Individual Application of Feast of Trumpets/Blowing
This is a sermon I gave in the fall of 2000, at a United Church of God congregationThe English word "church" doesn't translate the Greek ekklesia — it derives from kyriakos, a pagan term for a building belonging to a lord. Ekklesia is a called-out, gathered people; the New Testament rarely leaves it bare but qualifies it — "the church of God" (whose it is, who called it) or "the church at Corinth" (which local gathering) — never a building. The Septuagint already used it for Israel's qahal, the congregation God called out and assembled (Acts 7:38). A spiritual organism, not an institution. Synonyms: ekklesia, ecclesia, called-out ones, assembly, congregation, kyriakos, qahal, edah.
See also: firstfruits. See A People, Not a Place More in Cincinnati — about twenty-five years ago. I’ve left it close to how it was spoken and cleaned it up only enough to read smoothly. I see some of it differently now, and I worded parts of it for the room I was standing in. But the heart of it still holds, and there’s value in seeing where something started — that it reads as an earlier stage is part of the point, because understandingIn the New Testament this is synesis — a bringing-together: scattered pieces drawn into one cohesive whole, not a quantity of information accumulated. In plain terms it is connecting the dots — understanding is unification, not accumulation. Synonyms: synesis, unification, insight, discernment See The Importance of Understanding in Jesus Christ More develops. Take it as testimony from one place on the road, the first of two such messages, not as the last word.
When I first started getting The Plain Truth back in 1984, one of the things that really encouraged me was the knowledge of God’s feast days — not just that they existed, or that we were to keepFrom the Hebrew shamar — to watch over, guard, protect, give attentive care to. A shepherd shamar the flock. The keeping the feasts and sabbath requires is the attentive, protective engagement that creates the conditions for seeing what they reveal — not external compliance with a schedule. Synonyms: shamar, observe, guard, watch over. More them, but the profound meaning they carried. In their portrayal of God’s plan of salvation, we’d have a framework, from beginning to end, of what God is doing for mankind.
These feast days are not one-dimensional. They’re multi-dimensional. Mr. Armstrong used to talk about the duality of the Bible — that things have a type and an antitype(Greek antitypos) — in typological language, the New Testament reality an Old Testament "type" supposedly points to. The term runs backwards. Antitypos in Hebrews 9:24 means "a copy of the true" — so the scheme ends up calling the reality the copy. The picture confirms it: a piece of type is the raised, solid substance that presses out the flat print. Christ is the substance — the body that casts the shadow (Col 2:17) — yet the doctrine labels Him the antitype (the copy) and the shadow the type (the substance). Inverted top to bottom. Better to set the scheme aside: Israel is an example, Christ the substance it was shaped by. See also: Example, Shadow More. The holy daysA specifically designated day within the Leviticus 23 feast calendar, distinct from the weekly sabbath. Annual holy days function as structural markers — points of demarcation that encapsulate the period preceding them and carry its meaning forward. Not merely a sacred calendar date but a hinge in the sequence of God's plan. Synonyms: appointed time, moed, sabbath, qadosh. More were fulfilled in type by Israel: in Egypt, freed from Egypt, traveling through the wilderness, entering the promised land. That was their salvation, and their salvation is a type of ours. Mr. Armstrong really focused on this global plan from beginning to end, PassoverThe LORD's Passover, kept on Nisan 14 (Lev 23:5): the lamb slain and its blood marking the houses spared in Egypt (Ex 12). The New Testament presents Christ as the Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7), making it the opening act of the feast year. Synonyms: Pesach. See Was the Passover a Sin Offering? — at the Cross More all the way to the Last Great Day. He called it the Master Plan of Salvation; I tend to call it the global plan, because it includes everyone on this earth.
But duality limits it somewhat. God is a little more multi-dimensional than that. There are many levels we can see in the feast days — apart from how they were fulfilled in Israel, apart from how they’re fulfilled in the overall global plan. The reality is that God has a plan for each one of us individually, and that plan is made just as clear in the holy days as the global one.
Now, my greatest struggle whenever I get up to speak is simply deciding what to speak on. I thought about the personal meaning of the holy days — how they apply to us — and realized that’s far too much for one sermonette. So, since we’re coming up on the fall holy days, I’ll take just the next one: the Day of Trumpets. My hope is two-fold — to look at the personal application of Trumpets, and that you’ll see enough value in it to study the rest of the feastsIn Leviticus 23, a feast is a designated period — not a single day but a span of time with its own structure and sequence. The Feast of Weeks spans seven weeks. The Feast of Tabernacles spans seven days. A feast may contain one or more annual holy days, but the feast itself is the full period, not any single day within it. Synonyms: festival, appointed time, moed. More the same way for yourself. Because the reality is, we’re only saved one Christian at a time.
