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1. Introduction

Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Trumpets two thousand years ago. In the “Old Covenant“, we looked at the requirements of The Old Testament law. And in “The Law No Longer Applies”, we find that the law is now obsolete, dying on the cross. 

The “Sabbath Rest” is essential reading to understand teaching on the feasts. The three most important feasts in the Hebrew calendar are Passover, Pentecost and Day of Atonement, which we appreciate as fulfilled.

Jesus’ “Second Coming” is the popular fulfilment of the Feast of Trumpets. However, Jesus has fulfilled the law, and, therefore, the feasts. So how did Jesus fulfil the Feast of Trumpets?


2. Feast of Trumpets

Unlike Passover, Pentecost and Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets is not a major feast. However, it is essential because many believe this refers to the final (inaccurately called the Second) coming of Christ. We will find in this lesson that this is not the case.

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.”

Leviticus 23:23-25


3. Meanings of Trumpet Blast

When we look at scripture related to the blowing of trumpets, we need to think about whom the New Testament addresses. The New Testament was written predominantly for Jewish followers of Jesus and Gentiles who understood the Jewish culture of the day. So when we look at the fulfilment of the Feast of Trumpets, it is necessary to look at when leaders and angels sounded trumpets in the Old Testament and the New Testament.


A. Yahweh is About to Speak to His Chosen People about Covenant.

The sound of the trumpet means that God will now speak something of great significance.

Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.

Exodus 19:16-19

Immediately after blowing the trumpets, God brings in the Ten Commandments of the Old Covenant in the next chapter of Exodus.


B. When Decrees Go out, There is the SOUND of a Trumpet.

We have seen that there were Ten Commandments in the Old Covenant. These commandments are decrees.

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

Revelation 4:1

Covenant means there are declarations and decrees.


C. Access to Yahweh.

The trumpet sounded meant to the Jewish people that access to Yahweh was open when previously it would bring death.

You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.”

Exodus 19:12-13

D. The Coronation of A King.

The Jewish people recognised the coronation of a new king by the blowing of trumpets.

When she looked, there was the king standing by a pillar according to custom; and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets.

2 Kings 11:14


4. Jesus’ Teaching on the Trumpets

And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Matthew 24:31

The Great Commission is giving legal authority to the believer to make disciples. It is, therefore, a decree.


B. Jesus Announced that the Sound of Trumpets Would be Within 40 Years.

Jesus says in the following sentence that the sound of trumpets will be within 40 years of His declaring the verse above.

Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

Matthew 24:34

Because a generation is either 40 or 100 years, we, therefore, need to see if there is a time within 40 years of Jesus’ prophecy of Matthew 24:3-34 where:

  • The fulfilment of the Old Testament Law.
  • The institution of a New Covenant.
  • Access to God is now available.
  • The coronation of a king.


5. Jesus Fulfilled the Feast of Trumpets within 40 Years

We looked at Jesus fulfilling the law in ‘The Law No Longer Applies’.

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Matthew 5:17

A. Jesus, the Final Sacrifice.

There is no longer a need for blood sacrifices because He is the final sacrifice.

Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:8-10

As prophesied in the scripture above, by David and explained in Hebrews, continued sacrifice does not please God, nor does He desire them.

Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

Hebrews 10:29

We insult the Spirit of grace by carrying on with sacrifices and celebrating feasts!


6. Jesus Brings in a New Covenant Within 40 Years

A. Jesus Had to Die to Bring in a New Covenant.

For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

Hebrews 9:16-18

B. New Covenant Fulfils God’s Desire.

Instead, Father God desires to have sons and daughters. Only the New Covenant makes this possible.

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will

Ephesians 1:4-5

The good pleasure of His will is another way of saying ‘His desire.’

As we learnt in Communion,

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Matthew 26:28

The words ‘this is My blood’, are, more correctly, ‘I am the blood’. Therefore this reads as:

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
For I am the blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Matthew 26:28

This covenant brought the elect from all nations together into the family of God to make them one in Christ. He, therefore, fulfilled the prophecy of Matthew 24:

And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Matthew 24:31

The Great Commission started this prophecy of ingathering the elect through to the end of the age.


