The Day of the Awakening Blast

“On Rosh HaShanah, man is judged. But what sacrifice does he bring? He brings himself.”
(The Secret by Jonathan Rosenblum)

Rosh HaShanah is the first of the three Fall Feasts of Israel, which together, paint a powerful picture of the end of the age and the return of our L-rd. It is called the Jewish New Year. This is not because of its position in the Hebrew Calendar––the 1st day of the 7th month––but because of the tradition, which says that this is the day G-d created Adam. Man will be judged, they say, on the same day he was created. As such, Rosh HaShanah begins a ten-day period of deep repentance in preparation for the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) when the gates of Heaven are closed.

The Hebrew sages teach that the end of the world, known simply as “ketz”, would begin on a future Rosh HaShanah. In their teachings it is said that three books will be opened by G-d on Judgment Day: the Book of Life for the totally righteous; the Book of Death (the Rashim) for the totally wicked; and the Book of the Average Man whose fate is in suspension until Yom Kippur and the blowing of the last trumpet.

It is the Feast described in Leviticus 23 as The Day of Blowing the Shofar, the only Feast that falls on the New Moon or darkest day of the month––quite apropos for Judgment Day. The name of the month, Tishri, is an Aramaic word that means to loosen or untie. It has a double meaning in that during this month, man has the opportunity to loosen or untie his sins from himself and to start anew with G-d. It is also the month during which judgment, which has been held back, will be loosened or untied and allowed to permeate the earth.

There are four names for the celebration:

• Rosh HaShanah, meaning ‘Top of the Year’
• Yom HaDin, meaning, ‘Day of Judgment’
• Yom HaZikkharon, meaning ‘Day of Remembrance’
• Yom Teruah meaning, ‘Day of Blowing the Shofar'

As ‘Judgment Day’, it speaks of the day on which each man will be ‘weighed in the balance’:

“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.”

The Journey

What Does it Mean to be a Follower of Yeshua

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

From the beginning of His ministry on earth, Yeshua warned that following Him and remaining with Him would be difficult.

“Enter at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who are going through it, because small is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”–Matthew 7:13-14

 “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. –Luke 9:23-26