Zeph 1.15-18 says that there is a day of wrath, trouble, distress, destruction, desolation, darkness and gloom coming. Zeph 2.1-3 then goes on to say that “before” the decree (Yom Teruah is a Yom ha Din) takes effect, perhaps you will be “hidden” in the day of the Lord’s anger (the Birth-pains). Isa 26.19 speaks of a resurrection and that the righteous will go into their rooms and “hide” for a little while, until the indignation (Birth-pains) runs its course (Isa 26.20). These passages are referring to the time of Teshuvah and God calls for his people to escape judgment. What are they being separated to? First, the wedding of the Messiah and his coronation in heaven. Who is the body of Messiah? It is all believers, not the current tradition of only the “church.” Yom Teruah is also called “Yom ha Zikkuron” or the “day of remembrance” for those who have been called by the Spirit (Mal 3.16). Yom Teruah is also called “the last trump” in 1 Thes 4 and 1 Cor 15. So, let’s explain the shofarim, or the “trumpets.”
To understand what the “last trump” means we need to go back to Gen 22 and the ram caught in the thicket. The “first trump” refers to the betrothal of Israel to God at Mount Sinai (Jer 2.2). Exo 19.19-20 takes place on what would be known as Shavuot. The left horn of the ram is the first trump and the betrothal, the right horn is the last trump and the wedding of the Messiah. This is Yom Teruah and that is why these two horns are idiomatically called the first and last trump, referring to the two stages of betrothal and the full wedding. A shofar is also related to the coronation. Shofar’s sounded with Absalom and his coronation, and also with Joash in 2 Kings 11.12-14. Remember, there are two shofarim, one at betrothal and the other at the coronation. The resurrection of the righteous coincides with the coronation on Yom Teruah (1 Cor 15.51-52; 1 Thes 4.13-18). Jewish thought states that there are ten reasons for blowing the shofar on Yom Teruah. One of the reasons is the resurrection. Isa 13.1-3 talks about the believers being called face to face to the Lord. Isa 18.3 talks about the believers on the earth and dwellers “in” the earth (the dead) hearing a shofar. Yom Teruah teaches that resurrection and the wedding of the Messiah are themes for this festival. Once believers are called to the Lord in heaven, there is a chronology that is associated with this feast. There will be the wedding of the Messiah to his bride, then his coronation as King. Then the theme of Yom ha Zikkuron (day of remembrance) kicks in with rewards to the believers at the Bema seat judgment. The bride (the believers) and the bridegroom (Yeshua) enter into the wedding chuppah for the bridal week, which corresponds to the seven year Birth-pains. The righteous are being separated for all of these reasons and we are not only subjects of the King, but his bride. This seven year period is called a “shavuah” and it corresponds to the seven day bridal week. After these seven years, we will come out of the bridal chamber (chuppah) as seen in Joel 2.15-16. That means we have been in there for a “shavuah” or seven years eschatologically.
The resurrection of the dead is seen as happening “on the last day” (John 11.24) and that is an idiom for the Messianic Kingdom. The weekly Sabbath is a weekly rehearsal for this period. When does the catching away of the bride happen during the “last day?” It happens at the beginning, on Yom Teruah (1 Cor 15.51-52; 1 Thes 4.15-16; Job 14.7-15; Isa 57.1). Revelation chapters 4 and 5 is telling us of this resurrection and coronation. Remember the idiomatic phrases associated with Yom Teruah like “the doors are open”, “trumpet” (shofar), “the court is seated” (it is Yom ha Din, a day of judgment) and the “books are opened.” All of these phrases and idioms are seen in Revelation 4 and 5. So, by deduction, we know it is Yom Teruah, or Rosh ha Shannah. In Revelation 5 we have a picture of the coronation of Messiah. A scroll is given to Yeshua, just like with Joash in 2 Kings 11.12. In a book called ‘Ancient Israel” by Roland DeVeaux, there is a chapter on the coronation of Judean kings. and these points are brought out. Psa 2 and Dan 7.9-13 also reefer to this.
In summary, what happens to the righteous on Yom Teruah? They are resurrected (Isa 26.20), they vanish (Isa 57.1-2) and they are hidden (Zeph 2.3). That leaves two groups on earth, the average sinner called the “chata’im” who still have a chance to be saved by the Lord, and the desperately wicked, called the “rashim.” They are like so many in the Scriptures who, no matter what, will never be saved. (like Pharaoh). These two groups will go into the Yamin Noraim (the days of awe, the Birth-pains, the time of Jacobs Trouble, the indignation), and the false messiah rises from obscurity. They will face the Birth-pains if they are not born again and hidden before the day of the Lord begins (Zeph 2.1-3). The purpose of the Yamin Noraim is not their destruction, but for salvation (Hos 5.15). This time period called the Birth-pains and the time of Jacobs Trouble is numbered ( Dan 7, 9 and Rev 11, 12, 13). It is a 2520 day period broken up into two parts of 1260 days each. This is three and a half years referred to as “time, times, and half a time” in the Scriptures, or 42 months.
So, we understand that Yom Teruah is the “day of the awakening blast” (Num 29.1-2), also called Rosh ha Shannah. This is the day the day of the Lord, lasting 1000 years, begins. There will be a resurrection, wedding, coronation and judgment. The Scriptures give many pictures of this, but we will name a few. David reigned for seven years in Hebron (an idiom for heaven) and then moved his throne to Jerusalem, just like Yeshua will do (1 Kings 2.11). In Gen 6.3 it says that man’s days are numbered to 120 years. If you take 120 and multiply that by 50 (the years of the Yovel, or “jubilee years) you come to 6000 years. Then the day of the Lord starts and he takes over. There were six steps to Solomon’s throne, meaning six thousand years and then the Kingdom. Joash was hidden in the house of the Lord for six years (6000 years) and then revealed in the seventh year (2 Kings 11.3-4). Yeshua reveals himself for four days, then goes away, and on the third day there was a wedding (Jon 1.19 to 2.1). These are just a few of the pictures we have to illustrate this concept in the Scriptures.
So, in review, Yom Teruah (Rosh ha Shannah teaches us that we have the day of judgment (Yom ha Din) on Yom Teruah, we have shofar and the resurrection, the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom, the coronation and wedding of the Messiah and the giving of rewards. The average sinner and the wicked enter into the Yamin Noraim, the days of awe, or the Birth-pains, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, the time of indignation, or what is commonly known as the Tribulation period. This brings us up to the next festival called Yom Kippur. We will begin to deal with that festival and its eschatological implications in Part 3 of the Fall Festivals.
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