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Introduction:
Submitted for your consideration, a theological metaphor for the coming judgment, courtesy of the Everly Brothers:
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
We’ve both been sound asleep, wake up, little Susie, and weep
The movie’s over, it’s four o’clock, and we’re in trouble deep
Wake up, little Susie, we gotta go home!
That song was released 63 years ago this month. It’s the story of a young guy and girl on a date at a drive-in theatre. They fall asleep during the movie, and when they wake up, it’s 4 am, and they are in a world of trouble!
At this very hour, most of mankind is spiritually asleep, pleasantly distracted with trivialities, going on about their lives, and dreadfully unaware that the hour is late; that we at any time may hear that earth-shattering shofar blast out of heaven, and that eternal judgment lies directly ahead.
Biblically, the holiday we are celebrating is called Yom T’ruah – The Day of Blowing Trumpets. It serves as a warning – a precursor to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most solemn of all – the day of God reckoning accounts with us.
God’s judgment has never come without due notice and repeated warnings about our need to repent. Some, wisely, heed those warnings. Others, foolishly, ignore the warnings, and for them it’s ‘business as usual’; indifference to the prospect of Divine Judgment and, tragically, they’re completely unprepared when it comes.
According to Scripture, God’s final judgment will be preceded by the worldwide resurrection of the dead – specifically, the second of two resurrections that are to take place. I think most of us at Shema, and our larger constituency, believe these events are rapidly approaching – in theory. But are we living like we believe it?
I. God Promised that He Would Raise the Dead
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel decreed a coming day in which He will raise from the dead every human being who has ever lived on earth. Those who have embraced Yeshua, Jesus, as their Messiah and Redeemer and King, will be resurrected to eternal joy, and a reunion with believing loved ones and friends. Those who have refused Yeshua will also be resurrected, but they will face the judgment seat of God, and be eternally condemned. There is no third option. Neutrality or indifference towards God and Messiah is, effectively, opposition. Yeshua said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters” (Matt. 12:30). God’s judgment will be absolutely just, and final. There is no court of appeals in the World-To-Come.
That resurrection was foretold by Israel’s prophets going back nearly 3,000 years! About 700 years before Yeshua came to earth, God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, declared:
“Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits” (Isaiah 26:19).
Even earlier, the Psalmist wrote,
For your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? You who have shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again, and will bring me up again from the depths of the earth (Psalm 71:19-20).
And earlier than that, perhaps as far back as the time of Abraham, Job declared:
As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:25-26).
The prophet Daniel recorded these words around 540 BC:
“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:1-2).
II. Not Everyone has Believed God’s Promise
In First Century Judea, religious authority largely resided with the Sadducees, or in Hebrew Tz’dukim (either identifying with Zakok the esteemed priest who lived in the days of David and Solomon, or else they just fancied themselves to be tz’edek – ‘righteous’). In some ways their faith resembled ours: they believed that the Torah was the Word of Adonai; and they did not recognize the validity of the claimed Oral Law. But unlike our faith, they didn’t consider the words of the prophets to be authoritative. They also didn’t believe in the existence of angels, were skeptical about even the possibility of miracles, and most unlike us, they didn’t believe in the promise of the coming resurrection. That’s why they were sad-you-see.
A detachment of Sadducees came to Yeshua, attempting to embarrass Him through a dishonest question about marital relationships in the Resurrection – dishonest because they denied the very premise of the question. He rebuked them for their disbelief and lack of understanding of the Scriptures, and affirmed the reality of the resurrection. He concluded with these words: “But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the Torah of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken” (Mark 12:26-27).
Sadly, in our modern era, the vast majority of our Jewish people continue to be greatly mistaken, not just in the rejection of Messiah Yeshua, but disbelieving in God’s power and promises. And, yet, the promise of the resurrection of the dead is embedded within even the synagogue liturgy. Consider, for example, these words from the monthly prayer, Birchat HaL’vanah (the blessing for the moon): You ordered the moon to renew itself over those You sustain from birth, who likewise will be regenerated in the future.
