There is an aura of mystery covering this Feast of Trumpets for these three short verses give us the only information to go on, which is not much at all. Numbers 29 also speaks about the Feast of Trumpets, but these verses only list the different offerings done on this particular day.
So, reading the Leviticus text, tells us that this day is also called a day of remembering, Yom Hazikaron, but we are not told what we are to remember or what to look forward to. Then we read that it is a day of blowing the trumpets, but again, why were the Israelites supposed to blow the trumpet? For what occasion exactly? We are not told.
Medieval rabbis have posed this same question. Ibn Ezra, a commentator from the 12th century, spoke of religious mysteries when commenting on this feast. Rabbi Abarbanel, a 15th century rabbi and bible commentator asked, Why does the Torah not explain the purpose for this festival? (Commentary on Lev.). It is indeed an enigma of a feast for no reasons are given for the Zicharon, for the Terouah, or for the Holy Convocation. All this makes the study of this feast fascinating. The answer, however, is found in Yeshua, in the Brit Hadashah, that is the New Testament.
First, when we read the commandments in the Torah, there is one word that stands out. We read in Leviticus 23 vs.24, “In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation”. See the words blowing of the trumpets. It is one word in Hebrew, Terouah, and this is why the feast is called Yom Terouah.
Of the 36 times cited in the Hebrew Bible, it is mentioned here for the first time. Truah תְּרוּעָה could be the blowing of the shofar or just a loud shouting often used as an alarm, a warning, a signal of some impeding wars to come as it is mentioned in the prophets. In Jeremiah, it is the sound of the alarm for war, as the Babylonians were coming to destroy Jerusalem and the first Temple (Jer.4:19, 20,16, 49:2). In Ezekiel, Amos and Zephaniah it is translated as the battle cry (Ezek. 21:27 Amos 1:14 Zeph. 1:16).
Now, see where it is placed in the chart of the Feasts of the Lord. It is the first one which triggers the end times for right after this feast comes the Day of Atonement which speaks of the time of judgment over the earth when all end time wars prophesied by the prophets will take place. And so, the blowing of the shofar (or trumpet) during Yom Terouah is a wake-up-call for the coming end times.
And while the Teruoah, or blowing of the trumpet, warns the world of impeding wars, on the other hand it reminds the believer of our soon gathering with Him before the time that the Tribulation begins. This is done through a beautiful and hard to believe teaching called the Rapture. It is Rabbi Shaul, Paul himself who gives us the explanation for this feast in two books of the New Testament. There we find many mysteries revealed. A mystery is a fact that was not known at all in the Hebrew Scriptures but is now revealed in the New Testament. Among the many mysteries revealed in the Brit Chadasha, we have the Rapture of the Body of the Messiah which Yom Terouah points to.
Let us consider this mystery. The first passage which mentions the revealed mystery is in the chapter of the resurrection, 1Corinthians 15 vs.51-52, where we read, Behold, I tell you a mystery. That is the mystery revealed from Leviticus 23 about the significance of the Terouah and the Zicharon. We will not all sleep, but we will 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 imperishable, and we will be changed.
The mystery is not about the resurrection of the believers, for this has been prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures. The mystery here refers to the moment when this resurrection will happen. It is placed in time before the Tribulation. While believers in the Messiah who had already died will then rise, those believers who will be on earth at this time will be taken with them and this resurrection we commonly call the Rapture. This again is the mystery revealed and it is out of this world. It will be in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, that is, in an instant and since I became a believer 47 years ago, I am waiting for this moment, and I never get tired of waiting for it.
Now let me ask you a question: Do you believe in the Rapture? Just imagine you are living in the days of Noah, and here Noah is telling you that there will soon be a flood coming and builds a big boat. Would you have thought that he was crazy to build a boat? That boat took him some 70 years to build, so no one could plead ignorance. And, at the time of its construction, it had never rained yet on the earth. Would you have believed Noah? But the flood did come and it was God Himself who closed the door of the ark and all the others who missed the boat just disappeared in the depth of the waters.
But there is something very powerful in Noah’s story. Yeshua uses him as an example when He prophesied concerning the end times, especially on the Tribulation. He said, “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be”. Matthew 24:37-39
So, the days preceding the Tribulation times will be as the days preceding the worldwide flood.
And these days will not only be similar, but it says that it will be just like the days of Noah. The word just, hoosper is from the Greek hos meaning in that manner and per meaning in abundance, very. So, its days are so much alike. How then were the days of Noah and how are they just like ours today? Eating and drinking and marrying are what people do in normal times of peace, but Yeshua is here telling us that these will be in complete ignorance or unbelief of the flood of wars that will soon be coming. This is how powerful the man on the white horse, the Antichrist, will be. He will make the greater majority of people think that they are living in a kind of nirvana.