Messiah in Rosh HaShanah & Yom Teruah Chapter 15
- Celebration of the King’s Coronation Day
- Man did not obey his one and only True Rabbi
- Messiah will soon take His Bride (followers) into Heaven
- Recap of the High Holy Days
- Three Record Books
- The judged are divided into Three Groups
Celebration of the King’s Coronation Day:
The rabbis believe that the creation of the heavens and the earth was completed on Rosh Hashanah (the Head of the Year). On this day Hayotzer (היוצר-the Creator) became Melek Ha-Olam (מלך העולם-King of the Universe). On the coronation day of Adonai (אֲדוֹנָיִ), the first day of creating the earth, it is also believed that the Almighty had created the physical means for creating Adam, for he was made from the “dust” of the earth. In the sixth day Adam (man) was created and the Holy Spirit breathed [His] life into Adam and he became a “living soul” (Genesis 2:7). The first (רִאשׁוֹן) man was called Adam (אָדָם) because he came from the earth (אֲדָמָה-adamah).
Adam was called the Son of God (אָדָם, בֶּן אֱלֹהִים-Adam ben Elohim) because the Creator had made Adam in His own “image.”
It was Adam’s responsibility to first take care of the Garden of Eden (גן עדן) as a precursor to greater responsibility later. However, at the fall of the first Adam (due to his sin, his disobedience of Adonai our Father) Man’s high born place in the royal order of creation was (temporarily) lost. Rule over the earth was transferred over to the crafty Serpent [הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ שָׁרוּי בָּרַע-the whole world is saturated in the mind of evil; i.e. the power of the evil one] until the victory of the last Adam (אָדָם הָאַחֲרוֹן, בֶּן אֱלֹהִים), who is the sinless one born of a virgin (זַרְעָ֑הּ ה֚וּא, זֶ֣רַע אֱלֹהִ֑ים, זַרְעוֹ). The victory of the last Adam will occur when He returns from heaven to earth as the Messiah Ben David, the Conquering Messiah, who shall forcibly take back the lost estate of the first Adam (אָדָם רִאשׁוֹן, בֶּן אֱלֹהִים).
Man did not obey his one and only True Rabbi:
The Fall of Man occurred because Adam and his wife chose to “hear” (and obey) the voice of the Serpent instead of the first Adam “hearing” (and obeying) his true Rabbi-Teacher Adonai, the Eternal One. The Creator’s sacred Name YHWH (that we customarily substitute Adonai for) means:
The One who was, who is, and who always will be unchanging (the Eternal One).
Therefore, each year at the birthday of the universe, on the day of His installation and coronation as the King of the Universe, the Eternal One sits on His Throne in Heaven and performs His duties as the Judge (the Shofet, also spelled Shofet) of humankind. During the fall (season) the Judge and King of the Universe reviews in the presence of His angels (both obedient and rebellious) the activities of Man that have occurred during the previous year (Job 1:6). This period of Divine review lasts for ten days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur (Tishri 1-10).
וַיְהִי הַיֹּום וַיָּבֹאוּ בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים לְהִתְיַצֵּב עַל־ה’ וַיָּבֹוא גַֽם־הַשָּׂטָן בְּתֹוכָֽם׃
Now there was the day (ha-yom) when the b’nei HaElohim (בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים) came to present themselves before Adonai (the LORD), and haSatan (הַשָּׂטָן-the Adversary) also came among them.
One day soon the evil one’s annual access to this special legal assembly will be denied. Like wicked Haman in the Book of Esther, Satan (the Adversary) will be permanently thrown out of the Presence of the Majesty on High (הַגְּדֻלָּה בַּמְרוֹמִים-HaGedullah Bamaron); therefore, the evil one will be thrown out of Heaven down to earth. After Satan rules for seven years over all the nations and peoples of the earth (through his false messiah and false prophet), he will be thrown down into the abyss (הַתְּהוֹם), a bottomless pit (בּוֹר הַתְּהוֹם). This will occur immediately before the inauguration of the millennial golden age of Israel (the thousand year rule of the Messiah Ben David on earth). At the close of the messianic age the Adversary (הַשָּׂטָן) will be released from the bottomless pit to lead one last futile, failed rebellion against Adonai Avinu.
Messiah will soon take His Bride (followers) into Heaven:
After Satan’s last failed attempt at overthrowing Adonai’s rule, he will finally be judged and thrown into the (eternal) Lake of Fire (אֲגַם הָאֵשׁ). This final series of judgments administered by Adonai upon Satan—whose evil administration is like that of the wicked Haman referred to in the Scroll of Esther—will all begin after the deceased followers of the Messiah are resurrected-ascended into heaven and for those followers who are still alive at the time, we will be translated (בחיים נלקח יחד אתם-caught up together with them) into heaven like Enoch (כי לקה אתו אלהים-i.e. that God took him) and Elijah (who also went up alive into heaven):
וַיְהִי כְּכַלּוֹתוֹ לְדַבֵּר זׂאת הׂעֲלָה וְהֵם רׂאִים וַיִּשָּׂאֵהוּ עָנָן מִנֶּגֶד עֵינֵיהֶם׃
And after He had said these things, He (the Messiah) was taken up (נִשָּׂא-lifted and מֵעֲלֵיהֶם, up, from עָלָה-to ascend) while they were looking on, and a Cloud (עָנָן) received Him out of their sight.
וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ חֲנֹוךְ אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִים וְאֵינֶנּוּ כִּֽי־לָקַח אֹתֹו אֱלֹהִֽים׃
Enoch walked with HaElohim; and he was not, for Elohim took (lakah-לָקַח) him.
וַיְהִי הֵמָּה הֹלְכִים הָלֹוךְ וְדַבֵּר וְהִנֵּה רֶֽכֶב־אֵשׁ וְסוּסֵי אֵשׁ וַיַּפְרִדוּ בֵּין שְׁנֵיהֶם וַיַּעַל אֵלִיָּהוּ בַּֽסְּעָרָה הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃
As they (Elijah and Elisha) were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up (יַּעַל-from ‘alah-עָלָה, meaning to go up, ascend) by a whirlwind to heaven.
Therefore, we know the Messiah is now in heaven. We also know that soon the rest of His body (His Synagogue, the Assembly of Messiah) will join Him. We believe this miraculous historic event (resurrection-translation-ascension; as well as the Messiah’s return to earth on Yom Kippur, seven years later) will occur in the lifetime of at least one Jewish person (a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) who was alive on the day of the reestablishment of the nation of Israel on the 5th of Iyyar, 5708 (Friday, May 14, 1948).
We also believe this miraculous event must take place on the annual opening day of the Proceedings of the Heavenly Court, identified in the scriptures as the “Unknown” day of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Teruah. We do not know what year it will be. We only that the taking away of the Assembly of Messiah will take place during a future (unknown) observance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Teruah (Tishri 1-2). All of these end-time events are related to the Ten Days of Awe (עשרה ימים נוראים).
Recap of the High Holy Days:
The rabbis say that the Ten Days of Awe are the holiest and most somber time of the year. These days are preceded by thirty days of solemn preparation. Thereafter, the King of the Universe, the Judge of the living and the dead (שׁוֹפֵט הַחַיִּים וְהַמֵּתִים-Shofet haChayim v’hametim), begins to officiate in His Heavenly Court for ten days. These forty days of annual preparation and of judgment begin in the sixth month of the Jewish Calendar, on the first day of Elul (around August-September) and end on the *seventh Jewish month of Tishri, the tenth day (September-October; cf. annual lunar Jewish calendar). These “ten days” of Yamim Noraim occur from Tishri 1-10.
*After Adonai is properly introduced and the heavenly witnesses are assembled before Him, then the Heavenly Court is considered officially convened.
Three Record Books:
1. The Book of Life,
2. The Book of Death,
3. The Book of Suspended Judgment.
The judged are divided into Three Groups:
The rabbis usually divide the judged into these three groups.
First, the righteous are judged. This group of persons includes those who have proactively prepared themselves for judgment. Their names are in the Book of Life.
Second, the unrighteous are judged. These persons have done what is evil in the sight of HaShem (the NAME). This group of persons has refused to repent of their sins and receive the gift of life offered by the Elohim Chaiim. They will not successfully pass the test of judgment. For their failure in this regard their names are entered into the Book of Death.
Third, there is a final group of persons whose judgment is mercifully, temporarily suspended. This is the “undecided” group. These undecided persons still have seven days (Tishri 3-9) until Yom Kippur (Tishri 10) to change their status.
If these persons repent (תשובה-teshuvah), pray (תפילה-tefillah), and do the required works of righteousness (צדקה-tzedakah; charity) demanded by God, the Judge (of us all) then their names will be assigned to the Book of Life. At the end of the tenth day of this testing period (Tishri 10), however, it is written that a person’s fate is “sealed” and cannot be altered. At the conclusion of the tenth day, therefore, it is too late to change one’s adjudicated status with the Almighty. The tenth and final day of this “second chance” is the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
At the conclusion of this the holiest, most somber day of the Jewish Calendar, the Books of Life and Death are “Sealed.” The testing of the entire Ten Days is depicted in the extensive prophetic vision of Yochanan ben Zebedee that is recorded in the Book of Unveiling (ההתגלות-HaHitgalut).
כִּי אֶלֶף שָׁנִים בְּֽעֵינֶיךָ כְּיֹום אֶתְמֹול כִּי יַעֲבֹר וְאַשְׁמוּרָה בַלָּֽיְלָה׃
“For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night.”
The seven intermediate days (Tishri 3-9) of testing are relativistic and prophetically symbolic of a much longer period of time. The time of testing during Jacob’s Trouble will be seven years; rather than seven days. Time is relative to God. A thousand years (or even a billion years) is as a single day in the eternal mind of our Father in heaven.