SHAVUOT – THE FIRST SHOFAR

Message preaced on Shavuot/Pentecost 23rd May 2010

Praise YHWH this wonderful day of Shavuot/ Feast of Weeks/ Pentecost – the ‘Bread Feast’! This is His feast, which we are commanded to celebrate and it carries with it great joy and celebration of His appointed times and revealed plans for us His people, amen!
As we gather here today, a holy set apart time of worship, let us enjoy this wonderful day together with Him.
Shavuot is so important to us, and following on from what I shared on Friday night, it teaches us that our salvation experience is not complete until the Spirit of Elohim has filled us – and the purpose of the infilling of The Holy Spirit, the ‘Ruach Ha Kodesh’ = ‘Spirit of the Holy One’ – is to establish His righteousness in us by writing His laws – His Torah – His Love Language, His marriage contract on our hearts if you will, on our hearts!
Hebrews 8:10 “Because this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says YHWH, giving MY laws in their mind, and I shall write them on their hearts, and I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.”
At Shavuot the shofar/trumpet is blown and is typically called the ‘first shofar’ and so the ‘last shofar’ is blown on the Feast of Trumpets, still to come later in the year – known as “Yom Teruah” and is also described in:
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 “See, I speak a secret to you: 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 shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
So Shavuot and the ‘first shofar’ or trumpet is connected with the marriage union between YHWH and His people! And this is why I say this – for a Hebrew marriage consists typically of two stages, listen to this Scripture:
Deuteronomy 20:7 “Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.”
The word ‘pledged’ here, also translated as ‘engaged’, refers to the ‘pleading part’ or ‘engagement’ of a marriage known in Hebrew as ‘Kiddushin’. This is when the Bride says, “yes” to the proposal and receives the marriage contract – known as the “ketuva” and in so doing this she binds herself to her husband. This is considered as a legally binding contract that one cannot be divorced from except by death or adultery, and the parties – although not yet living together, they are legally married. This pledge / engagement known as ‘kiddushin’ is announced with a shofar. Now at Mount Sinai on Shavuot when the Ten Words were spoken – they heard the sound of the shofar – the very voice of Elohim – the sound of the first shofar announcing the marriage between Elohim and His people and he issued the Marriage contract – the Ten Words written on Tablets of stone. Israel was now legally married on Shavuot. Take a look at:
Exodus 19: 8 “And all the people answered together and said, “All that YHWH has spoken we shall do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people back to YHWH.”
This is so amazing, as Moses acts like a marriage counsellor, and the people say in effect as one body, “I do”. It is important to remember that this is done before the Ten Words or contract is given!!! The Hebrew mindset chooses to obey YHWH no matter what, even before He has told them what He expects they say they will obey – that is faith and trust in YHWH’s ability to lead them into His promises – we will do whatever you tell us to, “I do”. Just as a Bride to be says yes when her husband proposes after which the legalities of the marriage are dealt with.
This acceptance was then announced with the ‘first shofar’ in Exodus 19: 16 and verse 19!!! Twice they hear the voice or found of the shofar/trumpet. The wedding was now announced and then the terms of the marriage are given in the form of the Ten Words! Israel was now pledged or betrothed and was now seen as legally married!!! When we say yes to Yeshua, there is a trumpet sound of victory and we become betrothed to Him and now walk in His Torah, Commands, marriage contract that is now written on our hearts!
The Feast of Trumpets, when the last shofar is blown, is typically called “the wedding ceremony of the Messiah”. This is when the marriage is consummated!!!
Now to understand this a little better, after the first step or stage in the Hebrew marriage process – the ‘kiddushin’ or betrothal, the bride, who is now legally married, goes home to her father’s house and prepares her wedding gown!!!
The bridegroom goes to his father’s house and prepares a dwelling for them. Only, and only, when the bridegroom father is satisfied that the bride and the bridegroom are both ready does he then give, ‘with a shofar blast’, his son permission to go and fetch his bride. Just imagine as the bridegroom, longing for his bride, making all the necessary preparation – eagerly waits for the sound of the last shofar!! When he hears this the son then goes, running I am sure, to the home of the bride’s parents and ‘lifts her up in the air’ and ‘takes her’ to his father’s house where the second stage of the marriage covenant is going to be taken. This is called in Hebrew ‘lakach’ which means ‘to take’ and ‘nissuim’ which means ‘to lift up’ for he takes her and lifts her up – ‘lakach nissuim’. This lift up and take is passive, as the bride cannot lift herself up and take herself to her husbands house – the bridegroom has to physically lift up and take his bride – the action is on the part of the bridegroom. How awesome picture we have here as you think how excited the bridegroom and bride would be when that shofar / trumpet is blown. The bride would be ready in her wedding gown, all clean and spotless and the groom would be running to fetch his long awaited bride and as he comes to her he with such joy and excitement he lifts her into his arms and takes her home!!!
Now listen to this – The Great Feast of Trumpets text in the Renewed Covenant (N.T.). speaking of Yeshua coming for us, His Bride is:
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 “For the Master Himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of Elohim, and the dead in Messiah will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Messiah in the air. And so we will be with the Messiah forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”

Notice here in this passage the words ‘caught up’ – the ‘lakach’ and ‘nissuim’. The Bride will be taken and lifted up by the Bridegroom and so the second part of the marriage will take place when Messiah comes again and lift us up and takes us with Him to the great Wedding Feast. He is coming for His Bride who has made herself ready – He is not coming for part of His Bride – then coming for the rest – He is coming for His ready Bride!
We are now living in the season between the first shofar and the last shofar, which is at the second coming of the Messiah. We have been pledged to One Husband – the Messiah and we are legally married as we eagerly await His soon return from the Father’s house in heaven – when the Father sees that the Bride is ready and the time has come to sound the last shofar.
As Yeshua told us in Matthew 24:36 – only the Father knows when the last shofar blast will sound.

So here we are today, to realise and recognise that we, His Bride are betrothed – legally married and this day is the day when the ‘kiddushin’/ the pledging/ engagement / betrothal took place at Mount Sinai, which Israel broke by adulterating herself with foreign gods, and now through the Blood of Messiah, Our Kinsman Redeemer, we have been redeemed from sin – paid for, that the marriage could be renewed, restored, repaired and redeemed through His sacrifice for our sins. At Pentecost the very contract or ‘ketuvah’ – His Torah is no longer written by His finger on stone tablets but now, written by His Very Holy Spirit on our hearts! How awesome is that!!! As we eagerly look forward to the last trumpet blast – let us make ourselves ready by walking in His Torah given to us by His Spirit on this day of Shavuot. We walk in His marriage contract out of love, we are not saved by it, for HE has already saved us by grace through faith, we live out the married life as a faithful Bride right here and now in the season between the first and last shofar, declaring our true and total devotion to our Bridegroom, keeping the marriage pure in preparation for His soon return.

We also wave the two loaves of Bread today before YHWH, symbolising the Judah and Israel, coming together as a perfect Bride. We wave it sideways and forwards and back to symbolise the very Word of Elohim that goes out into all the world and the bread is also symbolic of the very Words spoken by YHWH given on Shavuot on two stone tablets on Mont Sinai and then on Shavuot put into the tablets of the hearts of Believers at Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The Very Word, by His Spirit now lives in us, and so we also celebrate today by feasting – and as I look at all these pastries and breads and jams and honey etc before us, boy are we going to celebrate – happy anniversary – we celebrate our marriage with YHWH today!!!
(Wave Two Loaves of Leavened Bread and give thanks)
Let us blow the shofar and let us celebrate our marriage with our Messiah, amen!
(Blow the Shofar and let us feast)