Feast of Trumpets 2024:

Good morning, everyone. I always have to, on the morning service, pause for a moment and make sure that I’m going to say the right salutation. Not a good afternoon, so I got it right. It’s a good start. I want to turn and jump right into the Bible, to Leviticus chapter twenty-three. And as we’re turning there, I want to just make mention that, thinking back when I was being called, how surprised I was, and I’m sure most of you... a lot of you were as well to discover that God commanded me to keep the Sabbath, Saturday, and not man-made Sunday or some other day.

And once that happened, and again, maybe trying to create a visual here, the dark clouds of religious lies religion began to separate and the rays of truth began to shine through. And soon after that, almost immediately after that, my surprise turned to excitement as I also discovered that God commanded us to keep Holy Days and not manmade holidays. Again, I was excited about that truth. And that command is, we’ll see, a tremendous blessing for us, and today in particular, for a particular reason that we’re going to cover.

But let’s read here in Leviticus twenty-three to start off with the command about today, the Day of Trumpets. There’s not much written about it in this chapter. In verse twenty-four, it says, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, in the seventh month” and that’s the month of Tishri, the month that we’re currently in, it says, “...saying in the first day of the month,” today, Tishri One, “...you shall have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of Trumpets, a holy convocation.”

Now, I want to dedicate a significant portion of this morning’s message to proving that we as God’s people, today, must keep this day along with all the other Holy Days. But I also want to dedicate a portion of the message to something wonderful that today the Feast of Trumpets memorializes, something that maybe we have, or maybe you have never considered before. There’s elements in here that was a first for me. And I hope that it’s as exciting to learn these truths for some of you who have never heard it, or reignite excitement for those who maybe have heard elements of this.

But again, let’s first revisit proofs that God’s Church must observe His Holy Days and the others. Some of you may be thinking, All right, boring. Here we go again, something I’ve heard year after year, but consider, God regularly repeated His law throughout the years. He repeated His commandments, He repeated His statutes, He repeated His judgments. And if you think about it, us being the last era of the Church, we have the Old Testament, we have the Gospels, we have the New Testament, and we have Revelation, all filled with repetitions of God’s law. So God must have thought at the end of time we would need more repetition than any other era prior to us.

So God repeats them, His commands, in both the Old Testament and New Testament. And I also think about the young, the youth amongst us, that God is working with them and the foundation that these truths, the Sabbath, the Holy Days are so that deeper truths about God’s way of life can be built in their lives as well as they wrestle against the pulls of this world.

And I also think about prospective members, I was a prospective member at one time, and how they’re wrestling against the lies of maybe one or many religions that they followed as they’re being called, and they’re wrestling against that. And I think about when I was a new member. I remember coming into the Church for the first time just in the front end of the Spring Holy Days.

And, yes, I read the booklets and it’s wonderful to read the booklets. They were helpful. I knew that I was being called, excited about the Holy Days, but there’s something about listening to a minister of God talk about the proofs of the Holy Days that far exceeds what you can read in a book. Again, the books are valuable, but to hear the word of God spoke and taught in my ears was exciting. So let’s begin in Exodus nineteen and prove that we should be keeping this Holy Day.

Exodus nineteen. And we’ll begin in verse one. It says, “In the third month,” that would be Sivan, “...when the children of Israel were gone out of Egypt, the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.” Verse two, it says, “They departed from Rephidim, came to the desert of Sinai, and pitched in the wilderness, and there Israel camped before the Mount.” Mount Sinai. And we know what’s about to take place, we’ve read it many a times.

And at that time, in Sivan, “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him saying, this is what you shall say to the house Jacob and tell the children of Israel,” and Moses did, and we’re going to read that in a moment. But why would I start here, on the Day of Trumpets? Why would I start in the month of Sivan? It’s not Sivan, it’s Tishri. It’s Trumpets, it’s not Pentecost. Let’s keep reading and look closely at the covenant God made with Israel. And we’re going to pay careful attention to the conditions and promises, because those conditions and promises, what we’re about to read is the bridge to not only proving Pentecost, but the day that we’re keeping today, as well as the other Holy Days.

Continuing in verse five, “Now therefore, if you will obey My voice,” and that’s going to take on a bigger meaning, “...and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure,” or a peculiar people, “...to Me above all people,” some promises He’s laying out here, “...for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me,” you shall be mine, “...a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

So I’m sure you noticed and took note of the three promises that God made to the people of Israel if they obeyed His voice and kept His covenant. What’s even more amazing about this, and this is where we’re going to start to take a turn, that these same promises made to the house of Jacob are identical to another verse in scripture. I’m sure many of you know which one I’m talking about, but for those of you who do not, let’s turn to First Peter chapter two.

Those exact same promises that God made to Israel are the exact same words that we’re about to read in First Peter chapter two. Not the Old Testament, not Moses, but the New Testament and the chief apostle of the early Church to us. First Peter chapter two.

