The First Resurrection: Is It on Trumpets or Pentecost?

 Among those of us who keep God’s Sabbath and Holy Days as He commanded, most also understand that these days picture God’s plan of salvation. The apostle Paul told us plainly that God’s Sabbaths — the weekly Sabbath and His seven annual Sabbaths — “are a shadow of things to come” (Col. 2:17).

What are these things to come? God’s Kingdom; His eternal Sabbath rest. The Book of Hebrews devotes several verses to the correlation between the Sabbath and God’s Kingdom. We’re told that the seventh-day Sabbath pictures God’s rest (Heb. 4:4), but also that we have not yet entered into that rest: “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest” (Heb. 4:1, 11).

The weekly Sabbath pictures God’s Kingdom. The seven annual Holy Days picture the path to get there. The straight and narrow path to eternal life.

As we’ve seen previously, the apostle Peter laid out the first three steps to salvation in Acts 2:38: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and receive the Holy Spirit. These first three steps correspond to the first three Holy Days: Passover, the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost.

Jesus Christ made our repentance possible when He died as our Passover Lamb: “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). Without His sacrifice, our repentance would be pointless because there could be no forgiveness: “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Thus, repentance corresponds to Passover.

Baptism, the second step, corresponds to the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, the day on which Israel would have crossed the Red Sea. “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:1-2).

And finally, receiving the Holy Spirit corresponds to the Feast of Pentecost, the day on which God sent the Holy Spirit and the very day on which Peter laid out these first three steps on the path to salvation. Here’s Acts 2:1-4:

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit. Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost. The first three steps. But these steps are not the end of the journey. No, the journey has only just begun!

After receiving the Holy Spirit, we must walk in newness of life: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). This journey, this walk in newness of life, isn’t a short one. It isn’t over in a day. It’s for the rest of our lives!

This is the day-to-day struggle, the spiritual battle, that we all find ourselves in. It’s the daily labor to overcome our sinful human nature, the temptations of this world, and the snares of Satan so that we may enter into God’s eternal Sabbath rest. “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).

The next and final stage of our journey — our goal and hope — is the First Resurrection. The day Jesus Christ receives us into His Kingdom. “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:6).

The First Resurrection

As Israel journeyed in the wilderness, God commanded Moses, “Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.” (Num. 10:2-3). So God used trumpets to assemble His people.

In fact, EVERY Holy Day and commanded assembly included trumpet blasts: “Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God” (Num. 10:10).

God also ordained these trumpets for sounding alarms: “When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies” (Num. 10:9).

We see both of these purposes, calling an assembly and sounding an alarm, in the Book of Nehemiah: “Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us” (Neh. 4:20).

Now, what greater assembly could one be called to than the First Resurrection? God will call His people together from all over the world: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Mat. 24:30-31).

Notice that this grand assembly is called together with a trumpet! “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:16-17).

Again, we read, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

I don’t know about you, but these verses get me a little choked up with emotion when I read them! They’re awe-inspiring to contemplate.

But these verses tell us some important things about the First Resurrection. This is a day of trumpets and shouting. It’s the day of the last trumpet. It’s the day Christ’s elect, His firstfruits, are changed from physical beings to spirit beings. The day they enter into His Kingdom and His Sabbath rest.

The last trumpet, as we discover in the Book of Revelation, is the seventh trumpet. Revelation describes seven angels sounding, each in succession, a trumpet blast to announce God’s judgment on the earth (Rev. 8:2, 6). Of the seventh and last trumpet, we read, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (Rev. 11:15). So it is this seventh and last trumpet which heralds, among other things, the First Resurrection.

Now, some folks disagree about whether the First Resurrection happens on the Day of Trumpets or on the Feast of Pentecost. So which is it? Which day pictures the day we long for and strive for, the day we hope will conclude our journey?

Why Trumpets?

The Bible doesn’t say much about the Day of Trumpets by name. The primary instructions God gave us for this day are found in Lev. 23:24: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.” And Num. 29:1 describes it as “a day of blowing the trumpets,” or, in Hebrew, Yom Teruah.

The name “Day of Trumpets” captures only part of the picture. Both Lev. 23 and Num. 29 use the Hebrew teruah (Strong’s # H8643) , or “blowing of trumpets.” According to Brown-Driver-Briggs, teruah means “shout or blast of war, alarm, or joy.” Gesenius defines it as “tumult, loud noise, sound of a trumpet.” The word focuses, not merely on the trumpet itself, but on the loud noise produced by it. Throughout the Bible, this word teruah describes loud noises, both trumpet blasts and shouting.

So the Day of Trumpets is a day of shouting and blowing the trumpet. A day of loud noise. Though God appointed every Holy Day to be announced by a trumpet blast, the Day of Trumpets, above all other Holy Days, is a day specially dedicated to trumpets and shouting.

What happens on the day of the First Resurrection? Trumpet blasts, shouting, and loud noise! “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God” (1 Thes. 4:16). “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven” (Rev. 11:15). It will truly be a noise to wake the dead!

Now, what about that word “memorial” in Lev. 23:24? The Day of Trumpets is “a memorial of blowing of trumpets.” In Hebrew, “memorial” is zikharon (Strong’s # H2146), which means “memorial, remembrance, reminder, celebration.” It comes from zakhar (Strong’s # H2142), which means to remember, call to mind, or be mindful of something. “Memorial,” then, doesn’t necessarily mean a remembrance of something past, but also to bear something in mind. To remember something that we’ve been told.

Throughout the first five books of the Bible, no major event is connected to the Day of Trumpets. If nothing noteworthy had yet happened on that day, then what was God telling Israel to remember? What was God telling us to remember and keep in mind? A future event. An event connected to trumpets and shouting — thus the “memorial of blowing of trumpets”!

Speaking of remembering, let’s remember, too, that the First Resurrection was preceded by another resurrection which has made it possible: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20). Again, “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:23).

What day did Jesus Christ rise from the dead and “become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”? As we’ve demonstrated previously, He died on the fourth day of the week, Wednesday, rose three days and three nights later on the seventh-day Sabbath, and first appeared to His disciples the following morning. Because of Yeshua/Jesus’ death and resurrection, we, too, have hope of the resurrection (John 11:25; 1 Pet. 1:3).

And remember, too, that the First Resurrection is the day Christ’s firstfruits enter into His Kingdom. What day pictures His Kingdom? The seventh-day Sabbath (Heb. 4:1-12). Both Jesus’ resurrection and the First Resurrection tie in with the seventh-day Sabbath! The Sabbath not only pictures God’s Kingdom; it’s also a day of resurrection, a day of being resurrected into that Kingdom.

On one hand, there’s only one Holy Day that NEVER falls on the Sabbath: Pentecost. On the other hand, the Day of Trumpets often falls on the Sabbath, as it does this year. I believe this to be a clue about which day truly pictures the First Resurrection.

But beyond that, the Day of Trumpets is the first day of the seventh month (Lev. 23:24; Num. 29:1). It rings in the seventh month, the Sabbath month. Four of God’s seven annual Holy Days, or Sabbaths, fall during the seventh month. Furthermore, these four Holy Days all pertain to God’s house and His Kingdom, the Sabbath rest. The seventh month completes God’s plan.

Now, as we’ve observed previously, God’s Holy Days follow the same pattern as the tabernacle and temple, and they also parallel the Ten Commandments and the seven days of Creation. Please take the time to re-read those two Bible studies pertaining to the Day of Trumpets, if you would. These things are beyond the scope of today’s post, but we’ll recall that the Day of Trumpets, the fourth Holy Day, lines up with the fourth commandment. The fourth commandment pertains to the seventh day; the fourth Holy Day ushers in the seventh month.

See how the numbers 4 and 7 point again and again to the Sabbath, the resurrection, and God’s Kingdom? Fourth commandment, seventh day. Fourth holy day, seventh month. Jesus’ death on the fourth day of the week and resurrection on the seventh day. It’s almost as if God’s showing us a pattern!

And when should the seventh trumpet announce the First Resurrection but on the Day of Trumpets, the first day of the seventh month? A Holy Day which parallels the seventh-day Sabbath, ushers in the Sabbath month, and often falls on the Sabbath.

The Day of Trumpets fits the Biblical pattern for the First Resurrection. It’s the next Holy Day after Pentecost, just as the First Resurrection is our goal after receiving the Holy Spirit. Everything about the Day of Trumpets points to the First Resurrection, and everything about the First Resurrection points to the Day of Trumpets.

So what about Pentecost? Some believe that Pentecost, not Trumpets, is the day of the First Resurrection. Is there a case to be made? What does the evidence say?

Why Not Pentecost?

First of all, it’s Scripturally and mathematically impossible for the First Resurrection to be on Pentecost. How so, one might ask?

Well, the Books of Daniel and Revelation describe the Great Tribulation and tell us that it will last 3 ½ years (Rev. 11:2). During these 3 ½ years, several things happen: the reign of the Antichrist (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:5), the ministry of the two witnesses (Rev. 11:3), the persecution of God’s people (Dan. 7:25), and the protection of God’s elect (Rev. 12:6, 14). The various passages tell us these events last 1,260 days, a time and times and half a time, and forty-two months. In other words, 3 ½ years.

