this translation is correct and we are to interpret that this is the last of the seven trumpet plagues rather than in the general time frame of all of the last Trumpets, then it seems that we will have to wait a while for the resurrection/transformation. These plagues, along with the simultaneous bowl plagues and the seven seals, constitute the Day of Yehovah.
1 Corinthians 15:12-52 Now if we announce that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, why do some of you claim that there’s no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead then the Messiah hasn’t been resurrected. 14 If the Messiah hasn’t been resurrected then our heralding is worthless and your faith is worthless. 15 Also, we would even be proved to be false witnesses about Yehovah because we testified on Yehovah’s behalf that He raised the Messiah, if in fact the dead aren’t resurrected. ... 21 Since one man brought about death, so another man brought about the resurrection of the dead. 22 Everyone dies because of Adam, but in contrast, because of the Messiah everyone will be restored to Life, 23 but everyone in their order, Messiah was the firstfruit, later, at His coming, those who are the Messiah’s. 24 Then the end of these events comes when He’ll have handed over the Kingdom to Yehovah, when every ruler and every government and every powerful force will have been overthrown. 25 For He [Yeshua] must rule until He vanquishes all of His enemies. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. ... 35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? And what kind of body will they return with?” ... 50 Friends, I tell you that flesh and blood can’t inherit the Kingdom of the Heavens, nor can the perishable inherit perpetuity. 51 See, I’ll explain a mystery to you, we won’t all die, but we’ll all be transformed! 52 In the smallest possible fraction of a second [Gr. atomos], while the last [seventh] shofar is sounding, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be transformed!
The phrase that Paul used about death being devoured (v.54) is a direct reference to Isaiah’s statement about “a feast” when Yehovah will see to it that death itself is devoured!
While this is not a reference to the Day of Trumpets (one of the three annual pilgrimage Feasts), it is nevertheless well associated with Yehovah’s plan, as illustrated by all seven Biblical Feasts and Festivals Days. The distinction between a Feast Day (chag) and a Festival (moed) are quite easily separated in Hebrew, but not in the English translations as explained in three times a year!)
Isaiah 25:6-9 On this mountain, Yehovah the Commander will prepare a ‘lavish’ banquet using the ‘best foods’ for every nation, a banquet with well aged wines, of ‘choice’ pieces full of marrow, and refined wines. 7 On this mountain He’ll remove the ‘covering that looms over’ all people, the veil that ‘overshadows’ every nation. 8 He will devour death forever! The Sovereign Yehovah will wipe away the tears from every face. He’ll eliminate the scorn of His people from the entire earth. Yehovah has spoken! 9 Israel will be saying in that day, “This is our Elohim! We have been waiting for Him to rescue us! This is Yehovah! We’ve been waiting for Him. Let’s rejoice and celebrate His rescue!”
Once we are resurrected there will be no more death for us. This is not to say that humans will no longer be born, marry, have children, and die. Ezekiel chapters 40 thru 48 all describe the time period extending into the Everlasting Kingdom. Few dare to admit this, preferring to view these nine chapters as historic or allegorical!
The following circumstances are to be a part of the coming millennium:
Ezekiel 44:9,25 The Sovereign Yehovah says: No foreigner with an uncircumcised mindset and uncircumcised flesh will enter My Temple, including foreigners who live in Israel. ... 25 They must not defile themselves by going near a dead person. However, for a father or mother, or a for son or daughter, or for a brother or unmarried sister they can defile themselves.
When “Jeremiah’s” “New Covenant” is actually implemented then: “I’ll put My Torah [Law] in the very seat of their thoughts and emotions; I’ll write it onto their minds.” People will still have to face their own mortality while they consider their opportunity to obtain immortality. We’ll pick up on this thought in part 4.
The dates for the Feasts and Festival Days for the current year are found at the red link below.
Now for Part 4
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