Verse nine, “You are a chosen generation,” and here we go, “...a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people...” Now, is He talking to Israelites? Peter? “...that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you,” an important phrase that may jump out at you and become of importance, “...who has called you out of the darkness into His marvelous light, which in time past you were not a people but are now the people of God.”

Again, the words that God inspired the Apostle Peter to use to identify the members of God’s Church, us, are nearly identical to that back in Exodus nineteen. And verse ten reveals that Peter’s audience were not Israelites. It was made up of people who were not physical Israelites. There were Gentiles as well, because if that were not the case, then why would he have said, at one time you were not a people, in time past, you were not a people, but now you are a people of God? It would raise the question, what did they do, or why were they now the people of God, in particular? And why were they carrying these titles? Because it wasn’t a promise that Peter was making, it was a statement of fact. He was declaring that his audience, not physical Israelites, were a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. What it means is that God’s people has nothing to do with your ancestral ties and everything to do with keeping and meeting the conditions that God lays out for a specific people, and if you do not believe me, I purposely skipped verses one through eight, and we’re not going to go through them, but verses one through eight, Peter warns the Church to meet certain conditions.

And why would he warn them to meet the conditions that he laid out? Because it would run the risk, those who didn’t keep those conditions, who didn’t maintain their side of the covenant with God, they would lose the titles in verse nine. Simply stated, just like Israel, no difference. And it was easy to tell when I was... before coming to the Church, I claimed to be a Christian, but it was easy to tell that I was not a Christian. You can tell people who claim to be Christians are not Christians because they don’t see the connection between Exodus nineteen in what was said at Mount Sinai and what Peter was telling the Church and telling us today in First Peter chapter two.

I couldn’t have made that connection. And Satan knows that anyone that God calls out of this dark world will now with God’s spirit be given the opportunity to make the connection that we’re making this morning brethren. And Satan knows that whoever makes this connection, if you make this connection, then you must agree to maintain and keep and fulfill the conditions that God set forth, all of them. And that would include His Holy Days brethren, period. The god of this world does not want us to meet God’s conditions, particularly if it means that it will add one more royal priest, one more holy citizen to this great nation, and make that individual peculiar from all other people on the planet.

That’s why Satan doesn’t want us, doesn’t want the world to know about these holy days, about us keeping them. Let’s turn back to Exodus chapter nineteen, Exodus chapter nineteen. We are privileged to be able to make this connection, brethren. But it doesn’t stop there. Chapter nineteen and verse seven. I said that Moses was going to repeat what God said, “And Moses called the elders,” in verse seven “...and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded and all the people answered together.” And this is what they said.

“All that the Lord has spoken, we will do.” Brethren, we are royal priests. We belong to a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We are a peculiar people because we obey all of God’s commandments, because we keep all of his covenants. That’s what makes us distinct. And it begins with the Ten Commandments that roll right into the next chapter, chapter twenty of Exodus. We’re not going to read there. We’ll go back to there shortly. We’ll come back to chapter twenty, but I’d like to jump forward a few chapters to Exodus 23. I think we read from that earlier.

We’re going to home-in now on God’s commandments regarding His Holy Days, which are part of His covenant. And we’re going to pay particular attention obviously during this time of the year to the fall of His Trumpets. Exodus twenty-three and verse fifteen. “Three times you shall keep a feast unto me in the year.” In verse 15, it talks about the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In verse sixteen, “...and you shall keep the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits.” Think about that and what that means to God’s special people. A very special group of people that are going to be forever referred to as the first fruits of God.

Well then we would want to understand... if it were first fruits or Pentecost, we would want to understand what are the conditions of the covenant that we must keep to qualify for that. It goes on here in verse sixteen, continuing in the Feast of Ingathering, which is in the end of the year. This time of year, brethren, when we have Trumpets, atonement, Feast of Tabernacles in the last great day, we gather. In verse seventeen, it repeats again, “Three times a year, you shall appear before the Lord your God.” I want you to think back to the titles that Peter gave to us or revealed to us.

And one of the titles is a peculiar treasure or people. Peculiar. Have you ever thought about that? What about us makes us peculiar in the eyes of other people? Of all that we do relative to God’s word, living this way of life, what makes us really stand out as peculiar? That’s a particular word, it’s a peculiar word. What makes us peculiar to our families, to our friends, to our loved ones, work colleagues? What makes us peculiar? Is it that we keep the Sabbath? Well, that doesn’t run too much into the workweek. And okay, you gather on Saturdays, we gather on Sundays. Okay, that’s different.

But what would make us particularly peculiar to the world around us? Brethren keeping God’s feasts. That makes us peculiar. Yes, we express love and joy and peace and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit. We don’t eat unclean meats, but there are people that don’t eat meat and pork and things like that. But what makes us a peculiar people to those who are looking from the outside in is that we keep God’s Holy Days. We keep the feasts. In my family, modern Christendom looks at us and thinks that we’re odd because they say that these feasts were intended for ancient Israel, these are Jewish holidays or feasts.

