Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yves Perriard.
Dear friends, Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish new year, is filled with beautiful and meaningful traditions. But unfortunately, not a single one of them comes from the Bible.
There is, however, one striking exception. You will observe in all the synagogues of the world that day, there is one practice that is biblical. On that one day, the shofar will be heard at least 100 times. Why? Because long before Rosh Hashanah was ever invented, God had already appointed a day in his word which is called Yom Teruah. Literally, Teruah means the day of loud blasting or shouting, which obviously is best expressed by the loud sound of the shofar. That's why it's also called the Feast of Trumpets.
In Leviticus 23:4, it tells us:
"Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath rest, a memorial of blowing the trumpets, the shofar, a holy convocation.'"
So, on that first day of the seventh month, which corresponds to Rosh Hashanah, the Israelites were to have a holy convocation. What does that mean? A special gathering for God - resting completely from work, praying, reading the Torah, and bringing sacrifices to the temple in Jerusalem. All of this was the usual stuff they would do for all the other biblical feasts. So what was different for that one special day? It was called a memorial.
Now, what's very surprising, very intriguing, and here’s the key, the mystery in all this, is that God in his word never told us what we should remember. It's a memorial, right? In every other feast it’s clear: in Passover, you remember the Exodus; in Sukkot, you remember the journey through the desert; in Purim and most others, you remember the victories of God. But for the Day of Trumpets, there’s absolutely nothing mentioned. Instead, it is simply called a memorial of blowing the shofar.
In other words, something is remembered precisely when we hear the shofar.
In biblical times, that sound carried a deep meaning. If you heard it, you knew something important was happening. It could have been a warning, a danger, a war, a call to repentance before judgment came. It could be the arrival of a king, an important announcement, a decree, a prophetic word, a coronation, or news of a victory. But most of the time it was tied to God's calendar.
You heard the shofar every new month. You heard it during the whole year at least seven times for the biblical feasts. You heard it every seven years for the sabbatical year, and every 50 years for the Jubilee. So for an Israelite, that sound could really stir powerful memories.
It could have been, for instance, the year your entire family land was restored. It could have been the day when you were set free from slavery. It could have been the moment you repented before God, or the time you heard his voice, or a special feast that was very emotional for you.
What’s fascinating and unique is that in every biblical feast, connection to the past comes through what we see, taste, smell, or touch. But for the Day of Trumpets, it connects us through what we hear.
Now some of you will say, “Okay, that was great for the Israelites, but today we hardly hear the sound of the shofar anywhere.” Yes, I hear you. But the good news is that the shofar was not just meant to connect us to something in the past, it also points us to the future.
When Joshua blew the shofar, the walls of Jericho fell. When Gideon blew the shofar, the entire army of the Midianites fled. In Exodus 19:19, when the sound of the shofar grew louder and louder, God's own voice answered Moses. In fact, Paul even used that very same analogy of the shofar in 1 Corinthians 15, when he says that when the last shofar is sounding, the last trumpet, we will all be changed.
So, my friends, on this one day of the year, in Rosh Hashanah, if you hear the shofar, my prayer for you is that it will not just take you to the past, to whatever precious memories you are thankful to God for, but that it will also take you to the future, to all the promises still waiting to be fulfilled.
So please, when you hear that sound, believe in advance that your own walls, everything around you, will fall, your enemies will be defeated, and you will hear the voice of God. And one day, when finally that last shofar will be heard, my friends, we will all be changed.
