Haggai's first prophecy came at the beginning of the month of Elul, a time of repentance.

Julia rejoices at redemption through Jesus

Further signs of the imminent return of our Lord and Saviour

Time to taste the sweet honey of following Yeshua.

I was looking forward, with some trepidation, to blowing the shofar in front of hundreds of schoolchildren last week. But in the end my wife, who teaches Christianity and the Jewish feasts to primary pupils all across our town, decided she was perfectly capable of thus sounding the trumpet.

And as Jews welcome their New Year festival of Rosh Hashanah in this way, and enjoy the tradition of apples dipped in honey, I feel there is something of an apocalyptic, end time significance about this particular anniversary.

Significant Anniversaries Ahead

It ushers in the year 5777, which has a resonance of its own with three sevens – the latter being the 'perfect' number in biblical terms. And in the Gregorian calendar which most of us follow, we will soon be welcoming 2017, a date of huge relevance to Israel on three counts.

First, it will mark the jubilee, or golden anniversary (50 years), since the Six Day War of 1967 when the Old City of Jerusalem – the holiest property in all Judaism – was restored to Jewish hands for the first time in more than 2,000 years. Some scholars have suggested that this awesome event represented the fulfilment of "the times of the Gentiles" referred to by Yeshua (Jesus) when he said: "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (Luke 21:24).

The new year will also mark 70 years since the historic United Nations vote to recognise Israel when, although Arab states opposed the resolution, the required two-thirds majority was achieved which set the scene for the re-birth of Israel the following year.

The year 5777 will mark and contain several significant anniversaries.

Jesus' Return Close

Bear in mind what Jesus said about the lesson learned from the fig tree, which is symbolic of Israel. He said that when it buds and blossoms at a time when the world is in great upheaval with wars, famines and earthquakes, we would know that his coming is near. Then he said: "This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened" (Matt 24:34).

In other words, the generation (possibly lasting 70 years, man's allotted lifespan according to Psalm 90:10) witnessing these extraordinary events would live to see "all these things" happening. Could that include his actual return? We cannot be certain, but it's a distinct possibility. And as one born the year after the state of Israel, I find that both hugely exciting as well as rather scary.

The Zionist Hope

But neither of these hugely historic anniversaries would have been possible without Britain's Balfour Declaration of 1917, which effectively cleared the path for Israel's restoration. The centenary of this crucial milestone in the Jews' long journey home is in danger of being lost in the mists of political correctness, but it needs to be celebrated with gusto. It may not be as topical as our current Brexit endeavours, but it is also something for which Britain can be justly proud.

It amounted to a British government promise, from Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour, to do all in its power to facilitate the creation of a homeland in Palestine (as the region was then known) for the Jewish people. And it came about largely through the efforts of 19th Century evangelical Christians, allied to the rise of Zionism under Theodor Herzl. When all is said and done, it was the preachers and politicians who knew their Bible – and the God of the Bible – who undoubtedly most influenced the government of the day. They clearly saw that it was our duty as a Christian nation to love and support the Jews, and to facilitate their return to their ancient homeland.

The preachers and politicians of the 19th Century knew their Bible – and with God, influenced the government of the day.

They also knew – and this was crucial to their support – that it wasn't just about land, but about the Lord; that though the Bible clearly speaks of a restoration of Israel from every corner of the globe, such restoration would precede their national return to the God of Israel, the Father of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, which would in turn usher in our Lord's Second Coming. Ezekiel prophesied: "I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land...And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezek 36:24-27).

It was this truth, above all, that drove our British forefathers to pray, proclaim and work towards fulfilment of the Zionist dream.

God is Seeking a Bride

God is seeking a Bride with whom he wishes to rendezvous back in their ancient land where he first 'courted' her. There she learnt to walk in his ways and the prophets tried, often in vain, to encourage faithfulness to the one true God.

When the Balfour promise was made back in November 1917, the Holy Land still belonged to the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which had ruled the region for 400 years. But within weeks it was in British hands, which handed on a plate the opportunity for us to make good our pledge.

However, because we reneged on many of our promises and dealt treacherously with the Jews as we made repeated concessions in a bid to appease Arab demands, it took another three decades – and the death of millions at the hands of the Nazis – before the founding fathers were finally in a position to re-create the state of Israel.

The Zionist dream is not just about Jews returning to the Land. It heralds their prophesied return to the Lord and – ultimately – his return to the Earth.

Please forgive us, Israel, and in the meantime rejoice that even without our help in more recent times – though certainly with God's help – you have come this far.

May God's love surround you at this special time and cause you to know the fear of the Lord and his decrees, which are "sweeter than honey" (Ps 19:10).