C. The Law is Obsolete.

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first (Old Covenant) obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 8:13

D. Jesus’ Death Took Away the Old Covenant.

then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.

Hebrews 10:9

The “first” is the Old Covenant. The “second” is the New Covenant. The will of God includes taking away the Old Covenant!

The declaration of the New Covenant fulfils the Feast of Trumpets.


7. Jesus Made Access to God Possible Within 40 years


A. At His Death.

The New Covenant came into effect at Jesus’ death. He made access to God possible through the New Covenant.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Hebrews 8:10-11
  • Access is possible because we are now His people.
  • Access is possible because each of us will know God.’

As it says in Hebrews 5, we now have access to the very throne of God, which is not possible under the Old Covenant.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 5:16

The Feast of Trumpets is fulfilled through believers’ access to God, granted by the New Covenant.


8. The Coronation of Jesus within 40 Years

A. Trumpet Blast of His Coronation.

In the Kingdom of God – Here NOW, Jesus was enthroned at the right hand of the Father. Jesus’ enthronement happened 40 days after His death and resurrection.

which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

Ephesians 1:20

B. Fulfilment of the Prophecy in Daniel.

In the following scripture, we are granted a view into heaven after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

“I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire;

Daniel 7:9

Here, the Ancient of Days is Father God.


C. Jesus Coming with the Clouds of Heaven.

Daniel looks at Jesus’ ascension 40 days after His death and resurrection.

Reading on in Daniel’s prophecy, we find who it is who ascends.

“I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.

Daniel 7:13-14

Who is the Son of Man? None other than Jesus Christ!

Now when Jesus had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

Acts 1:9

The coronation of Jesus fulfils the Feast of Trumpets.


9. The Last Trump


A. False Assumption of Future Fulfilment.

Some assume that the Feast of Trumpets relates to the Last Trump.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:52

It is the last trumpet sound at the end of the current age. It does not necessarily mean it is related to the fulfilment of the Feast of Trumpets. The word for last is where we get the word eschatology (study of end times) from:

ἔσχατος eschatos; farthest, final (of place or time): — ends of, last, latter end, lowest, uttermost.

Jesus has already fulfilled the law.


B. All the Feasts Have Been Fulfilled.

Because of the wrong explanation that Matthew 24 is in the future, Futurists have assumed that the Feast of Trumpets relates to the last trump.

The law is obsolete, and Hebrews 8 states that it was done away with a few years after Paul wrote Hebrews before his death in 63-65CE.

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first (Old Covenant) obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 8:13

The destruction of the temple in August of 70 CE meant that offering sacrifices were no longer possible. And so, Paul warned the Jews to leave the city years before Vespasian surrounded Jerusalem in 67CE and its destruction by Titus in 70CE.

Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Hebrews 13:12-15

As prophesied would happen by Jesus precisely 40 years previously:

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

Luke 21:20-22


10. Summary of Feast of Trumpets

  1. Jesus fulfilled the law through love and the New Covenant.
  2. The Feast of Trumpets is a shadow of what happened sometime within 40 years of His prophecy in Matthew 24.
  3. Trumpet sounding is symbolic of access to God, the bringing in of a Covenant, and the coronation of a King. 
  4. Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Trumpets 40 days after His death when He ascended on the clouds into heaven to take His place as King of kings.
  5. There is no need for the modern-day Christian to celebrate the Old Covenant Feast of Trumpets because it was instituted in the Old Covenant, and that law is now obsolete.
  6. Colossians 2:14-15 and Revelation 12 teach us (see Sabbath Rest) that the principalities and powers were cast down from heaven to earth. Those principalities and powers will do everything they can to try and reinstitute the law to re-empower them.

Next in the series on the law, the Feast of Tabernacles has also been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

© Use by Permission Awakening Impact Ministries / Dr Neville van Eerten 2022

 

One Comment

  • Anonymous says:

    My access to God is granted by the New covenant, this is very helpful to me and to those I will pass on this teachings, it’s great to know this.
    Moses Idewa.

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