The Return of Christ During the Fall Feasts

Nathan Jones: The Jewish people celebrate seven feasts. The first four take place in the spring and the last three take place in the fall. Remarkably, all four of the spring feasts were fulfilled in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, as well as the birth of the Church. Knowing this then, do the remaining three fall feasts point to the prophetic events surrounding the return of Jesus Christ?

To help answer this important question, we turned to Messianic Jewish rabbi Dr. Richard Hill to explain what the fall feasts are exactly and to discern if they contain any prophetic significance. Richard’s interviews will be aired over the next three episodes of our ministry’s television program, Christ in Prophecy.

The Feast of Trumpets

Richard Hill: I believe the fall feasts do indeed contain prophetic significance. The three fall feasts are Rosh Hashanah, which is known in the Bible as Yom Teruah. Next, there’s the Feast of Atonement, known as Yom Kippur. And third, there’s the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot.

Considering Rosh Hashanah or Yom Teruah, Gentiles know this feast better as the Feast of Trumpets or Feast of Shofar. Many Christians love this feast because they believe it prophetically points to the Rapture of the Church as revealed in the following verses:

“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 be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up (i.e. raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

These passages concerning the Rapture reveal that this prophetic event happens during the blowing of a last trumpet, or the last shofar blast. A shofar is a ram’s horn. The Jewish people have blown the shofar for millennia, and especially during the Feast of Trumpets.

Nathan Jones: Because 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 tell of a trumpet being blasted to call the Church up to Heaven in the Rapture, could the last trumpet blast be tied to the final trumpet that’s blown at this feast? This year, Rosh Hashana begins at sundown on Wednesday, October 2 and ends at nightfall on Friday, October 4. If this feast is indeed tied to the Rapture, then could it happen sometime during those three days or on a future Feast of Trumpets?

Richard Hill: I do believe the Rapture is tied prophetically to the Feast of Trumpets, because I know of no other set of shofar blasts that are that important. First Corinthians notes this great “catching up” will happen during the last trumpet blast, meaning there’s going to be a series of blasts tied to the Rapture. The final trumpet blast of Yom Teruah is called the “tekiah gedolah.” That’s the greatest, longest, and loudest blast in the series. That could be the prophesied shofar blast of the Rapture.

The Day of Atonement

Tim Moore: We read from Scripture that as believers in Christ are raptured, we will hear a trumpet sound and the archangel shout, and then Jesus takes us all away to Heaven. I’d imagine that’s probably where a lot of Gentile believers stop in their appreciation of the Fall feasts. Often Trumpets is the only feast they are looking forward to because they are anticipating Christ to return. After all, there are two more feast that follow the Feast of Trumpets. One of them primarily involves the Jewish people, then the last is for all believers?

Richard Hill: I would say that all the feasts primarily involve the Jewish people, because there’s a second aspect to the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets. For the Jewish people, that shofar blast is meant as a call them to repentance.

Unfortunately, those unsaved Jews left behind due to their rejection of Jesus and His salvation are going to have to go through the seven-year Tribulation judgment period known as the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). A remnant of the Jewish people will survive to the end, though. So that is the key to Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement. For the Jewish people, that is the day we set aside to atone for our past sins committed over the last year.

Tim Moore: Prophetically, the Jewish remnant will by the end of those seven years realize that Jesus’ blood alone atones for their sins. Then they will finally look upon Him whom they have pierced, and the remnant that has survived will put their trust in Jesus Christ. The New Covenant’s blood covering makes atonement for our sins and brings us back into a right relationship with God.

Nathan Jones: And so the prophetic significance of the Day of Atonement—Yom Kippur—is that it will coincide with the very day of Christ’s Second Coming.

Richard Hill: Possibly, yes. The Jewish people are going to get saved at the advent of Christ’s Second Coming. The one-third who make it to the end of the Tribulation will finally recognize that Jesus is indeed the Jewish Messiah whom they’ve been waiting for so long. They will cry out to Jesus in Hebrew, “Baruch haba B’shem Adonia,” meaning “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:39).

So, first the Jewish remnant gets saved. They recognize and accept that Jesus is the Messiah. They’ve at last come to the end of themselves. Can you imagine surviving seven years of Tribulation horrors? They come to the end of themselves only when everybody in the entire world comes against them to commit genocide, and so they’re all facing an imminent death. They need to believe that God will rescue them. And that’s what they are prophesied as doing, “for I (Jesus) say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'”.