Let’s turn to Romans chapter nine because they clearly do not understand. Again, they’re not making the connections that are there in the scriptures or what the Apostle Paul said to the early Church in Rome, which was made up primarily of Gentiles. Romans chapter nine and verse three. Powerful portion of scripture. Verse three, “For I could wish that I were accursed from Christ for my brethren’s sake,” I wish I could, but I can’t. “...my kinsman, according to the flesh.” Well, who is he talking about? Verse four. “Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, the glory, the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God,” We’re serving God, “...and the promises.”

Now take note in this entire chapter and everywhere else that Paul wrote, he never nullified those things. He never said, “Those are done away with.” In fact, he goes on in verse six. He says, “Not as though the word of God,” which he was teaching from the Old Testament and he was making reference to all of these things, this list of things. The promises, serving God, giving the law, the covenants. He says it has taken no effect or it hasn’t become useless. And then he goes on to say, “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.” And then verse seven, essentially saying... let me explain it further.

“Just because someone is the seed of Abraham does not make them children, but in Isaac shall your seed be called.” This may be a statement that escapes us sometimes, but that’s an important statement there. Be called. Verse eight, that is, and he’s going to say it one more way, “They which are children of the flesh are not children of God.” The children of the promise are counted as the seed rather those who are called are children. And that calling is not disconnected from the covenants, from the law, from serving God. He didn’t nullify it there.

He says we have access to it. In other words, it’s not reserved for a physical Israel, it is now spiritual Israelites that can do these or have access to these things, including the promises. What Paul is saying is that what changed are not the promises or the conditions that we have to keep brethren, but what changed is who is a true Israelite, those whom God calls. Romans chapter two.

Now, despite these words here, let’s turn to Romans chapter two, some still argue, some Christians of the world, they’ll say they’re exempt from conditions because Christ did away with them. Well, for most of us, we know that’s ridiculous. Jesus Christ gave mankind, specifically those called by God in these times a chance, the ability to meet the conditions that God set for the prize or the promise that he set before us, which is to be eternal God beings. Christ didn’t do away with it, He gave every man and woman an opportunity, a chance to meet the conditions that will qualify them to become God beings one day.

Romans chapter two, verse twenty-eight, for those who would claim that the Holy Day’s commanded in Leviticus twenty-three are Jewish holidays, here’s what Paul says, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither does circumcision count, which is in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is inwardly circumcised of the heart in spirit, not in letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Brethren, being a Jew in God’s eyes is not reserved for those who happen to be descendants of Judah and God makes it plain here. Christ was a physical Israelite and he was a physical Jew.

No one’s going to argue on that point, but let’s not let it escape us that according to verse twenty-eight and twenty-nine, Christ was also a spiritual Israelite and a spiritual Jew. What did Jesus... if He’s our example, what did Jesus, a physical and spiritual do His entire life? Well, He kept the biblical festivals of Leviticus twenty-three, which we read as part of His promise and commitment to uphold and keep the conditions that God set for mankind. If He wouldn’t have done it, we wouldn’t have a savior. The Bible records that when He was young, His parents would take Him up to the Passover year after year.

Well, that didn’t end. In fact, just before He died, He taught the apostles how to continue keeping the Passover with new symbols after He would die. Jesus and all the disciples observed the days of unleavened bread. We can read that in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. You can read in John that Jesus and the disciples kept the Feast of Tabernacles and the last great day, which is just upon us.

But obeying all that God says, keeping these covenants, particularly the Holy Days, including Trumpets today, brethren in Leviticus twenty-three, did not stop when Jesus died and you can take note of this, we’re not going to turn to them for the sake of time, but again, we’re just piling on proof of why it is we’re sitting in the seats that we’re sitting in today, where we are sitting today. The ancient epistles repeatedly show the New Testament Church continued keeping these feasts. decades. Acts two, write that down.

You can go back and look at it. It records that there were disciples who were brave enough with all that was going on in Jerusalem after the crucifixion... the torturing, and crucifixion of Christ, they were brave enough to stay there in the midst of all of that for Pentecost. And imagine if they didn’t brethren, where would we be? Acts eighteen, Paul says, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem.” Why would he do that? And I’m going to get to Paul in a moment because he’s a powerful example for us to learn and prove that we must be keeping the feast, including today.

Why would he do that? Because he knew that he was a royal priest, a citizen of a holy nation, a peculiar person. He was going to keep all of God’s commands, Acts twenty, that’s more than twenty-five years later. Paul is still talking about observing Pentecost and he was talking amongst the Gentiles and again, that’s going to take on greater meaning here in a moment.

Acts twenty-seven, the day of atonement is referenced. In First Corinthians fifteen, Paul instructs the Gentiles, spiritual Israelites, spiritual Jews, to keep the feast when he was referring to the days of unleavened bread. Another one, First Corinthians chapter eleven, just six chapters later, Paul delivered to them what he received from Christ about keeping the Passover. This was after he told them in verse one, he said, “Be you followers, imitators of me as I am of Christ.”

That’s the leading verse to keeping the Passover brethren. I want you... let’s not miss one something, you may have never thought of this before, but how many of you recall that Paul was a Benjamite, but he referred to himself in Romans chapter nine, and Romans chapter two, as what? A spiritual Israelite and a spiritual Jew. And let’s not forget, and this is one of my favorite scriptures in Galatians two, he was a staunch defender of the Gentiles who he was called to preach the gospel to against any attempts, including Peter himself and other Jews that would mingle with them and try to Judaize them.

So if there was anyone on the planet that had the authority of God to declare that the Holy Days were null and void, that they no longer had to keep them, that would’ve been the Apostle Paul. That was his opportunity to say, Stop. But he never exempted any member of the Church of God from keeping those feasts. Why? Because he didn’t exempt himself. He told the Church, including us today brethren, imitate him as he imitates Christ and all that God commands.

He like Peter, understood that he was a peculiar person and as such, brethren, we must keep all of God’s commandments, including what we’re doing today. It makes us look peculiar, good. In that regards, I’m not bothered. I like looking peculiar in a suit and tie of course.

Now the biblical... I could go on and on. The biblical record and the New Testament, Old Testament about us keeping these Holy Days, I could go on and on, but I want to shift now to what today memorializes, one particular special thing. Many things are going to be talked about today, and they’re all important but I want to focus in on one element of what today should remind us, something maybe we’ve never considered before. Let’s turn to Leviticus twenty-seven. That wasn’t so boring, was it? Now we’re going to turn to something I think is even more exciting.

Now, as we’re turning there... and I was doing some research. Many of you know, I think it was recently mentioned in the teen Bible study that the book of Deuteronomy, it was given to Moses to give to the people of Israel forty years after they came out of Exodus. I think chapter one, verse three says that. That’s when Deuteronomy was given. Well, that got me curious that, okay, when was Numbers given? The book of Numbers? Anyone know?

Numbers chapter one, verse one tells us the following, it says... we don’t have to go there, but it says, “God spoke to Moses on the first day of the second month,” would’ve been Iyar because now the sacred calendar was put in place and it goes on to say, “In the second year after coming out of Egypt.” Now, why is that important? Why is it important to know when Numbers was given almost a year late? In the second year is when Numbers was given to Moses to give to the people of Israel. Well, God’s instructions about the broader use of Trumpets was given, not in Sinai, but almost a year later. All of those broader uses that we talk about, and we talk about during today, which is important shofars, silver trumpets, cornets, even as recent as the article on the pillar, that I’m sure many of you read.

It talks about how they’re used at the beginning of each month for sacrifices, other feasts, heralding arrival of special seasons. When we talk about how trumpet sounds were used to direct movements of Israelite camps and mobilize men of war, all those were uses that God commanded Israel in the use of trumpets. All of those, and they’re all very important, but again, those were established after Israel had already memorialized the blowing of trumpets almost a year later, and only two and a half months after Pentecost.

Again, but why is that important? Well, what about Leviticus, the book of Leviticus? We know Numbers was written almost a year later. Deuteronomy forty years later. Let’s turn a little bit here at Leviticus twenty-seven verse thirty-four, the very last verse. It tells us when its contents were given, and we’re going to talk about why it’s important we know that. These are the commandments which God commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai. Leviticus was given in Mount Sinai.

The next Holy Day, Brethren, following those instructions in Leviticus, including what we read in Leviticus twenty-three, the famous chapter, what was the first one that they had to keep? Which was the next one up? Only two and a half months later, Trumpets, but what would they have known about Trumpets at that point? Again, Numbers and the instructions weren’t given until a year later. In fact, in Leviticus, Atonement in chapter twenty-five is the only other place that a trumpet or trumpets are mentioned, and of course, the two verses that we have in Leviticus.

But brethren, I think very little had to be said about what that day was going to memorialize when they got to Tishri One, that first year out of Egypt. All they knew that it was a memorial, and that word memorial means memento, and in the Merriam Dictionary, it means to remind or warn. That’s all they knew. So when Tishri One comes up, we’ve got to blow trumpets as a memorial of reminding.

So two and a half months, as you all know, you give me two and a half months and I won’t remember what I did two weeks ago versus two and a half months ago. Right? What could it have meant to them? Brethren, the sound of the trumpet blaring in the ears of Israel that day, including the ears of Moses, was a powerful and frightening reminder. It wasn’t to prepare and assemble for war against God’s enemies. Couldn’t have been, nor was it a directive to move the camp in one direction or another, couldn’t have been. It was just a powerful, frightening reminder of... what would they have remembered when that trumpet blast sounded?

Exodus chapter twenty; let’s go back. Exodus chapter twenty. Here’s what they would have been reminded of. In verse one, “And God spoke all these words, saying,” Now, if you remember in the previous chapter that we were reading, the people promised to do all that God said. All that He would say they promised to do, so what did God do? He said a lot and He began to lay out the ten commandments, and then He goes on and we know Leviticus.

If you were to lump that in there to talk about His statutes, His judgments, everything that we can read in Leviticus, but God did not simply dictate His law, His commandments, His statutes, His judgments, in a staffer’s room tucked away somewhere on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. That’s not how He delivered His law, Brethren. Then it wasn’t read in some committee meeting, or some committee room, or on the floor of the House of Representatives, or in the Senate chamber. No.

This is how God delivered His law. Verse eighteen, “And all the people saw thundering and lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw,” and of course heard what they were hearing, “...they removed.” That word is powerful, “...and stood off.” It isn’t like ooh, uuh. Ooh, step back. Ooh, wait. No, it wasn’t that. That word removed, it means to waver. It means to shake, to stagger, to scatter. When they heard what they heard, they took off. They ran, but the trumpet blaring was not the only sound that would have caused them to shake and shiver and quake and scatter. We know that.

What would have made them, Brethren, waver, shake, stagger, and scatter two months prior? What would they have remembered? Hebrews chapter twelve reveals what we are memorializing today, Brethren. Hebrews chapter twelve. Let’s turn there.

Verse eighteen, “For you not come to the mount that might be touched, that burned with fire. You haven’t come to the mount that has blackness, and darkness and tempest.” Paul is conjuring up an image in the minds of people who didn’t experience it firsthand, but Paul was trying to get them to relive that moment, the readers of this portion of scriptures. Verse nineteen, “And the sound of a trumpet,” Paul recalled that in their minds, but here it is, Brethren, “...and the voice of words, which voice when they that heard intreated begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore, for they could not endure what was commanded.”

Brethren, the Feast of Trumpets serves to remind us like that first trumpets that ancient Israel experienced reminds us of God’s voice of words. When Israel and Moses heard the trumpets blasting on the first Feast of Trumpets, they would have been reminded of the astonishing power of God’s voice. His words blaring from Mount Sinai. Now, how many of you would like to have a description of what God’s voice is like? Psalm twenty-nine.

King David gives us an amazing, an incredible description of this voice. This voice of words that made them scatter, shake, stumble as they were running away. Psalm twenty-nine. It’s one of the best descriptions I could find in all the scriptures of God’s voice, the Father’s mighty voice. I think six times, in just a short portion of scripture, the voice of the Lord is referenced here. Verse three, “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of Glory Thunders. The Lord is upon many waters.”

Verse four, “The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness.” Verse nine. “The voice of the Lord makes the does or cows give birth and strips the forest.” I like the way this psalm ends. It says here, “In his temple, everyone speaks of God’s glory.”

Now, he dedicated the entirety of a psalm to the voice of God, and he ends it with, “The people in the temple speak of God’s glory.” To speak of God’s glory Brethren, we must understand the voice of words or the voice of God. To fully appreciate who God is and some of the tremendous knowledge that we’ve gained over the prophesy series, we must also understand this aspect of God. His voice.

Now, no one alive has heard the audible voice of God. If you have, I’d like you to approach Dr. Viljoen.

He’s here to help. If you’re in a local congregation and you think you’ve heard the audible voice of God, speak to your minister. We’re here to help. I say that in jest, but nobody has heard this powerful, majestic voice that has all these attributes. I’m so grateful to King David for recording what God’s voice is like. It can thunder like warring waters. If you ever stood near Niagara Falls, it’s been mentioned recently, it roars. That’s a pussycat compared to the voice of God.

It can create and extinguish flames of fire. Think about the forest fires out west in California. God can create them and He can extinguish them with his voice. God speaking can snap a great cedar tree as if we held dried twigs in our hands. Just crumble. Think about the power of God’s voice. His voice can strip an entire forest and leave it as a wasteland by just speaking. I was reading an online article because that just sparked thoughts in my mind. You go, “Wow. What can I find?”

There was an article called... It’s self-explanatory. “Scientists have created a sound so loud it can vaporize water on contact.” They created this sound in a vacuum and it went to two hundred and seventy decibels I believe, which is louder than the loudest rocket ever created by NASA, which I think is about two hundred and five decibels. It’s sixty-five decibels stronger and when that sound hit water, it vaporized it instantly.

God’s voice is more powerful than that. He could speak and destroy the earth instantly, but He doesn’t. Not hearing God’s audible voice does not mean that we cannot hear Him. Not hearing God’s audible voice doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate its majesty. Not hearing His voice, Brethren, does not prevent us of speaking of His glory. We just hear God’s voice differently now. We hear the words and because we do, we like Moses and all God’s people throughout time, we can appreciate His voice.

We must appreciate it and we can show appreciation by acting on it. Not just God’s, Brethren. It’s the remembering voices. Let’s turn to Hebrews chapter one. Not just God the Father’s. The Father is not alone in terms of a powerful voice, by no means. The Bible has plenty to say about Christ’s voice as well. Today is a reminder of this. Hebrews chapter one and verse one. “God, who at sundry many times and in divers manners, many ways, spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,” particularly Moses because they begged that God would not speak to them directly.

Verse two. “Has in these last days spoken to us by His son, whom he has appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the world’s. Who being the brightness of His glory in the express image of His person in upholding all things by the word of His power.” There’s no doubt about it. In terms of sheer power and pure majesty of voice, Christ has won just like the Father. We’re not finished.

But notice, the Father in Christ’s words are what carry the unfathomable power and it’s not because of high decibels. Do you think that God and Christ could have whispered and everything that we see, the natural universe wouldn’t have come into existence? They could have whispered and done it. What am I driving at? All of creation is sustained by the words, Brethren. You ever get into a conversation with someone from a different language and you don’t know that language exactly and when you can tell that they’re not understanding you, you just speak the same thing louder thinking that they’re now going to get it?

They’re looking at you. “It doesn’t matter how loud you get, I’m not going to get it.” Revelation chapter one. Before we go on and talk more about that point. To what do you think on this Day of Trumpets, do you think Christ’s powerful voice is likened to? Revelation chapter one and verse ten. All right. That’s the apostle John speaking. “I was in the spirit on the day of the Lord, and I heard behind me a great,” that word in the Greek is megas, “powerful voice as of a trumpet.”

Here’s what that voice said as it trumpeted behind John. “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and last.” Verse twelve. “And I turned to see the voice and turned around and I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst one like the Son of man.” Christ, Brethren, is clearly identified here. His voice is powerful and likened to a trumpet. Verse thirteen. John continued to describe Christ. “Head and hair white like wool and snow, His eyes like flame, feet like fine brass burning in the furnace, His voice as of many waters.”

Remember Psalm twenty-nine, the description of the Father’s voice. Verse sixteen. “Out his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword.” Brethren, what is most powerful, again, are not the decibels that God the Father and Christ can produce. It’s the words that proceed out of God the Father’s and Christ’s mouth that is powerful. Now, we’re going to take a different look in a different book from a different author about the same thing.

Let’s go to Hebrews four. The scriptures harmonize beautifully. Remember in verse sixteen back there in Revelation. “Out of his mouth wench a sharp two-edged sword.” We’re here in Hebrews four and verse twelve. I think you know where I’m going. It’s a powerful verse but put in the context of what we’re talking about today. “For the word of God is quick and powerful.” Not just the sound but the words, “…and sharper than any two-edged sword.”

Here’s why it’s powerful to us, Brethren. This is why we can contemplate its majesty. “Piercing even to the dividing asunder oaths of the soul and the spirit of joints and marrow, and discerner of the thoughts and tents of our hearts.” Brethren, this Bible, the Bible that is on your lap, up here on this lectern is God’s voice of words as it says in Hebrews. This Bible contains the voice of words of Christ. This Bible Brethren, what’s so powerful about it, it has transformed us. Who you are today is not who you were yesterday nor the day before. In large part because of the voice of the word of God. Of God’s voice, His words. It will continue transforming us if we’re willing to listen. That’s power. That’s majesty. Now, I’d like to add to this point on the day of Trumpets, there’s another voice that we are reminded of on Trumpets.

Set aside all the other instructions about how to use trumpets. We’re talking about voices, and more than one Bible verse tells us. Let’s turn to Revelation chapter ten. Another voice that we are reminded of, critical to me personally, critical to most of you, all of you. Revelation ten talked about God’s voice. We’ve talked about Christ’s voice. Revelation ten verse seven. “But in the days of the voice of the seventh messenger, when He shall begin to...” That word sound means to trumpet. “The mystery of God shall be executed, shall be finished.” Brethren, God’s servant, His apostle supported by the ministry is the only audible voice that brings God’s truth to a peculiar people like us. That’s it. It’s the only audible voices we’re going to hear from now until the kingdom. Isaiah fifty-eight. It won’t stay just like that. It won’t be just the voice of the seventh messenger. Isaiah fifty-eight. No, it’s going to be amplified. As we’ve heard many a times, if the messenger’s voice is going to be amplified, those who obey and finish their course, their voices will be amplified.

Verse one. “On this day of trumpets, cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet. Show my people their transgression.” Soon, Brethren, His voice will trumpet across the planet to prepare the way before the Lord that mankind would repent and turn towards the covenants of God. It will all start with a blast. We also know God’s spirit teaches us, not just the messenger. I’ll wait just a moment here.

