The Feast of Trumpets: Repentance, Harvest and Hope
An annual, one-day festival of soul-searching and repentance that calls for forgiveness and remembers God's judgment – yet also a joyful day of celebration that gathers in the last of the harvest while looking forward to God's goodness and mercy in the New Year.
Biblical Foundations
The Feast of Trumpets was announced by blowing trumpets to call a sacred assembly. It was held on the first day of the seventh month (September or October), which marks the beginning of the Jewish civil new year. Ordinary work ceased, and the people gathered before the Lord to hear the alarm that awakened hearts and minds (Lev 23:23-25; Num 29:1-6).
A trumpet call to attention
The Autumn Feasts and Prophetic Hope
The Feast of Trumpets is the first of three autumn feasts; it is followed by the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the same month, then the Festival of Booths beginning on the fifteenth day of the same month. As with other festivals, the normal routine of daily life was set aside, drawing the nation together for reflection and worship.
The first four festivals teach us about significant events at the Messiah's first coming, while the last three point to events surrounding His second coming – beginning with Christ's ingathering of Christians, His return and the setting up of His Kingdom on earth (Jn 14:3; Acts 1:11; Rev 11:15).
The New Testament teaches the rapture – the moment when all true believers will be taken from the earth. Far from a silent event, this will be loud and public: the Lord Himself will descend from heaven "with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God" (1 Thes 4:13-16), calling us to heaven and warning the world of coming judgment. It will occur "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" – yet explicitly "at the last trumpet" (1 Cor 15:52), a blast that echoes the Feast of Trumpets itself.
Looking towards the Second Coming
Practical Steps: Living in the Light of the Trumpet
Living in the light of the trumpet begins with waking up our own hearts. Set aside regular time for honest self-examination before the Lord, inviting Him to search you and expose anything that has quietly drifted (Ps 139:23-24; Lam 3:40). When the trumpet's alarm sounds in your conscience, do not delay or make excuses: name and confess sin quickly, trusting the God who is faithful and just to forgive (Prov 28:13; 1 Jn 1:9). And as you receive that mercy, pass it on – forgive others as God in Christ has forgiven you, so that the sound of grace is heard as clearly in your relationships as the call to repentance (Mt 6:14-15; Eph 4:32).
The same day that called Israel to repentance also gathered in the harvest, and our lives should carry both notes. Gratefully acknowledge God's provision: give thanks for the harvest of His goodness in your work, your family and your daily bread (Ps 100:4; Jas 1:17). Above all, stay awake and ready, for you do not know the day of His coming (Mt 24:42-44) — live watchfully and hopefully, sustained by the blessed hope of the appearing of the Lord (Titus 2:13), so that when the last trumpet sounds you are found busy about His work, not merely waiting for it.
Staying productive while waiting
Three Stories Told by the Trumpet
The trumpets around Jericho announce that God's victory goes before His people – the walls fell when the ram's horn sounded (Josh 6:4-5,20).
Joel pictures the trumpet as God's wake-up call to repentance: "Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast", for the day of the Lord is coming – with the invitation to return to a gracious God (Joel 2:1, 12-13).
Repentance and rejoicing, held together
And Nehemiah 8 records the first observance of this feast after the exile: as the Law was read on the first day of the seventh month, the people wept, then were told "the joy of the Lord is your strength" – repentance and rejoicing held together (Neh 8:1-12).
Reflection and Application
- When did you last ask God to search your heart – and what did He show you that still needs His touch?
- Is there a sin you have been excusing that the trumpet's alarm is calling you to confess today?
- Whose name comes to mind when you consider forgiving others as God, in Christ, has forgiven you?
- If the last trumpet sounded this hour, would you be found awake, thankful and about your Father's work?
See also: end times, feasts, rapture,
second coming, trumpet.