With the Biblical Fall Feast Days fast approaching, I often get the question from Christian friends and family, "why should we celebrate Rosh Hashanah?" Many of them are coming to me with the assumption that the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) are about the Jewish people getting forgiven of their sins once a year, so I can understand why one might assume that, since Jesus died for our sins, these are pointless holidays for us as believers who are already redeemed.
Well, I think a big key here is the common misconception of the main theme of these holidays, because they are not about the once yearly forgiveness of sins due to the legalistic keeping of a holiday, but I will go into that more in a future post about Yom Kippur. Right now, we're talking about Rosh Hashanah.
So, I have put together a little list of 5 reasons Christians should celebrate Rosh Hashanah. I hope you enjoy it!
1. It is one of God's feast days that were given to His people on Mt. Sinai in Leviticus 23, which are appointed times for God's people to meet with Him and remember what He's done for them and what He will do in the future. He said they were to be everlasting to all generations, so they really just ripen with age. In fact, in Rosh Hashanah alone, we can see a lot about Jesus that is still yet to come! Many people refer to the Biblical holidays as Jewish, but God said that they are His. And if we are His, shouldn't they be ours, too?
2. It's a rehearsal of things to come. We know that Jesus will be coming back, right? On a day that no one knows the day or hour of? With a loud trumpet blast? Well, did you know that Rosh Hashanah is actually called the feast day that no one knows the day or hour of? It is the first day of a new month, and on the Hebrew calendar, months are determined by the lunar cycle instead of the solar cycle. Today we have a Hebrew calendar that we can look at and see when things are in advance in order to create unity, since people are scattered all over the world, but before that calendar was put into place, there would be watchmen watching the sky every night at the end of every month for signs of the new moon, which they would announce with a loud trumpet blast! This would have been done every month, but on Rosh Hashanah, there would be a lot more because Rosh Hashanah is also known as a "day of blowing" or "day of shouting" and in most sects of Judaism, there is a minimum number of shofar (trumpet) blasts to be done on that day. Interesting, right?
3. It's the "Jewish New Year". Happy new year! Or, may you have a sweet new year, which is a common Rosh Hashanah greeting (l'shanah tovah in Hebrew). Traditionally, the Hebrew calendar has more than one "new year." The one we would usually look at is the one that's right before Passover, because that's the one that God actually mentions when giving His holidays to the Israelites. Rosh Hashanah is known as the "civil new year," or the "new year for kings and festivals." This would have been the start of the year before the Exodus from Egypt, and continued on to be when the king would be coronated if there was a new one, and was also known as the reset of the festivals. For this reason, it is traditional to celebrate with sweet things like apples and honey to signify a sweet new year, and a time for a fresh new start! You can read more about that here.
4. It marks the coronation of the King. As I said before, this is when the king would traditionally be coronated, if there was a new one. And actually, no matter what point in the year he politically started functioning as king, his coronation would be at the same time, so the guy could already be well established, even for almost a year, but his coronation would still be on Rosh Hashanah. Why is this significant? Well, think about it. When Jesus comes back, He's going to be established as the King and we are going to reign with Him for the Millennial Reign, right? So I guess this kind of goes along with the rehearsal of things to come part, but it seems very significant to me, and well worth celebrating.
5. It's a celebration of our God. Why wouldn't we want to celebrate our God? Especially in a way that He actually gave us. God's appointed times (or, festivals) will continue to exist whether we keep them or not, but when we do, we are meeting with our Creator at a time that He specifically set aside for us to do so. We get to celebrate Him for all that He is, all that He's done for us, and all that He's going to do, and on Rosh Hashanah we get to do it by blowing trumpets and shouting from the rooftops, feasting and spending time with others, reading scripture and giving prayers of thanksgiving and awe, and just plain celebrating. And we get to do it on His terms, not our own.
It's true that we can (and should!) celebrate God every day of the year, but if He has set aside some special days, it seems to me that we would want to make an effort to celebrate Him extra on those days. For all the times He goes above and beyond for us, this is our chance to do the same for Him, at least on some small diminutive level.
I would encourage you, as a believer in Jesus as the Messiah and the God of the Bible, to take a little time this Rosh Hashanah to celebrate! In whatever way you choose to do so, whether it's traditional or some other way, as long as it honors God meet with Him on His holiday, and join in with His family celebration. After all, we are His children.
