Tom Beutler Watson and Hamburg Baptist Churches

Numbers 29: 1-6. “And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work. It is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you. And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the Lord: one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish. And their grain offering shall be of flour mingled with oil: three tenth deals for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram, and one tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs. And one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you; beside the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering, and his grain offering, and their drink offerings, according unto their manner, for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord.”
Today we look at a New Year beginning this coming week. For some reason this is a special day for some people. For most people nothing changes. The routine that follows this day is much like the routine that precedes it. For some people it has a promise of new beginnings. Some people look to this day with anticipation and excitement. There will be a lot of parties and football.
The Scripture tells us the Hebrews in the Old Testament held it as a special day; however their New Year began on the first day of the seven month, just before the harvest season would start. They had a special celebration. It was on this day the first rays of the sun rising over the Mount of Olive shined on a straight line thru the eastern gate of the temple, which is kept sealed the rest of the year – just opened this day for this ceremony. The sunlight would shine over the eastern temple court and over the great altar located there. The sunlight shined into the holy of holies on the western end of the temple. This was called the “Radiance of Yahweh” and symbolized the entrance into His sanctuary. It was on this day Yahweh would pass judgment and determine the fates of nations and men for the New Year. This day is Rosh Hashanah – the head of the year for Jewish people. It was a holy day for them. The Bible says it was a day of sacred assembly and no work was to be done. This was a day for people to remember the covenant that they had made to God. Many years before God had promised Abraham that He would make a great nation for him. God had promised the people he would be their God, if they would be His people.
This covenant had a great privilege for His people, but it gave the people a great responsibility. This covenant was to be between God and Israel. God promised them everlasting protection and blessings, in return for their loyalty and service – for some reason Israel never understood this – they wondered why they suffered at times in history; they never saw connection between their turning away from God and God passing judgment on them. The New Year’s Day was to be a day of remembrance of privilege and responsibility. It was also a day of sounding of trumpets. Some called it the day of the Feast of Trumpet. At certain times in the day, the ram’s horn was blown by the priests. This was symbolic of Israel’s pleas for mercy from God. There would be offering through many sacrifices. The only day of greater sacrifices during the year was on the day of Atonement, which was the most Holy Day of the year. The problem was that the people thought these great sacrifices automatically found favor with God. It was like they were buying Him off. They should have realized that worship and offering are not a substitute for commitment. Commitment has a cost.
Prophets told the people that God didn’t want sacrifices but wanted obedience. On the other hand, what about our New Year’s Day celebration? Normally we spend the day eating, watching football and parades. It is a day of rest for most, but for many they need to recuperate from the night before. January 1st is anything but a Holy Day in the United States of America. We the people of God could take a lesson from the Old Testament with so many people searching for something new and different in 2018!! What better place to start – we commit the year to the Lord. We could start by making it a year of remembrance of the New Covenant.
Jesus, at the Last Supper, lifted His cup of wine and said, “For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for remission of sins.” Jesus giving us a New Covenant! Saying to mankind everywhere, “I will be your God. I will provide you with blessing of eternal Life, if you will give me loyalty and service.” That was the Old Covenant God offered Israel and now Jesus makes it again. Many people have accepted this Covenant by accepting Jesus as their Savior. At the moment you accepted Jesus, you began your abundant life as a child of God. No matter what happens, no matter what the situation, we have the peace of knowing that God loves us and is honoring His end of this New Covenant.
This New Year, we must remember this Covenant comes with our complete loyalty and service. This world today needs God’s mercy. All of us need God’s mercy. This New Year’s Day let’s make it a new beginning. Let’s make it a year like we have never known. Let’s give ourselves to God completely – make this New Year count for God! God we love You! And we ask You to lead us into all the things we ask in this letter! All in Your Name, Jesus. Amen!