A Time of Returning
September 11th, 2009A Time of Returning
I can hear the sound of a trumpet; it is the call to return to the Lord. This call goes out each year preparing the way for the fall feasts of Israel. God is sending forth a call today to prepare our hearts in intimacy. God uses the feasts to point to the times and seasons in which we live. This is the season of each year which is specifically set apart for returning to Him. Additionally, it is a time of preparation for the judgments that will culminate at the end of the age.
The feasts of the Lord are important times of the year in which the Lord desires to meet His people. In Leviticus 23:2 the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.’” The Hebrew word for feast is mo’ed, meaning “an appointment, a fixed time or season, an assembly, an appointed time, a set time.” The verse above makes it clear that these are the LORD’s feasts, not just Israel’s feasts. As Christians, grafted into the Jewish Vine, Yeshua, we are considered “spiritual Israel,” and are also called to celebrate the feasts of the Lord, described in the Torah.
We do not celebrate the Feasts out of religious duty, but from a place of revelation that they “are a shadow of things to come,” and that Christ desires to encounter us in the celebration (Col 2:17). The word “convocation” in Lev 23:2 is miqra, which means “rehearsal.” The feasts are actually rehearsals for appointed times that will be (have been) fulfilled! The first three “rehearsals,” Passover/ Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits, and Feast of Weeks were all fulfilled in Christ’s first coming. The last four feasts (Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the Sabbath) are yet to be fulfilled and we believe they will be at Jesus’ second coming. Until then we are to rehearse (even the fulfilled ones).
We are currently in the Hebrew month of Elul, which is the month leading up to fall feasts. This month is vitally important in the Jewish faith, as it is a time of preparation for the fall feasts. The name of the month itself is considered to be an acronym for the phrase “Ani l’dodi v’dodi lee — “I am to my Beloved and my Beloved is to me” (Song of Songs 6:3). This month is a part of a larger time period called “Teshuva,” a forty-day segment given to searching one’s heart and returning to the Lord in preparation for the 10 Days of Awe and ultimately Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), the day traditionally spent in fasting and repenting for sins – national and personal. Most Jews also believe that this forty-day period coincides exactly with the forty days Moses spent on Mt. Sinai in the presence of God, repenting for the sins of Israel, and rewriting the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets (Ex 34:28).
Now is a prophetic time of rehearsing the month of preparation before a season of judgment. I believe the Spirit is presently wooing us individually and as a Body, into a holy time of consecration and returning. These are Joel’s exact sentiments as he pens the words,
“Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him…?” (Joel 2:12-14)
The context of this verse is the imminent judgment of the Lord upon Israel, in sending the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and take Israel captive. The verses are still relevant today, as the Lord calls us to return to Him before a time of judgment, ultimately coming upon the whole earth during the last 3 ½ years of this age. The finality of the Great Tribulation will end with a time of returning, when the Jews return to Jerusalem and face a time of national judgment on Yom Kippur, the complete fulfillment of Teshuva.
The verses 15-17 of Joel 2 are actually recited on Tishrei 8, the day before Yom Kippur begins, calling the Jews to “blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly….” Amazingly, each morning during Elul, a shofar (trumpet) is blown to awaken listeners to the coming time of judgment, and Psalm 27 is recited. It is a Psalm in which David expresses his faith in God and desire for God. I believe God is calling us to the same heart posture during this season, having a heart set on seeking Him.
He is calling us into deep intimacy with Him that says, “I am to my Beloved and my Beloved is to me.” Right now, He is hedging up our way with thorns, that if we turn to the right or to the left our paths to lesser “lovers” are cut off. He created us in such a way that we would not find fulfillment in the things of the flesh. We can only find true fulfillment in Him alone and He is jealous for all of our affections. He allows us to seek after those things for a time, but knows we will return saying, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now’ (Hos 2:6-7). This is a season of betrothal, a time of remembrance of the Lord’s mercy. In fact, during Elul, the Jews traditionally focus on Exodus 34:6-7, and the thirteen attributes of God’s mercy. It is a time that He softens our hearts and draws us away, that we would run after Him, for He truly desires to show us the kindness of His mercy (SOS 1:4).
During this intense prophetic season, I charge you, “seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while he is near” (Isa 55:6). He is near, and He is calling us to return, both corporately and individually, to seek to know Him fully just as we are known (1 Co 13:12). He longs for us to draw near to Him with hearts full of the assurance of His love. He beckons you. Can you hear Him? Can you hear the sound of the trumpet, calling you to return to the Lord with all your heart? Have you felt the sting of the thorns as you sought your own way? In mercy He calls you again, saying, “Return, Beloved.”