After the Jewish remnant calls out to Jesus for salvation, then and only then will He finally return to physically save them from the Antichrist and his armies besieging Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be the final theater in Satan’s long attempt to wipe out all the Jewish people, because Satan knows this prophecy, and so wishes to prevent Christ’s return.

Tim Moore: I have a Jewish friend in Israel who said the first question he wants to ask the Messiah when He does finally come is, “Were you here before?” I replied He has been here, and He is coming again. My friend said he kind of understood that, but he just couldn’t accept in faith that Jesus is the Messiah. My hope is if he can endure and persevere throughout the Tribulation, by the end he will finally come to realize that Yeshua was, is, and will be the Messiah. The Jewish remnant will cry out for Jesus the Messiah, and when the finally do, then they will be saved and rescued from destruction.

Richard Hill: Well, for those Jewish people who want to ask the Messiah some questions at His Second Coming, once He lands on the Mount of Olives, then that’s it. There won’t be time for any more questions. This Day of Christ is the day of salvation.

The Feast of Tabernacles

Nathan Jones: Yes, because as soon as Jesus returns, He is going to defeat Satan and his minions and then set up His Millennial Kingdom. This Kingdom concerns the last and seventh feast—the Feast of Tabernacles. What is a tabernacle exactly?

Richard Hill: A tabernacle is a temporary shelter. God required the Jewish people to build temporary shelters during the forty years of Exodus wanderings, then on this feast week the Jews build these booths outside of their homes and all over the land of Israel. Historically, the Jewish people particularly liked going up to the Temple Mount to best be able to worship and build their tabernacles there. Whoever got there first received what was considered the favored spot.

Tim Moore: The Feast of Tabernacles points not just to Jewish heritage, or an historical feast when Jews live in booths for seven days, but the feast also looks forward prophetically to when God Himself will dwell or tabernacle with us. So, this seventh feast is meant to look backwards to the Exodus, but it also points forward to a future time when God will dwell with us in the days when Jerusalem is to be renamed as Yahweh Shammah. God will dwell there in the second person of the Trinity—Jesus Christ. Therefore, this feast provides us with a preview—a foreshadowing—of what is to come during the Kingdom age. Then, looking even farther Into the future, we’re not talking about just a temporary dwelling with God anymore, but rather the faithful dwelling eternally with the Father during the Eternal State that comes after the Millennial Kingdom.

Richard Hill: The theme of the Feast of Tabernacles is “God with us.” God is going to dwell with us in the near future. After Christ’s Second Coming, we will have the privilege of God dwelling with us. When Jesus sets up His Kingdom, we will then be able to worship Him as both the King of the Jews as well as the King of the World. That’s the aspect of “God with us.” Forevermore, we are going to worship our Savior and give our King all the praise and glory and honor He so rightly deserves.

Time to Meet the Messiah

Nathan Jones: Richard, how can people today meet Yeshua as their messiah?

Richard Hill: You need to believe in Jesus, recognize that you’re a sinner, and repent. You’ve broken God’s commandments and so deserve the just punishment of Hell. That’s why we all need Christ to save us from our sins. We need the Lord to guide our lives. And, for the Jewish people like me, we need our Messiah to return.

The Scriptures foretold that the Messiah was to come and save the Jewish people and the whole world. The Messiah was going to die for our sins, taking our punishment upon Himself. But, He was also going to resurrect Himself from the dead, and then ultimately ascend back into Heaven where He came from in the first place.

We need to believe that Jesus is God and that He came here 2,000 years ago to die for our sins and to beat death by resurrecting Himself from the dead. We need to believe and trust in Jesus Christ, and in doing so, we will gain salvation and that personal relationship with God.

Tim Moore: We pray that you, whether you are a Jew or Gentile, will come to know our Jewish Messiah—Jesus Christ. If you are already saved, then go and find a Jew and share the good news that Yeshua has already come and will come again. Tell them that you love them, and point them to the Messiah who was prophesied throughout the Old Testament. They will realize, as the Holy Spirit illuminates their hearts, that the Messiah is none other than Jesus Christ. And, know in your hearts as well that Jesus is indeed coming again. The greatest way to bless a Jew, or anyone for that matter, is to share the good news about Jesus Christ and His salvation.