Battleground Earth 15: Yom Teruah and Justice - David Mitts

23Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25‘You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.’” (Leviticus 23:23-25 (NASB))

Click here to listen to “Yom Teruah and Justice”

In these unjust times, God has made time in His schedule to connect with us and allow us to activate His kingdom reality. We are entering into the Fall Feasts of the Lord, beginning today with the first Yom Teruah.  What I want to explore beyond the basic understanding that the Feasts of the Lord are His feasts and His events and to access them as a breakthrough in justice in these admittedly unjust times.

I know that on the surface, blowing a shofar or raising a shout to the Lord may seem disconnected from justice but eating a cracker or drinking a bit of wine or juice could also seem disconnected from the sacrifice of the cross.  Yet, I believe that these sacraments, as the Church labels them are activations through a physical action that connect our heart with a spiritual reality.

In that context, let’s press into this strange "7th month" event, a “mo-ed” established by the Lord. Let’s begin by going back to Leviticus 23:23-25 and read our text.

23Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25‘You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.’” (Leviticus 23:23-25 (NASB))

The first word of the instruction is God speaking to Moses, telling Moses to speak. This may seem trivial but actually is very profound. There is a direct transmission of the Word of God, without any interpretation.  If we think of this in terms of faith, where faith comes by hearing or sh’ma and sh’ma comes by the Word of God, then direct transmission is pure faith.  This leaves no room for doubt or confusion about what follows next. This is revelation by God through His prophet.

"Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets."  Amo 3:7

Moses is revealing to Israel what the Lord has revealed to him. This is the true manna. God is feeding His people with eternal life. Often what we miss is the power of life in the Word. This is not about a holiday.  This is a life instruction in living by the Spirit of God.  to reduce what is happening here from the life that is being transmitted is to remove faith and thus profitability from the Word.

The Word without faith is just religion. Look with me at Hebrews 4:1-4:

"Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS";"  Heb 4:1-4

There is a rest for the people of God.  Rest comes from the number 7, the Seventh day, the seventh month.  The rest requires faith. Faith is trusting the transmission of God’s speaking. Moses received the transmission and retransmitted it. He was a relay station for God’s intentional speaking to His people. 

Now, this is revealed in the Feast when the Lord declares it to be a rest. It is also in rest to be a reminder.  How is it to be a reminder? By the blowing of the shofar and by the shout! What do these remind us of that brings rest? They remind us of a call to battle and that the battle is the Lord’s. He shows up in the shout and in the blowing of the shofar.

How does that bring justice? Well, let’s look at when He has shown up that way and why? The first time is of course with Jericho. Joshua recounts this in chapter 6 of Joshua. 

This occurs as the first victory in the Land of Promise. The battle is won by the shofar and the shout. The priests carry the ark around the city seven times and then a shout and a teruah and the walls collapse and Jericho is conquered. Then the Lord tells Joshua a strange thing:

"The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. "But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. "But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD."(Jos 6:17-19 NASB)

The phrase “under the ban” is translated from the word “haram” from which the Arabs developed the word harem. A harem is what is known as the personal concubines of the king. The harem interfaces with the world of the king’s court through the eunuchs. In the case of Jericho, the city was declared haram, which means it was untouchable by anyone but the Lord Himself. He forbids coveting the increase that came from His hand. This is a picture of the tithe of the land and also of the Church. When He delivers a victory through the shout and the trumpet blast, it is a Holy thing. Touching the consecrated victory is an affront to the victory. A harem is a resource of women that are considered exclusive to the king. They are under the ban of protection of the king. The harem is guarded by eunuchs who have been altered so that they have no potential to defile the women who are held exclusively for the seed of the king.

Jericho was haram. It was exclusive territory to the King of kings.  In this case, it wasn’t about a physical harem but about a spiritual haram. What do I mean by that?  It was reserved territory to bring Glory to the King who is the King of Israel.  As a physical harem was guarded by eunuchs, the spiritual haram was guarded by a curse, a word that would bring death to those who violated the sanctity of the territory.

26Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates.” (Joshua 6:26 (NASB))

Notice the curse is on the firstborn to the youngest son. This is a curse on the inheritance of a house. Jericho through the victory of the shofar and the shout, celebrated with Yom Teruah became a border of defilement.  When we activate the Feast of Trumpets, we need to especially honor the boundary of the seed of the Word of the Lord.  We need to allow God to be God and NOT take things into our own hands.

Also as we turn our hearts to the Lord this Yom Teruah, we might want to consider how we have treated the increase of the Lord. I’m not just speaking of finances but also people who have been added to the church. Have we “touched” them with the love of God or have done them harm in some way and need to reach out and seek forgiveness?

Saying, "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm." (Psa 105:15)

The anointed of the Lord are those chosen by Him for His purposes. In Psalm 105, the term is used for Israel and the nations around them.  Was Israel perfect? No. They were and are not perfect. Yet God has chosen them and so they are anointed by God for a purpose and with the anointing comes His protection and provision but also as a holy people that represent Him and live according to His standards which includes how they treat increase. Well if that’s true for Israel then it’s doubly true for us. We have to be careful how we treat each other and also those whom God has anointed for His purposes. 

The caveat here is our faith. The size of God’s authority in our lives is determined by our faith. If our trust in God’s power is limited, then our authority in Him is limited. For example, if we believe that the kingdoms of this world are becoming the kingdoms of our God, then the political realm is in our authority.

Then the seventh angel sounded a trumpet: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" (Rev 11:15)

The angels and the trumpets of Revelations reveal the authority of Yom Teruah. These are both judgments and revelations of the justice of God. 

At some point soon, we will delve into these shofar blasts and shouts. Right now, I just will summarize them in the context of the Feast:

1. Shofar 1:

a. Hail, fire, and blood

2. Shofar 2:

a. Huge mountain is thrown into sea

3. Shofar 3:

a. Wormwood poisons the water supply

4. Shofar 4

a. Third of sun, moon and stars darkened, related to Israel covenant

5. Shofar 5

a. Demonic plague

6. Shofar 6

a. 4 riders of the Apocalypse released

7. Shofar 7

a. Kingdom declaration

The shofar is the harbinger of justice and judgment. It is the sound of kingdom declaration. From Jericho, the first establishment of God’s holy kingdom to Revelations, when the shofar is sounded the Kingdom is brought forth in power.

One more picture of this is of course 1 Thessalonians 4:16-5:11

16For 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. 17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-5:11 (NASB))

This is the new Jericho experience. God comes into His Kingdom with a shout and a shofar blast. What is destroyed in this manifestation is darkness itself. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Messiah. Let’s activate the Feast by declaring His authority over all of our lives!  This is the hope for true justice in our lives and in our land!

Prophetic Activation: Let’s pray and ask the Lord to reveal the Jericho’s in our lives. What represents a breakthrough that you need in your life. Also, let’s ask the Lord to reveal the haram. What are we coveting that is another’s? Maybe you want to see an injustice righted, a banishing of darkness, maybe a curse on your family line?