Today is Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) – New Year 5787 – Enter His Rest.

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year.

I find it fascinating that this New Year comes at the end of Summer. Fall (Autumn) begins on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. So Jewish New Year starts with a feast. In the Bible, it is instituted in the Old Testament as the Feast of Trumpets. It marks the beginning of the High Holy Days, kicking off ten days called the Days of Awe, where the people enter into a time of introspection, repentance, and self-examination that culminates in Yom Kippur. (the Day of Atonement)

“Tell the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of complete rest, a commemoration announced by the blowing of trumpets, a holy assembly. You are not to do any regular work, and you must present a food offering to the Lord.”

Leviticus 23:24-25

During this time of reflection, they would have been asking and answering questions:

Who stands as King and Judge? The trumpet blast would be a call to attention: the KING IS COMING; where is your allegiance? Is God the true King of your daily life? Are you prepared to stand before your Creator and give an account of your thoughts, speech, and conduct?

This time frame is characterized by repentance. Not a guilt feeling, but an inventory of your life.

It is the Jewish word Teshuvah – meaning to turn back. Return to your God.

Where have I strayed from God’s Word, His Law, and Covenant? Where have your actions, words, and desires been drifting from the Lord’s will and ways? Check your heart: is it hard, indifferent, cold, hypocritical? How is your worship?

Let us examine and test our ways,
and turn back to the Lord.

Lamentations 3:40

This time of reflection goes beyond just yourself. It extends to those around you. Not just making your heart right with God, but making it right with your neighbor.

Have I made peace with my neighbor? Who have I wronged, deceived, gossiped about, or mistreated this year? Who do I need to forgive or make restitution with?

True repentance never leaves the relationships alongside out of the equation. To restore integrity, we must restore relationships before we approach God’s altar. Who could expect God to have mercy when we remain bitter, dishonest, and with malice toward one another?

Toward the end of the 10 days of Awe, the people would afflict their own souls, meaning they would fast, weep, and humble themselves. The next questions go after our internal heart roots and our external fruit. The question then becomes:

Am I clean before God, or am I just performing this outward act? Do I want authentic heart transformation or just an outward performance to look good? How can a holy God dwell in a polluted temple?

The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit.
You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.

Psalm 51:17

On the final day of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the High Priest would bring the 2 goats. One was sacrificed for blood atonement in the Most Holy Place, and over the second (the Scapegoat), the High Priest confessed all the sins of Israel before sending it into the wilderness. One paid for our sin, and the other removed it. The reflection is:

Who will bear away my guilt? How deep is the cost of my sin? Who will pay by shedding blood? For the Christian, this is Christ. Can my sins be truly removed and I be reconciled to God?

The people watched the scapegoat led away into the uninhabited wilderness. Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and he overcame sin!

MY THOUGHTS:

The reason I find the Jewish New Year so fascinating is that they did this reflection and return to God just before the harvest season. Just before the fruit-bearing season. It is almost like a spiritual checkup to see if you would bear any fruit that year.

In the physical, a harvest is coming.

In the spiritual, would you have any first fruits for the King? If not, you would watch the Creation of God give forth its fruit and feel the empty ache of your own spirit and soul having nothing to give, nothing to bring. And yet, God himself was faithful to us.

Lord, let us not live another year with nothing to bring. We are incapable of producing a harvest on our own. But if you do the work in us, we will yield a crop of 30-, 60-, 90-fold. You will have done it. You don’t ask us to work harder. You ask us to return and remain in you.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.

John 15:1-8

Thanks for listening,

Starla