Rosh Hashanah - the Shofar's Call and the Messiah's ReturnSample

The Day of Judgment

Although not explicitly in the Bible, Jewish tradition sees Rosh Hashanah as Yom HaDin, the Day of Judgment. It is the day when God, as King, sits on His throne to judge and write the destiny of each person in the Books of Life and Death for the coming year. The tradition of dipping an apple in honey is a wish that God will inscribe them for a good and sweet year. The practice of Tashlich—where Jews recite prayers and cast bread into the water to "cast away" their sins—symbolizes the hope that God will forgive their sins and cast them "into the depths of the sea."

These traditions demonstrate a deep yearning for God's justification and forgiveness. Biblically, Scripture shows us that God is, indeed, the Judge of all the Earth. He examines the hearts and the ways of men. However, what tradition cannot do is offer the eternal guarantee of salvation. The need for a perfect sacrifice for the remission of sins is the very reason Jesus came.

Personal Application: Today, the Messiah, Jesus, is our Judge and, by His grace, our Advocate. Unlike the uncertainty of the annual judgment, we have the certainty of eternal salvation. Reflect today on the joy of having your sins forgiven once and for all by the sacrifice of Jesus. Don't cast your sins into the water; instead, lay them at the foot of the cross.

Call to Intercession: Pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to the Jewish people that the guarantee of forgiveness is not in symbolic rituals, but in the perfect and definitive sacrifice of Jesus, who is the Judge, but also our justification.