On the night of October 1st, as I was falling asleep, I heard a shophar sounding so loud! The different blasts were so strong that I felt the vibrations of the sound waves in my physical body. This went on all night, and I kept waking up and writing down what The Lord was telling me.
The shofar is a ram’s horn that is blown like a trumpet during Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) services, every day except Shabbat, during the preceding month of Elul, and at the end of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
From eastwest.org
Meaning “head of the year,” Rosh Hashanah celebrates the creation of the world and humanity and usually begins in September or October. The two-day holiday also marks the beginning of a 10-day period known as Yamim Nora’im, which means “Days of Awe” or “High Holidays.” These Days of Awe are a period of introspection where Jews reflect on their sins from the past year. This 10-day period culminates on Yom Kippur.
According to tradition, God is said to open the Books of Life and Death on Rosh Hashanah and close them on Yom Kippur, sealing a person’s destiny for the next year. During the Days of Awe, Jews focus on repentance and charity in hopes that God will write their names in the Book of Life. A call to repentance is signified by the sounding of the shofar, an instrument made from a ram’s horn.
In Biblical times, the shophar was used to:
1. Gather God's people at Mt. Sinai
(Exodus 19)
2. Proclaim liberty in the year of Jubilee
(Leviticus 25)
3. Break down walls and bring the defeat of their enemies
Joshua 6:2-5
4. Celebrate the Ark of the Covenant
2 Samuel 6:15
5. Rally the people for war.
Jeremiah 4:5
Jeremiah 6:1
1 Samuel 13:3-4
6. Overcome the enemy
Judges 7:19-21
7. Stop fighting among brethren
2 Samuel 2:26-29
8. Warn of judgment for sin
Ezekiel 33:3-6
9. Warn of the coming Day of the Lord
Joel 2:1
10. Announce the establishment of a king
1 Kings 1:34
2 Kings 11:12
2 Kings 11:14
11. Declare a New Beginning
Numbers 10:10
Psalm 81:3
12. Accompany the song of the Lord
Chronicles 29:26-29
13. Gather people to worship
Isaiah 27:13
14. To Praise & Worship God
Psalm 47:5-6
Psalm 98:6
Psalm 150:3
In the New Testament the Shofar is used to:
1. Declare the Lord’s Return
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
2. Gather God’s people to Himself
Matthew 24:31
1 Corinthians 15:52
3. Declare Judgment on the earth
Revelation 8:7
Revelation 8:8
Revelation 8:10
Revelation 8:12
Revelation 9:1
Revelation 9:14
4. Declaring the establishment of God’s Kingdom
Revelation 11:15
As I continued meditating on what The Lord was saying and all the information I gathered, He told me to look at the different sounds
of the shophar.
From shophar.co
There are essentially four traditional shofar sounds:
Tekiah- One long blast
Shevraim – Three medium-length blasts
Teruah – Nine short staccato sounds
Tekiah Gedolah – One extra-long blast
The Tekiah, with its long straight sound, is the bookends of all life. It comes first and it goes last. Tekiah is considered to be the sound of the coronation of the King. Every year, during Rosh HaShannah, The new Jewish Year, God is crowned King of the universe. Tekiah accepts His reign in our lives. However, Tekiah can be a symbol of complacency with the status quo, a complacency that will soon be stirred to action through courage which the Tekiah commands. Tekiah is the sound that is to awaken us from spiritual slumber and prepare us for what is coming next.
The Shevarim represents the times of trouble, the wails that emanate from the human heart when failure, tragedy, and seemingly insurmountable problems befall us. No one can pass through this life without Shevarim. It is the call to look beyond ourselves, realize and empathize with the pain existing in this world. It is an awakening towards self-evaluation, introspection, and the heartbroken feeling that follows when we understand that we have once again failed living to our full potential. It is the cry to reconnect, grow and achieve. Shevarim sound is also the sound of mourning for the Holy Temple which once stood in Jerusalem. Shever means fracture, something that is cracked and broken. It is in the darkness of the Shevarim, that we can find a glimpse of hope and see the light that diffuses in. We come to a full understanding of that which calls for a change.
The Teruah is a call for accomplishment. It signals that passivity is unacceptable if our potential is to be realized. We need to be honest about the objective of our lives. Who we are, where we’ve been and the direction towards which we are headed. Teruah resembles a giant alarm clock, reminding us to complete the mission. It brings clarity, alertness, and focus.
Tekiah Gedolah Finally, we gather all our resolutions and go back to the start. We have to right all wrongs. This is the purpose of the Tekiah Gedolah.
We witness the birth of a new and better self surrounded by the unwavering love of God which is always present but hardly ever noticed. The Long Tekiah opens our ears to hear it and feel it. It helps us regain stability and discipline so that we would be able to realize our new commitment to God and to our newborn self.
I am sounding the trumpet, I am sounding the alarm through my prophets in this hour! Wake up from you slumber! I am bringing judgement to this world! Will you have the ears to hear? Will you answer the call? What will the sound mean to you? Will you bow to The King of Kings or will you serve Mammon? Will you turn your hearts to Me so I can heal your land, or will you continue to exault yourself above Me? Will the sound bring you hope, victory and scatter your enemies, or will it bring you fear, judgement and confusion? Will you repent and turn to Me or will pride keep you from freedom? Will the walls of your enemy crumble or will they keep you trapped in a pit of deception?
What the sound will manifest in your life, depends on the posture of your heart! Will you be found worshipping in the middle of the shaking, and find freedom just as it was for Paul and Silas or will you be found shaking and fearing for your life just like the jailer? For I will judge every heart, action and motive. Nothing is hidden before Me!
I am uprooting and planting, dismantling and establishing! I am revealing that which is hidden, and uplifting those who have humbled themselves. Just as I preserved Noah and his family, for his faithfulness and obedience, I have reserved Myself a Remnent. A company of radical, obedient, non-compromising, world-changing, Spirit-lead, God-fearing, laid-down lovers of God that have given up everything to follow and serve Me! And just as I remembered Noah and sent the wind over the earth to subside the waters, so I am sending The Wind of My Spirit to calm the storms; and just as the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat on the 150th day, so will you find rest in Me if you trust and obey Me! I am shifting things, I am revelaing my plans, and giving you instructions as to what to do to to accomplish My plans. Will you listen? Will you obey? Will you build the ark even though you see no sign of rain?
Verse 5 of the 8th chapter of Genesis, says that on the 1st day of the 10th month the tops of the mountains were seen. The 1st day of the 10th month on our Gregorian calendar is October 1st; I believe the shophar I heard all night, during the night of October 1st, was a clarion call that The Lord Has sounded to examine our lives, repent and return to Him wholeheartedly! It is also a call to praise Him during the hard times because as we know, worship and praise shake hell and make the wall crumble!! The mountain represents, power and strength, a place of revelation, meeting with God, our King! In the midst of the storms, of all the crises we will rest on The Mountain if we listen and obey His call!