God’s spirit Brethren. You don’t have to turn there but John fourteen, twenty-six. It says about the comforter. This is Christ’s words. “The Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance.” He reminded me of things, showed me things, and I’m just simply sharing what God showed me through His Spirit. Whatsoever I have said to you, including, Brethren, keeping the Holy Days. The Holy Spirit, its mission is to remind us of everything that Christ taught and that included like we said earlier in the message, to keep God’s Holy Days. Revelation two and three, even more specifically Christ tells each Church era. He finishes every letter to them. He says, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.”

Those are the voices that we have Brethren. Do we need more? No. What if we don’t hear God’s voice, Christ’s voice, or what they’re saying through the ministry, through His messenger? If we don’t hear the voice of the spirit, that leads us on a daily basis. John eight, thirty-nine, just picking up in the middle of the account, “They...” They’re referring to the Jews. By the way, it says in verse thirty-one, these Jews that He’s talking to, it says they actually believed in Him. Take note of that.

These Jews who believed in Him, answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Here’s what Jesus said. Remember back in Romans, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham, but now you seek to kill me.” Oh wait, that’s murder, one of the commandments that’s alive and well. “A man has told you the truth, which I have heard of God.” Now, what if we don’t hear of God? That was my question earlier. Verse forty-seven, “He that is of God hears God’s words. You therefore hear them not because you are not of God.” That’s not me. That’s the Bible that says it, because many of the Jews in Christ’s time, they knew the scriptures as well as any of us. Now that we have what we’ve learned, maybe not but there were some that knew the scriptures extraordinarily well, but they could not hear God. There are people that claim that they believe in Jesus Christ, but they won’t hear what God says. They won’t hear what He says.

This statement that Christ made was likely offensive to them. You imagine going and telling my mom and dad, “You’re not of God because you don’t hear from him.” Not going to go well. That would be offensive. We don’t go around saying those types of things but the truth is the truth. Only those that hear God are of God, plain and simple. Jesus was of God because He heard the Father.

Just write this down, John five verse thirty. Jesus was of God because He heard the Father. “I can do of my own self nothing. As I hear, I judge because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father.” The reason why we hear God or we should hear God is because we desire to do His will. Don’t be surprised if you’re not wanting to do God’s will that you’re not hearing from God. If you want to do truly God’s will and you pray that as we should pray every day, you will hear from God.

Those who really don’t want to do the will of God, I would just tell them, don’t expect. It’s like listening to Mandarin Chinese. You’re just not going to get it. Write this down, the true Church is of God because we hear Christ. John ten, twenty-seven. “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.” How important is the voice of God? Here’s another proof of where the true Church is.

The true Church is of God because we hear His apostle in the ministry and there’s a scripture that tells us so. First John chapter four. Christ is of God because He heard God. We are the true Church. We are of God. We are of Christ because we hear Christ and the Father, but we’re also the true Church of God because we hear His ministry. First John chapter four and verse one, “Beloved, believe not every spirit...” you’ll see that’s a person, “...but try the spirits whether they’re of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

Then He begins to endorse Himself in the apostles, which you’re not going to find John doing that very much. Verse six, “We are of God. He that knows God hears us,” the apostles, the ministry. “He that is not of God hears us not. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” That’s how we can determine who’s walking in error and who’s walking in truth by the person they’re listening to and can hear and connect upon. Rather than the voice of God’s words, His truth it’s a distilling power.

It’s a strainer. It’s a filter. It’s able to filter out all the chaff, those who are so-called Christians from true Christians. God’s children are individuals who have been called and keep the covenants laws, serve God, and have access to the promise. Those who hear God in Christ understand and hear from this book. Those who are of God, here’s what the Spirit guides them to do and not to do. Those who hear God’s ministry starting with His apostle and the messenger of the Church, those are of God.

Brethren, these are the voice of words that we are reminded of on Trumpets, but I can’t finish the message because that’s not quite enough. Let’s turn to Jeremiah seven. Recalling what God said back in Exodus. These are the voices that we hear. You remember what he said back in Exodus nineteen, five “Now therefore if you obey my voice and keep my covenant.” I read it at the very beginning, Jeremiah seven.

“For I spoke not to your fathers...” verse twenty-two, “nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.” Didn’t talk to them. That wasn’t my first statements to them. We know how God feels about sacrifices and burnt offerings in comparison to listening to Him and doing His will. No, here’s what God said, but this is what I commanded, “Obey my voice and I will be your God...” conditional “and you shall be my people and walk in all the ways.” Not some, but “All the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you.”

Verse 24, “They hearken not nor inclined their ear, but walked in the councils in the imagination of their evil heart and went backward and not forward.” Brethren, if you want progress in this way, you must continuously listen to the voice of God. The voice of words. Youth, you’ve got to develop the skill of listening to the voice of God in your life through what I just laid out. I can tell you from experience, it’s a rough going.

