Fall Feasts

Most Christians don’t know about the Fall Holidays of ancient Israel: Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Tabernacles (Sukkoth). If the spring festivals so clearly prophesied the first coming of Messiah, it stands to reason that the fall festivals are prophetic of His second coming. The way these holidays are celebrated reveals specific information of the way they will be prophetically fulfilled.

Preparations for the Fall Holidays begin a full month in advance. On the Jewish calendar it is a forty-day season called Teshuvah (return to repentance). This forty-day season is a time for one to annually examine his life and restore relationships between God and man. The last ten days of this forty-day season are the Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement, or the ten High Holy Days (Days of Awe).

The Jews start the celebration of the Fall Holidays thirty days prior to the Feast of Trumpets, which falls on the first day of the seventh month. For thirty days the shofar is blown every morning in the Synagogue to remind the people that the holy days are approaching, and that they should prepare themselves. Their preparation consists of confessing their sins and seeking forgiveness, and going back to fix mistakes made during the year. The ten days between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) are called the Days of Awe.

The long period between The Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Trumpets is symbolic of the long period between the formation of the church at the Feast of Weeks and the regathering of Israel to the trumpet blast calling all born-again believers.