Whether people choose to believe or not believe, the promise of the resurrection is woven in the very fabric of Judaism. In fact, let me remind us that the renowned rabbi Maimonides, who set forth 13 principles of faith – the very minimum that a Jewish person would be expected to believe, culminated that list of 13 with this:
I believe with perfect faith that there will be a resurrection of the dead at the time that will be pleasing before the Creator, blessed be His name…
III. A Heavenly Shofar Blast Will Announce the Resurrection
Every year at this holiday of Yom T’ruah, I ponder whether it will be the time of the blowing of the great shofar from Heaven, and the return of our great Messiah, coming for His people. And I am reminded of these words from Rabbi Paul:
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Messiah will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
We have already heard this evening about the various reasons we blow the shofar, but of all of them, it is the anticipation of the shofar heralding the resurrection of the dead that should move us most deeply; because when the hour arrives for us to depart out of this world, we will be gathered to Messiah Himself, and that will be joy unimaginable. Nothing this world has to offer (and the world offers some pretty cool stuff) – nothing in this world can begin to compare to what awaits us in Messiah’s Eternal Kingdom!
But we need make sure we are ready for that moment, and all that follows it. In these last of the Last Days, we cannot afford to be distracted by lesser things.
IV. Two Resurrections: Be Sure You Participate in the First One
Listen carefully to these words from The Revelation:
“Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. (speaking of Yeshua’s loyal followers, and especially those who gave their lives rather than renounce their faith in Him)… and they came to life and reigned with Messiah for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Messiah and will reign with Him for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4-6).
There will be a very specific sequence to the resurrection. When Messiah returns and the great shofar sounds, those who were faithful followers of His will be the very first to rise, and then immediately following that, those who are His faithful ones still alive on earth at that moment. Those events constitute what is considered the first resurrection.
Then, as we just read, comes the Millennial reign of King Messiah over all the earth, headquartered from Jerusalem, ushering in 1,000 years of true shalom, and a restoration of the natural order, though people will still eventually die of old age. But that 1,000 years will be characterized by goodness and righteousness and joy.
At the culmination of the 1,000 years there will be a short-lived rebellion, Satan and his demonic horde, along with the antichrist and false prophet will all be defeated and thrown into the Lake of Fire, and then the general resurrection of the dead – the vast majority of mankind who rejected Adonai and Messiah, and they will face eternal judgment.
There are three things we can state confidently about Yeshua the Messiah’s return to planet earth. First, it is a certainty; on several occasions He said He would return, and He has never failed to make good His word.
Second, in contrast to the quiet, humble and unassuming way in which He came the first time, Yeshua’s Second Coming will be thunderous, glorious and terrifying. The third thing we can say with confidence is that most human beings are woefully unprepared for that moment and will be taken quite by surprise.
So be sure you participate in the first resurrection. If you haven’t done so, transfer your loyalties to the Lord God of Israel, and to Yeshua the Messiah, and give Him the first and best of your love your abilities, your time and your resources, and STAY ALERT.
V. Wake Up, Sleeper!
That’s the symbolic purpose of the blowing of the Shofar on Rosh HaShanah. It’s like an alarm clock. I know that these days we have sophisticated alarm clocks that start out at low volume, and gradually get louder until you wake up. But alarm clocks aren’t supposed to gently nudge you out of sleep. That’s why they’re called ‘alarm’ clocks. They’re supposed to jolt you out of sleep!
The shofar is your friend, if you’ll consider it your all-important wake-up call.
God loves us enough to warn us. If we thumb our nose at the warning whom do we have but ourselves to blame when things go badly? If this was true of the Former Covenant, how much more important and consequential is the decision we make one way or the other about His offer of the forgiveness of sins through the New Covenant, made possible through the sinless life, atoning death and victorious resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah?
Dear friends, God loves us enough to put tension in our lives at these appointed times. We are prone to stray from the good way He’s marked out for us, and prone to spiritually slumber, and this is His way of yanking us out of our comfortable complacency, to reminding us what is really important – our relationship (or the lack of it) with Him.
For those who are dedicated followers of Messiah Yeshua, this is an opportunity for us to recalibrate our spiritual compasses.
When you have an early morning flight to catch, or an extremely important business meeting for which you cannot afford to be late, don’t you set your alarm clock the night before, and double-check to make sure it’s set for the correct time? If you’re like me, you’ll check it a third time, just to be certain you didn’t inadvertently set it for PM instead of AM.
If we make that kind of effort for matters of this world, how much more seriously do we need to make preparations for the World-To-Come? So let’s use this opportunity to recalibrate our lives. And for those of you who do not yet believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, this is a timely and important opportunity for you to turn from the sin of disbelief. Will you do so?