War
Historically, one of the things Trumpets pictures is war (Numbers 10:9; Revelation 12:17). Trumpets were sounded when war was declared, or when an encroaching army was seen — war was imminent. So how does that apply to us personally?
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. — 2 Corinthians 10:3-4
We already have a war. Each of us is at war every single day. And Paul tells us what our weapons are, in Ephesians 6: the whole armor of God — for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousnessFrom the Greek dikaiōsis, rooted in dikaios — the Greek rendering of the Hebrew tsaddiq: right, just, in proper relationship and alignment. The process or condition of being brought into right order. The courtroom framing is one strand; the older sense runs relational and restorative — a setting-right of what was out of order. Synonyms: justify, justified, dikaiōsis, dikaios, righteousness, tsaddiq. More, the gospel of peace on our feet, the shield of faithFaith (Greek pistis, Hebrew emunah) — trust and faithfulness, not mere belief or assent to doctrine. Scripture's own definition: faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1) — the hypostasis, "that which stands under," giving the unseen its standing and reality. Synonyms: trust, faithfulness, assurance. More, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:11-17).
Try to picture all of it. One thing I find odd: there’s no protection for your back. Which tells me I need to face Satan. I can’t run from him — the moment I start running, my back is exposed. I have to face him. I think that’s part of what James meant: resist — stand against — the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7). Satan is a wimp; the real weapon he has against us is our own fear. So be prepared to stand.
Resurrection
The second thing Trumpets pictures is the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:50-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). What does that mean for us individually, today? We tend to think we’ll be resurrected only when ChristNot a surname but a title: the Greek Christos, rendering the Hebrew Mashiach (Messiah) — "the Anointed." The anointing that set apart Israel's kings, priests, and prophets all converges on the one person it was pointing to. Synonyms: Messiah, Anointed, the Anointed One, Mashiach, Christos. See also: Logos More returns. But Paul writes:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. — Romans 12:1
It doesn’t mention resurrection directly — but you can’t have a living sacrifice without a living resurrection. He continues: do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). Baptism(Greek baptizō) — to immerse, dip, or submerge; the word is physical before it is religious. The ceremony pictures dying, being buried, and rising with Christ, and the washing that comes with it — not a ritual requirement but an image of an inward reality. Synonyms: immersion, submersion. More itself pictures our death, burial, and resurrection — but is that a once-and-done event, or a daily process?
Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Romans 6:11
Today we are resurrected to newness of life — what Paul calls the new creature, the new man — today. A totally different life.
The “Second Coming”
And the thing we most associate with Trumpets is the second coming. We long for it, we yearn for it, we can’t wait for it. But what does it mean for us today? Christ answers that himself:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voiceWhen Jesus says his sheep know his voice (John 10), it isn't the words they recognize — it's the tone, the quality underneath them. Scripture carries that kind of voice too: you can sense something is there, often before the mind can say what it is. Synonyms: tone, quality, flavor. See: How Does God Speak To Us? More and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. — Revelation 3:20
Christ can come now — through the power of His Spirit, He can live in our lives now. This doesn’t replace the global second coming; it shows there’s a personal application of it. He even tells us exactly how:
If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. — John 14:23
If we want Christ in our lives, it’s simple: follow the man who made the path. You know enthusiastic people — people who seem to have all the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)? “Enthusiasm” is an interesting word. It comes from two Greek words — en (within) and theos (God) — literally, God within. If we want to express the fruit of the Spirit, there’s only one way: God within us.
Now
So — I hope I’ve shown, even in a small way, that there’s a very down-to-earth, practical application of the Feast of TrumpetsThe common name obscures the Hebrew Yom Teruah — the Day of Blowing, or sounding. While trumpets were blown, they were also blown on every new moon; what distinguishes this feast is not the instrument but the act itself — breath, sound, something sent out. What that points toward requires a closer look. Synonyms: Yom Teruah, Day of Blowing, Day of Sounding. More for each of us, today. We don’t have to wait for the second coming. And more than that, I hope you’ll take it on yourself to look at the other holy days the same way.
When my stepmother, Connie, passed away a little while back, her Bible was lying out, and I couldn’t resist picking it up and going through her notes. One little piece stood out to me. It’s by Helen Mallicoat:
I was regretting the past and fearing the future. Suddenly my Lord was speaking: “My name is I Am.” He paused. I waited. He continued: “When you live in the past, with its mistakes and regrets, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I Was. When you live in the future, with its problems and fears, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I Will Be. When you live in this moment, it is not hard. I am here. My name is I Am.”
There’s a personal application for God’s feasts that we can live today. We can be warring against Satan now. The resurrection exists for us now — putting on the new man, putting sin behind us, living the life of Christ now. And we don’t have to wait for the second coming to have Christ with us. That can be here, today. Now.