Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near!
This, I believe, is the message of the Day of Remembrance of [Trumpet] Blasts/Yom Zicharon Teruah, leading up to the Day of Atonements/Yom haKippurim. This is what John the Baptizer proclaimed in the power of Elijah the prophet; this is what Yeshua/Jesus proclaimed in the love and righteousness of God the Father; this is the great commission that the Lord gave for His disciples to preach until the end of the age… until the Day of YHVH/the LORD. Yeshua calls the churches to do the same — to whoever has ears to hear — so that we can overcome to have part in the First Resurrection to sit on His throne with Him during the coming 1000-year Kingdom, even as He is now sitting on His Father’s throne in Heaven. (Rev 2:18-29; 3:14-22; 20:1-6) Trumpet blasts have been being heard especially since the reestablishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948 — calling the Jews, and also the nations to remember that there is a God in Heaven and on the Earth, who made the seas and the dry land; calling people everywhere to repent and give Him the glory from their whole being. (Jonah 1) Self-judgment is essential, as is national repentance, especially on the part of Israel, YHVH God’s chosen nation to bring praise and glory to His holy Name. (Do you know that the book of Jonah is read in synagogues on Yom Kippur?!)
This is not to say that Israel is unjustified in fighting to defend against enemies bent on destroying the nation, the people, the earthly land of covenantal promised inheritance. It is to say, that without the nation repenting of her own many sins against her God and King, who is the sovereign and Most High God of gods (Ps 83; 136), then she will not know victory, peace, security, rest. These come only from being in right relationship with the Father, and with His beloved Son Yeshua the Messiah: the Word of God; YHVH God in clothed in flesh and blood to be our Redeemer and Savior from sin, and every other enemy. (Hos 5:15; 6:1-2; Zech 12:10-14; Rom 11: 25-36; Mt 23:37-39) The wars of the last three years up till now are affecting the nations in a way unthinkable before they began (including between Russia and Ukraine!), when they first began, and the way that they have unfolded and expanded and threaten the established order. Antisemitism, anti-Zionism, anti-Jewish and Christian outrage is growing and getting louder, and the political landscape and economies are each going in the wrong direction, as a whole. God is shaking things; He is giving “trumpet blasts” to wake up His own people, first of all; Jesus is fully in control of events, having all authority in Heaven and on Earth!
I wrote in the prayer/newsletter of Aug 17 that: ” While there are a small number of individual Jews and other people who love their enemies as they love themselves, no nation or government can possibly do so in the way that individuals can.” This is so, but, I can say that because of who the God of Israel is, He moves upon His nation to do what no other nation seems to do, which is actually to help their enemies even while they are still their enemies, not after they have been defeated, and mercy is shown to them. As is known, Israel helped save Sinwar’s life when he was a prisoner many years ago, saving him in an Israeli hospital (in fact, from Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva) from a brain disease; they have given much food, and electricity, and water, and concrete to Hamas all the years building up to Oct 7, and beyond; they have sent rescue teams to help in natural and national disasters in countries that refuse to have diplomatic relations with Israel, such as Turkey, and have offered to help in others that have refused help “from the Zionists”; despite many challenges, Israeli ministries and hospitals have performed life-saving mostly serious heart-related surgeries on babies and small children of those from enemy territory and countries (lots of praise for the Shevet Achim community under the diligent oversight of Jonathan and Michelle Miles). Israel “turned the other cheek” for years while Hamas sent rockets into the kibbutzes and towns around the Gaza envelope before finally responding. Israel’s own citizens felt that the government and military had left them to suffer, since they weren’t “major” centers of commerce, and therefore “less valuable”. When Israel finally did strike back, first in 2008, and then again in 2014, the “world” condemned them. Of course.
God will be justified when He is judged for His ways, and those who presume to judge Him will be only condemning themselves as being unworthy of eternal life. (Ps 51:1-4; Acts 13:46; Ezek 18:25-32) None of this is “normal”; it is God making Himself known even through those who do not recognize or acknowledge Him for who He is, although chosen by Him to be His holy people. They are His witnesses nonetheless!
As Yeshua/Jesus rebuked the leaders of the Jewish people for making their customs and traditions more binding than keeping and obeying God’s word and commandments, so do many people make politics their version of the same. The tradition of making the first day of the 7th month the beginning of the Jewish New Year is very difficult to break. How many times have I myself been saying, especially to Jewish non-believers in Yeshua, “Shana tova!”/”[Have a] good year!”, instead of what I wrote at the top of this letter? The New Year which YHVH God gave to Israel begins two weeks before the Passover, on the first day of the first month on the Jewish calendar. There is some prophetic significance to considering the seventh month to be the ending of something in order to bring in “a new thing”, since the Jubilee cycle begins after 49 years, going into the 50th year, with the trumpets blowing on Yom haKippurim of that beginning of a new Jubilee cycle. (Lev 25:8-13) So we could say that a “new year” begins on the 10th day of the 7th month (in addition to the 1st of the 1st month), but the 1st of the 7th month is not the beginning of the new year, but it does lead up to it in its call for repentance, in order for God to do what He has promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to all Israel who have turned from all their unrighteousness and believed on Yeshua/Jesua whom they pierced. When the Lord returns to restore the Kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:4-11; Mt 5:17-18; Rom 15:8-12), then the full remnant from among all the tribes of Israel will never again be uprooted or insecure. The long-held hope will be fulfilled of being a free people in their own land, with YHVH God in the person of King Yeshua forever dwelling with His redeemed and sanctified people — the fulfillment of Sukkot/the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles.