Days of Awe

A little garden beside our house has yielded tomatoes, cucumbers, a variety of peppers, onions, two carrots and a few delightful herbs. I wrote my last blog about the lessons I learned about “preparing the soil” so the seed will take root and bear fruit, inspired by the fact that my previous attempts at gardening had not produced a single vegetable worth picking. Shortly after I wrote that blog, a “volunteer” tomato plant began to grow where we had not prepared the soil….in fact, the area is a four by four plot of gravel. Somehow a seed got dropped there, took root (in the most unlikely place) grew and grew and started to bear fruit. We gave it no special attention, but it soon got ours! The plant is huge now, and continues to provide more cherry tomatoes than we can pick in a day! Analogies about the Kingdom of God came flooding to mind. Jesus used many gardening stories to teach about His coming kingdom. My favorite is the parable of the mustard seed. “Though it is the smallest of all of your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” (Matt. 13:31). God has begun a great work, a world-changing, universe encompassing work, in the smallest way….with you and me.

The Lord’s prayer, as recorded in Matthew 6, verses 9 – 13, is often quoted in our worship services. We pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven….” Isaiah foretells of a time when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Is. 11:9). I have just returned from a weekend at the beach, and I can tell you that the waters cover the sea deeply and completely, as far as the eye can see! But when will this wonderful prophecy be a reality?

We are entering a festival season referred to by Jews as the “days of awe.” God’s kingdom calendar continues to unfold, revealing an awesome and perfect plan, abounding in mercy and grace. This coming Saturday, September 19th, is Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets. The trumpet that is blown in synagogues around the world on this day is the shofar, a special trumpet made from the horn of a ram. The story of Abraham and Isaac is recounted during the synagogue service. All are reminded that God provided the sacrifice that spared Isaac’s life. It was a ram caught by his horns in a thorn bush (reminiscent of the crown of thorns, but that’s a different blog!). The shofar is a symbol of deliverance. At the end of the church age, begun at Pentecost two thousand years ago, the trumpet will sound again, announcing deliverance to a desperate world. John records in Revelation 11:15, “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven which said, ‘the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever.’” Our Saviour is returning to this earth, fulfilling the promise recorded in Acts 1:11…”This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” Zechariah 14 describes His triumphant return in detail, “On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west….The Lord will be King over the whole earth…” Isaiah 11 gives an incredible preview of deliverance, “they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah may have more to say about this event than any other book in the Bible. In chapter 2, Isaiah records this amazing prophecy: “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many people will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths…..He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”
The Feast of Trumpets looks to the return of Christ as King of Kings. “How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth! He subdued nations…God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of the whole earth…God reigns over the nations…the kings of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted.” (Ps 47). This event is so important to God, that Zechariah states He Himself will blow the trumpet…”The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet…..the Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of His people. They will sparkle in His land like jewels in a crown” (Zech. 9:14-16). “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God….” I Thess. 4:16. The trumpet call of God….what an awesome sound! And now…it all comes together, old and new testament….”unto us a child is born….and the government will be on His shoulders….of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end” (Is. 9:6-7). Truly…these are days of awe!