The piercing sound of a ram’s horn echoing through a concrete underpass in Toronto at the Walk with Israel this past June is not an experience I will soon forget. The crowds of Jews and supporters cheered as they walked. The Shofar blast inspires joy, remembrance, and an intricate, ancient spiritual connection to the Jewish people.
The ram’s horn is not only an ancient symbol of Jewish identity, it was also set to serve as a spiritual alarm clock, given by God to awaken the heart and remind the Jewish people of spiritual truths so often forgotten.
In Leviticus 23, the Feast of Trumpets, one of “God’s appointed times,” was taught to the people as an observance of sabbath rest, a memorial of blowing the trumpets, and a Holy convocation to the Lord. The combination of rest, remembrance, and holy gathering is a powerful observance as the Jewish people prepare for the new year.
At one of the greatest times of revival in Israel’s history, we see the feast of Rosh Hashanah in action as God calls His people back to Himself and His law. In Nehemiah, we read of the return of the people of Judea to their homeland to rebuild the temple. This action was not only permitted, but also blessed by a pagan king, Artaxerxes of Persia, the world’s most powerful figure. Under the leadership of Nehemiah, many Jewish people returned, the ancient wall was rebuilt, and in the 7th month, the returned people of Israel called upon Ezra and the priests to teach them the long-forgotten book of the law (Nehemiah 8:1-12).
The feast of trumpets, Rosh Hashanah, had been abandoned, and in keeping with human tendency, the people had forgotten their God and the spiritual callings that God had set them apart to fulfill. In Nehemiah 8, we read that the people wept at the realization that they had not only failed to walk in His ways, but had entirely forgotten His Law.
In Jewish tradition, Rosh Hashanah not only marks the Jewish New Year, but also a time of reflection and divine judgment for the actions of the past year. Traditional Jewish thought holds that all people are judged on Rosh Hashanah, with their decree sealed shortly after on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
According to Jewish rabbinic commentary in the Babylonian Talmud, three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah: one composed of wholly wicked, one for the righteous people, and one for those whose good and bad deeds are equally balanced in the middle. The wholly righteous people are immediately written and sealed for life, while the wicked people are immediately written and sealed for death. Those whose deeds fall on middle ground are left with their judgment suspended from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, with their fate before God remaining undecided. Through their good deeds (mitzvot), performed during this period, the scale may tip in their favor so they are inscribed in the Book of Life rather than sealed for death.
Within the context of divine judgment, the sounding of the shofar stands as the primary good deed (mitzvah) of Rosh Hashanah. For traditional Judaism, blowing and listening to the shofar is believed to accrue divine merit, helping secure inscription in the Book of Life. Consequently, this practice bridges traditional ritual with a meaningful opportunity to improve one’s standing before God and invoke divine mercy.
The uncertainty of the Jewish people in their standing before God is foundationally no different than the uncertainty of eternity found in all works-based religions. The need for continual attainment of good deeds, without ever reaching a state of assurance or right relationship with God, is a dismal place to live and a terrifying view of eternity.
Apart from the righteousness of Jesus upon one’s life, facing the scrutiny of a perfectly holy and just God brings judgment upon all humanity. No amount of good deeds (mitzvot) or shofar blowing can alter that reality. Isaiah 64:6 confirms that by calling our most righteous deeds “filthy rags” before a perfect, holy, and just almighty God. Nothing on earth is more imperative than knowing your destination for eternity. The stakes are too high to rely on personal good deeds only to achieve an invalid “potential” of heaven.
But for the believer, our hope is not in trumpet blowing or a scale of “mitzvot.” On our own strength, our good deeds can never make us right with the Father. The punishment for even one sin is eternal separation from God. Yet, just as the lamb was slain on Passover in the temple, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, was slain for us to give us the righteousness that we are incapable of earning. For those who believe in Jesus Christ and walk with Him, your name is written in the Book of Life for salvation—not for the balancing of your works on a scale, but for assurance with unerasable penmanship that we are sealed in Jesus Christ by the blood of the Lamb and His ultimate “mitzvot.”
When we hear the shofar today, let it remind us of the coming Rapture and the victorious return of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ. On that day, Zechariah 12:10 says that the Jewish people will “look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son.”
Like Rosh Hashanah, that day will also be one of remembrance, and the mourning of the people on that day will reflect the weeping at the rebuilding of the Temple in Nehemiah when they realized what they had failed to recognize and so easily forgotten.
For the Jewish people who cry out, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” that day will finally bring true rest. Rest in the Savior they once rejected and the prophecies they had forgotten. Instead of fearing their standing before God, they will be saved. Instead of relying on the “mitzvot” of blowing trumpets and performing good deeds, they will rely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and only there find true assurance of their eternal state.