In this beautiful psalm of King David, we see how much he loves the law, the statutes, the precepts and the commands of the Lord. "They are more precious than gold...and sweeter than honey." And all of this is perfectly fulfilled in Yeshua, who told the crowds on the Mount of Beautitudes at Capernaum: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them" (Matt 5:17).

In our series on the Jewish High Holy Days, Helen Belton examines Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

As the season known in Jewish tradition as the 'High Holy Days' begins, Helen Belton looks at the meaning and significance of Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) or the Feast of Trumpets.

This Sunday night, Jewish people around the world will gather in synagogues and homes to celebrate the eve of the Jewish New Year with prayers, songs and food - particularly sweet food (typically apples and honey), symbolising the desire for a sweet year ahead. People greet each other with "Shanah Tovah!" or 'Good Year!'

This festival is known in the Bible as the 'Feast of Trumpets', but how did it also become known as Jewish New Year? In the Bible the instructions about this festival are sparse.
Leviticus 23:23-25:

The Lord said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the Lord.'"

Numbers 29:1-6:

On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth.

Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are food offerings presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma...

Is New Year in the Bible?

No mention of New Year, so how did the association come about? Biblically, New Year is at Passover. Exodus 12:2: "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year." It is a more obvious choice, as it marks the redemption from Egypt.

However, in rabbinic tradition the first of the month of Tishri, the day of the Feast of Trumpets, came to be known as Rosh HaShanah, literally 'Head of the Year' ('Rosh' is Hebrew for head, 'ha' is the definite article, and 'shanah' means year). This may have arisen because Exodus 23:26 and Exodus 34:22 describe the Feast of Tabernacles (also known as the Feast of Ingathering, i.e. of the harvest) which takes place 15 days later as occurring at the end (or turn) of the year, signifying the close of the agricultural year and the beginning of the next.¹ Ezekiel 40:1 also speaks of the time of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, which follows 10 days after Rosh HaShanah) as being at the beginning of the year. Also, Ezra read the Torah (the Law of Moses) before Israel on Tishri 1 in Jerusalem (Neh 7:73-8:9).²

The Jewish historian Josephus wrote in the first century: "Moses...appointed Nisan [the month of Passover]...as the first month for the festivals...the commencement of the year for everything relating to divine worship, but for selling and buying and other ordinary affairs he preserved the ancient order [i.e. the year beginning with Tishri]" (Antiquities 1.81).³

In rabbinic tradition, the 1st of the month of Tishri became the first day of the new year for all ordinary affairs, perhaps because of its proximity to the turn of the agricultural year.

Day of Judgement

In Jewish tradition, the gates of heaven are opened at Rosh HaShanah and closed on Yom Kippur. In between are Ten Days of Repentance (Aseret Yemei Teshuvah). By the end of Yom Kippur, one hopes to be inscribed in God's Book of Life.

Rosh HaShanah is also known as 'Yom HaDin', or 'Day of Judgement'. We are called before the heavenly Judge to give account for the deeds of the preceding year and to be weighed in the balance. Abraham Chill writes:

Satan stands there to indict him. Armed with accusations, incriminations and denunciations he charges that this person is incorrigible and irredeemable; he sins continually; she brazenly defines the word of God – in short, this man or woman deserves to die.

In order to negate the accusations of the enemy, preparation for Rosh HaShanah begins early.

On the first day of the month of Elul (which began this year at sundown on 14 August), prayers of repentance, known as selichot, are said. A custom that has grown up in the last 200 years is to read Psalm 27 every day during the month of Elul, with its emphasis on the light and salvation of the Lord, the plea that the Lord would not hide his face in anger, or reject or forsake, and the final command to "Wait for the Lord". There is also a custom of saying repentance prayers (known as tashlich, meaning casting) at a body of water, to reflecting Micah 7:19, "You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."

Blowing the Shofar

The daily blowing of the shofar or ram's horn begins at Rosh HaShanah, a sound which heralds the period known as the High Holy Days or the 'Days of Awe' (Yamim Noraim).
The sound of the shofar is the rallying call to repentance (Heb. teshuvah, literally return). Psalm 89:15 states: "Blessed is the people that knows the joyful sound". In Hebrew, "joyful sound" is teruah, the sound of the ram's horn, and so the Feast of Trumpets is known as Yom Teruah. Teruah means a massive shout, either by a crowd or by a ram's horn, the kind of shout that caused the walls of Jericho to come tumbling down (Josh 6:20).

Teruah is a form of prayer that appears several times in the Psalms: "All you people clap your hands, raise a joyous shout (teruah) to God" (Psa 47:2). During their travels in the desert, the sound of the shofar alerted the people of Israel when it was time to move on. Both meanings of teruah, a joyous shout of supplication and the sounding of the shofar, unite in Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets).

The daily blowing of the shofar is intended to rally people to repentance and is said to herald God's judgment and victory.

There is an imperative to this sound: it is awe-inspiring and can make us tremble. When God gave the Torah at Mount Sinai, the shofar sounded: "On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled" (Ex 19:16).

A call to repentance

The sound of the shofar commands repentance. It is an opportunity we spurn at our peril. "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion" says Psalm 81 (also Psalm 95 and Hebrews 3:15). The "rebellion" refers to the incident where Moses struck the rock and water came out after the Israelites complained about lack of water. It became synonymous with the people of Israel testing their God. The correct order is established at Rosh HaShanah: God tests his people. We must be soft-hearted and repentantly open to God's testing, rather than hard-hearted, querulous and stubborn:

"He [Moses] named the place Massah [testing] and Meribah [quarrelling] because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?'" (Ex 17:7).

Psalm 81 speaks of God's frustration with his people's intransigence: "If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways...with honey from the rock I would satisfy you." This is a symbol of the sweet presence of God in our lives which is only available through Messiah: 1 Corinthians 10:4 says that the spiritual rock that accompanied the Israelites in the desert was Messiah. The passage also warns that they all went through the same experiences in the desert but many of them perished and only some were saved. It is a stark and timeless warning that not all who journey with us and receive the same blessings will ultimately respond to God's voice.
Rosh HaShanah establishes that we do not test God, but God tests his people.

Challah bread shaped for Rosh HaShanah.At Rosh HaShanah, Sabbath bread (challah) is dipped into honey, which symbolises the hope for a sweet new year in harmony with God and man. Challah is plaited for the Sabbath but at Rosh HaShanah it is curled into a circle. By tradition, Rosh HaShanah is the anniversary of creation and so on that day we declare that the Lord is King of the world - the round or crown shape of the bread is a reminder of that.

A Day of Remembrance

Rosh HaShanah is known in Jewish liturgy as a 'Day of Remembrance' (Yom Hazikaron). It is a day to remember the binding (akedah in Hebrew) of Isaac, that mysterious story which baffles and amazes in Genesis 22, which is read in synagogues on the second day of Rosh HaShanah. Also read is the story of Hagar and Ishmael being sent away into the desert (Gen 21). Other readings are 1 Samuel 1:1-2:20, where Hannah dedicates her precious son Samuel to the Lord, with its echo of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, and Jeremiah 31:1-19 with its message of redemption from exile. Sacrifice, testing, dedication and redemption are the themes.

At Rosh HaShanah, God is measuring our deeds in the light of eternity, remembering those which are laudable, which then become part of God, so to speak, as they are part of the divine memory. God chooses to forget the misdeeds of which we have repented, so that they are not carried into eternity.

At Rosh HaShanah, Sabbath 'challah' bread is dipped in honey symoblising hope for a sweet new year in harmony with God and man.

1 Corinthians 3:13 speaks of those whose deeds that are not built on the foundation of Messiah:

"their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day [Day of Judgement] will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work."

The Book of Life

By the end of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), 10 days after Rosh HaShanah, rabbinic teaching says that judgement for that year is sealed and the books of life and death are closed: one hopes to be inscribed in the Book of Life rather than the Book of Death. Repentance towards God and man and good deeds in the run up to Rosh HaShanah are hoped to outweigh the bad deeds of the year so that one may continue to live, but there is no assurance of acceptance.

It is only in Messiah that we have the certain hope of redemption. As we come into his light our deeds are exposed and we see that even those we hoped were righteous are "filthy rags" (Isa 64:6).

Ephesians 5:8-16 promises that in Messiah we escape darkness (and the futility of trusting in our good deeds to win favour with God) and we come into the light of the Lord. Let us open our ears to the trumpet or shofar blast calling us to repentance, reminding us of the ram that replaced Isaac as sacrifice and let us pray that more and more Jewish people will awaken to the true meaning of the Akedah, that it is Messiah who is our sacrifice, who is calling us to repentance in the blowing of the ram's horn. We echo the prophetic cry:

"Wake up, sleeper,

rise from the dead,

and Messiah will shine on you."

Those who awaken from spiritual slumber may look forward to the final trumpet or shofar call of God, in fulfilment of the promised redemption. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 reminds us of that glorious hope:

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

Those who awaken from spiritual slumber may look forward to the final trumpet or shofar call of God, in fulfilment of the promised redemption.

Similarly 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 is associated with the Festival of Trumpets:

According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Messiah will rise first.

Let us pray this Rosh HaShanah for every Jewish soul to be inscribed in God's Book of Life in line with the apostle John's vision in Revelation 20:12, "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books."