In yesterday’s blog, we discussed how the blowing of the shofar reminds us of the WAKE UP call to repentance of sin in our lives.
Today, we will focus on the shofar blast as a WAKE UP call to be prepared for Yeshua’s return! As the Spring feasts (Passover, First Fruits, and Shavuot) were all fulfilled with Yeshua’s first coming, the Fall feasts (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot) will be fulfilled with Yeshua’s second coming.
1 Thes. 4:16 -17 tells us “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the chief angel, and with God’s shofar. The dead in Messiah will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever!” and in 1 Cor. 15:52: “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.”
We will then receive new bodies and we will receive our rewards! Hallelujah!
Are you prepared for the Lord’s return? Have you made yourself ready?
Rev. 19:7-9 tells us that as we, His bride, make ourselves ready, it shall be granted that “we should be arrayed in bright, pure, fine linen; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints…Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”
But what exactly are the righteous acts of the saints? To me, these would include the choices that we all have every moment of every day. For example:
- Do we choose to love, respect, and bless others, or do we choose to accuse, focus on the negative, gossip about others?
- Do we choose to forgive others who have wronged us, or do we choose to hold onto hurts, bitterness, justified resentment?
- Do we choose to allow fear, stress and anxiety into our hearts, or do we choose to trust that God is with us and will never leave or forsake us?
- Do we choose to see ourselves as God sees us, or do we choose to allow others to determine our worth, or put ourselves down with self-condemnation, shame, false humility?
- Do we choose to trust that God’s plans for us are good, that everything from Him is good and perfect, that He desires to give His children good gifts, or do we put others’ faces on God believing that He is a harsh taskmaster, that we could never please Him, that He wants us to be miserable, that He’s not always with us?
- Do we choose to try to hold all things and all people together, or do we choose to believe that He holds all things together and focus on that ONE thing He wants from us, intimate relationship with Him?
The Book of Revelation tells us that we will rule and reign with Yeshua as Kings and Priests when He establishes His Millennial Kingdom here on earth. “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Messiah and will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:6) and “You have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. (Rev. 5:10).
How will we be ready to rule and reign with Him on the earth, if we cannot even rule and reign over our own thoughts, emotions, words, and attitudes?
In my opinion, the best way that we can prepare our hearts for His return is to be aware of our moment by moment choices (such as those listed above), and when we’ve made the choice to take lies and sin into our hearts, to be committed to break free of them by using our weapons of warfare (confess, forgive, cancel Satan’s authority, ask God to speak to your heart and show you His truth about the situation). When we use our weapons of warfare, we are actually practicing for our rule and reign with Him on this earth! Now I don’t know about you, but that is extremely motivating and exciting to me!
What an incredible hope we have! What an awesome future that lies ahead for we who are in Yeshua, who have received Him as our Messiah, our Lord and Savior.
Let the sound of the shofar this Rosh Hashanah (and these Ten Days of Awe) ignite a deeper longing in your heart for His return, a renewed hope for what lies ahead, and a fresh excitement for your glorious reign with Him. Let it be a WAKE UP call to use your weapons of warfare to prepare your hearts for His return and for ruling and reigning with Him when He establishes His Millennial Kingdom (and Temple!) on earth.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Messiah Yeshua (1 Thes. 5:23).
For more detail and teaching on this topic, please click on this link.
L’Shana Tovah!
Blessings,
Jeanne
