Beginning the Preparations?

Thus far I have shared with you some of the things that are involved with this month of Elul like repentance and the meaning of the shofar in awakening that which has been apathetic or slumbering. It is a time of preparation.

Preparation for what?

In one week, the month of Elul will come to an end and the seventh month of Tishri will begin. The seventh month was only mentioned by name once in the Bible and that was prior to the exile to Babylon. The seventh month of Ethanim is found 1^st Kings 8:2. If you read that verse you will see that the men have gathered for the Feast. While the month of Tishri is not mentioned by name in the Bible, the “seventh month” is mentioned more than any other month in the Bible except for the first month, the month of Passover. Many of those mentionings have to do with the following dates.

The first day of the seventh month is “Yom Teruah”. The first day of the seventh month is known and mentioned as “Yom Teruah” in the Bible. Never, is it mentioned as “Rosh Hoshana” in the Hebrew language. “Yom Teruah” is the “Day of the Great Shout”. “Rosh Hoshana” is “head of the new year”. A great shout is given when there is a victory. What victory?

Yom Teruah, or Rosh Hoshana, is the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets. Why is that so important?

That day will be the day fulfilling a promise! Could it possibly be 1^st Thessalonians 4:16?

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of  God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”  1^st Thessalonians 4:16 (NASB emphasis is my own)

 

Remember, Yom Teruah means “Day of the Great shout”. Could it be that this is the day that Christ will return with a great shout and the trumpet of God? Perhaps. I believe it to be so. But we do not know WHICH Yom Teruah this might occur. Not even Jesus Himself knew.

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” Matthew 24:36 (NASB95)

And consider Acts 1:7.

“He said to them, “It is not for you to know Times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.” Acts 1:7 (NASB95)

I smile to myself when I see or read someone predicting the “end of time” or “the rapture”. Clearly, they do not know. I realize, however, that they are looking forward to this time and are trying to warn others to prepare. That is what this season of “teshuva” or “turning back to something you’ve lost sight of” during the sixth month of Elul and into the seventh month of Tishri is for. It is a preparation!

Just in case you are thinking that there is no need to repent, allow me to direct you to the Letter to Ephesus in the Book of Revelation.

“But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and  repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place —unless you repent.”  Revelation 2:4-5 (NASB95 emphasis is my own)

You may say, “Lonnie, He’s speaking to the church at Ephesus.” I say that He is speaking to a modern church! Even so, we are deep into the NEW TESTAMENT here prophetically. There is this concern that each of the seven churches in Revelation fits a description of a modern church!

Beware and take notice! You are being warned!

This is the 22^nd day of Elul. The time to repent and turn back. If it were not necessary, God would not have given us this Word to remember! It is a season of preparation.

Listen! Awaken! Hear the Trumpet! Repent! Prepare yourselves! The kingdom of God is at hand!

I am The Old Watchman, Ezekiel. You have been warned!

 

 

Scripture copyrights