The Two-Day Feast and the Last Trumpet

Now let us understand how the Feast of Trumpets became a two-day feast, because this symbolism in Scripture reveals something important about a phrase we often encounter. The Feast of Trumpets falls on Tishri one, a memorial blowing of trumpets, on the new moon. When the children of Israel were exiled from the promised land following the Babylonian invasion, they were scattered across the region, yet still commanded to keep Torah. The only way dispersed Jewish communities would know that the two witnesses had spotted the new moon — and that the Feast of Trumpets had begun — was through fires lit along the mountaintops. But that communication took time, and by the time the news had spread to all Jewish communities, two days had passed. So the Feast of Trumpets became known as the feast that no one knew the day or the hour, because they had to wait on the two witnesses to declare the new moon spotted.

This is the tradition we must understand. Yeshua was one hundred percent Jewish — Seed of Abraham, Seed of David. He would speak in the idioms and the cultural language of his people. Just as a Southerner uses phrases and slang that other Southerners understand naturally, Yeshua would speak in ways his Jewish disciples immediately recognized. So when he used the phrase "no one knows the day or the hour," his Jewish audience understood exactly what feast he was pointing to. It is in the Scriptures.

Now let us look at Matthew 24 and 25, the Olivet Discourse — Messiah's last prophetic sermon before he was crucified for our sins. When the disciples came to him and asked about the signs of his second coming, his very first response was: "Do not be deceived." That should refine all of us as we enter these times. Matthew 24 is a chronological timeline of the tribulation period, moving through the various signs, through the abomination of desolation at the three-and-a-half-year mark — where he directs us back to Daniel — and then to his coming.

Beginning at verse 29: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken." This mirrors exactly what we read in Joel. And notice: he says *immediately after* the tribulation. He continues: "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens, the tribes of the earth will mourn, and the Son of Man will be coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

This shows chronologically that the resurrection — the Rapture — will not occur until the Feast of Trumpets, after the Antichrist's reign. He says immediately *after* the tribulation — after the full seven years — the sign of the Son of Man appears: the blood moon, the darkening of the sun. He comes on the clouds, we meet him in the clouds, there are ten days of awe, and then on Yom Kippur we come down with him. One event, one sequence.

He then continues: "He will send his angels with a great sound of the trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds." And then: "But of that day no one knows the hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only." There it is again — the tradition. The Feast that no one knows the day or the hour. He is telling you, without telling you, that this event falls on the Feast of Trumpets, because he will return at the last trump on that day.

Then he says: "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming." And: "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left." That is the resurrection, occurring at the last day — just as he says, "You will be raised on the last day," and as Daniel was told, "Go your way; you will be raised to your inheritance on the last day." That last day is the transition from the sixth day to the seventh day, from the reign of the Antichrist to the reign of the Kingdom of Israel, in the twinkling of an eye.

He goes on: "But know this — if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." If Messiah intended for us to never understand the timing, he would not have continued speaking in these terms. He would have simply said to stop thinking about it. Instead he keeps urging us to watch, because he does not want us to be caught as a thief in the night. That is another important distinction.

We must also understand that the Wrath of the Lord is not the same as the wrath of the Antichrist. The Wrath of the Lord is the ten days of awe. The wrath of the Antichrist is the tribulation period — and Revelation 12 speaks to this directly. When the Antichrist gains power at the three-and-a-half-year mark, he goes after the children of Israel fleeing to the mountains. A flood is sent to prevent him from destroying them. Then he turns against "the other offspring" — and who would that be, if not the Gentile Believers?

The church will be present through the tribulation. Was Paul taken out? Were the disciples taken out? Read the book of Acts. The church's finest hour will come precisely at the worst time in human history — because that is when the gospel is most needed. The Jewish people fleeing to the mountains are not reading Matthew 24 on their own. It will take the two great witnesses and the body of Believers — The Remnant — to reach them. The Great Commission does not pause during tribulation; if anything, it intensifies.

A pre-tribulation Rapture cannot be reconciled with Matthew 24, because Matthew 24 is in chronological order. That is the bottom line.

Because the Jewish people have rejected the Messiah, it is our job to inform them and make them jealous, just as Romans 11 declares. We should be doing that now. And I believe when the time comes, there will be many Believers who say, "We have to prepare, because we are about to enter into the worst time in human history" — when they see the Antichrist sign that agreement and realize they are still here. Many are calling for it today, but there has been no Rapture, no agreement made. It is not the right time yet. The Rapture cannot happen at any time. It will happen on the Feast of Trumpets, and in my personal opinion, it will occur on the last day of the seven-year tribulation period, at the twinkling of an eye, when Messiah comes back. But that is another study for another time.

One would have to rectify and reconcile what our Savior and Lord said: *immediately after the tribulation*. "Immediately" is the twinkling of an eye. That means the transition from the sixth day to the seventh day is going to happen just like that — at sundown Jerusalem time on the Feast of Trumpets. That transition will occur in an instant. We will be taken out then as the Lord pours out His vengeance, as described in Isaiah 63, upon those who believed in the Antichrist's armies.

The Feast of Trumpets has three shofar sequences. The first is called *Tekiah* — one long blast. The second is *Shevarim* — three short blasts. The third is *Teruah* — nine quick blasts. That sequence is blown eleven times, equaling ninety-nine blasts. Then the final blast, called *Tekiah Gedolah*, is the hundredth blast. This is what is known as the Last Trump. That will occur on the Feast of Trumpets. This is why it is so important to understand God's roots — what some call Hebrew Roots or Jewish Roots. These are God's roots, and He wants us to understand them because they are so prophetic in illuminating scripture.

Now, when we go to 1 Corinthians 15:51–53, it says: *"Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed."*

My question for those who hold to a pre-tribulation Rapture is this: is the Last Trump at the beginning of the tribulation period? I don't think so. There are six more trumpets that blow before the Last Trump — the seventh. How do you reconcile Paul saying it is the *last* trumpet if it occurs at the beginning? It is not symbolic; it is literal. The last trumpet is the day of the Lord. The seventh trumpet is when the Lord returns, and then the bowl judgments are poured out during the ten days of awe that follow. That is how you reconcile it within the Book of Revelation.