Perspective members, listen to the voice of God. New members, listen to the voice of God. Members who have been around for many, many years listen to the voice of God. That’s the only way to make progress because absolutely everything, our blessings now and greater ones later, everything depends on our efforts to hearken to the voice of God. That’s the key element. Not just hear it, but hearken to it.

Deuteronomy twenty-eight. It’s a scripture I like to go to often. What happens when we listen to the voice of God and all the voices that we laid out today on trumpets because that’s the only thing they would’ve been reminded of? The voice of words two and a half months earlier. Verse one, “And it shall come to pass if you hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that the Lord your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth.”

A holy nation, a peculiar people, a royal priesthood. “And all these blessings shall come on you and overtake you if you hearken to the voice of the Lord your God.” As I’ve said in the past, the next eleven verses lays out for those of God, spiritual Israelites, us, all the blessings. Verse thirteen, “And the Lord shall make us the head, not the tail, and we shall be on top and we shall not be on the bottom.”

Talk about success. If we hearken, observe, and do God’s commandments. It’s very simple. Hear what He says, develop your hearing skills to hear more of what He says, and then just do what He says. It’s that simple. Look at all the Bible Greats. What other example did they leave when they were on the right track? They would hear God and they would do exactly what he said. If they didn’t hear what God said or they didn’t do what God said, what they heard Him say, then things went wrong. That’s exactly what Deuteronomy twenty-eight lays out.

Verse fifteen, “But if it shall come to pass if you will not hearken to the Lord’s voice to observe and to do all his commandments and statutes, then all these curses shall come upon you.” If you’re going to choose life or death, you’ve got to choose whose voice you’re going to listen to. Your own, society, Satan, or all the voices I’ve laid out. I lay before you all the voices that you can possibly listen to. You choose. That’s what trumpets was about. That’s what triggered in them the voice of God. James chapter one.

I always like going to James. If I were to think that he had an ethnicity, I would’ve said, “I know he’s Jewish, but I would’ve thought he was Dutch.” He just calls it like it is. Straight shooter. He doesn’t mince words. Verse sixteen is a great example of that, and I have nothing against my Dutch Brethren just for the record. “Do not err, my beloved Brethren. Every good gift and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Verse eighteen, “Of His own will he begat us with the word of truth.”

Never forget, how did we ultimately come into the truth of God, by the word of truth. What captured us in our individual ways? The word of truth. That we should be a kind of or a part of as we understand the first roots of His creation. Think about that. How we’re tying the voice of the words of God, and Pentecost first roots together. You can’t separate any of the Holy Days, but it’s hard to separate my mind now and trumpets from Pentecost. From the standpoint that it hearkens back, that trumpet sound, at least for the first year, hearkens them back to a critical moment in their lives when they heard the voice of God.

Think about it, Brethren. If we do what we learn today, if we apply, and I know these are things that you already know, but hopefully, it’s been brought in a unique and new way that excites you, reenergizes you. Hopefully, this message is like a trumpet that shakes you. Brethren, we can be part of the first fruits, the hundred and forty and four thousand. Verse nineteen, “Wherefore beloved, let every man be swift to...” What? Hear. Hear what?

Verse twenty-one. Guess what verse twenty-one contains. Conditions. God’s word is all about conditions just like the Israel. “But be you doers of the word and not hearers only.” Those are the key elements on this day. Do not be hearers only because you’re only deceiving yourself. You can say you hear from God but when the rubber hits the road, will you do what God says? Brethren, the blowing of trumpets in that first year was a reminder to physical Israel of God’s voice months before when it happened in Mount Sinai. That’s the thing that they would have been reminded of. Powerful majestic as David described it.

Today, we memorialize. This morning we remind ourselves of not only God’s voice but Christ, the spirits. His apostle’s voice, His ministry’s voice. Today also serves as a warning to all spiritual Israelites, all of us. That we meet the conditions God set for us through His word so that we can continue to be a peculiar treasure to Him. Hold that title of a royal priest, citizen of a holy nation. Today we are reminded of what lies ahead. Paul told the Corinthians, “In a moment of a twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.”

He told the Thessalonians concerning those who are asleep. We had a member recently go to sleep. He told them not to sorrow “…for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the trump of God.” Those who have died in Christ will not only hear a trumpet, but more importantly, they’ll hear the words of God. Of Christ. That’s the power that resurrects.

Christ’s words are equally powerful, and I’ll end with this. In John five, twenty-five, “Truly, truly I say unto you, the hour is coming.” Now is, how much more does that apply to us, Brethren? “…when the dead…” and the living “…shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they only those that hear shall live.” Brethren today on trumpets, we’re reminded that if we continue hearing and harkening to the voice of words, then we will become like God and also have a voice of power and majesty.