During the reign of the Antichrist, he will persecute God’s people and the two witnesses will prophesy against him. At the end of 3 ½ years, he will kill the two witnesses (Rev. 11:3-7). After their martyrdom, the bodies of the two witnesses will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for 3 ½ days (Rev. 11:9, 11).

After this, we read, “Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them” (Rev. 11:11-12).

Shortly after this resurrection, probably the very same day, the seventh trumpet will sound and the First Resurrection will happen: “The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (Rev. 11:14-15).

Now we also know that when Jesus Christ returns to this earth, He will capture the Beast or Antichrist and cast him into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:19-21). That will bring an end to his 3 ½ year reign and to the 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation.

If we agree that Yeshua/Jesus will return in the seventh month, then it’s mathematically impossible for the martyrdom and resurrection of the two witnesses — and the seventh trumpet — to happen nearly four months earlier at the Feast of Pentecost. That would throw the 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation and the 3 ½ year ministry of the two witnesses out of sync, not by a few days, but by FOUR MONTHS!

Furthermore, if God protects His elect “in the wilderness” for 3 ½ years, as Rev. 12:6 & 14 indicate, then His people will be called upon to flee 3 ½ years before the First Resurrection. If the resurrection is on Trumpets, then 3 ½ years before that brings us to the first month, the month of Passover. How fitting is it for God to deliver His people at the time of Passover?

However, if the First Resurrection is on Pentecost, then 3 ½ years before that brings us to the ninth month, which is in winter! It corresponds roughly to late November and early December. As Jer. 36:22 says, “Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him.”

But remember, Jesus told us, “And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath” (Mat. 24:20). Would Jesus tell us to pray that our flight wouldn’t be in winter, and then go ahead and schedule it for winter? I don’t think so!

No matter which way you look at it, a Pentecost resurrection is mathematically and Scripturally impossible. So where does the idea come from? Let’s look at a few key arguments.

In the Book of Exodus, when Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai to receive God’s law, we find a few similarities to the First Resurrection. This, of course, happened at the time of Pentecost in the third month (Ex. 19:1-11). In the Old Testament, God gave the law on this day; in the New Testament, He gave the Holy Spirit on this day and wrote His laws on our hearts.

It’s been pointed out that, when God came down on Mt. Sinai before the children of Israel, His presence was accompanied by a trumpet blast. Here’s Ex. 19:19: “And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.” Does this have anything to do with the trumpet of the First Resurrection, the last trumpet?

No. As we’ve already seen, God commanded that ALL His Holy Days be announced with a trumpet: “Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God” (Num. 10:10).

The main purpose of blowing a trumpet was to call an assembly (Num. 10:2-3), and all of God’s Holy Days are commanded assemblies. But the Day of Trumpets, above Pentecost and all other Holy Days, is the only Holy Day DEVOTED to trumpet-blowing and shouting.

It’s also been pointed out that God made a covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai. A covenant that parallels the marriage covenant between Yeshua/Jesus and His Bride. At the First Resurrection, we read, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7).

It’s been further pointed out that, after Israel agreed to keep God’s covenant, He called Moses and seventy elders of Israel up on Mt. Sinai to dine with Him. We read, “Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank” (Ex. 24:9-11).

Doesn’t this parallel the First Resurrection? “And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God” (Rev. 15:2).

Yes, there are obvious parallels between the First Resurrection and God’s covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai. However, there are also some important distinctions.

Firstly, Israel vowed to keep God’s covenant on the day AFTER He’d given it. Not on Pentecost, but on the day after. Here’s Ex. 24:4-11:

4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.

6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.”

8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.”

9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,

10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.

11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Notice that all these things happened the following day. Moses rose “early in the morning” to perform the covenant ceremony with Israel. Only after this did he and the elders of Israel ascend the mountain into God’s presence!

Why was the covenant performed on the day after Pentecost and not on that very day? Quite simply because the covenant isn’t finished at Pentecost. Make no mistake. Pentecost is part of our covenant — it’s the sealing of the covenant, in fact.

But the journey doesn’t end there. Israel hadn’t reached the Promised Land or entered into God’s rest yet, nor have we. We haven’t entered into God’s Kingdom yet; that still awaits. That’s the next step, the ultimate goal, of our journey.

Pentecost, in the third month, pictures the betrothal between Christ and His Bride. The seventh month pictures the marriage itself, the completion of the covenant and its promises. More on this momentarily.

Before we get to that, let’s examine another key reason that some believe Pentecost pictures the First Resurrection. This one is based on the symbolism of the wave sheaf and wave loaves.

During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, God commanded the Israelites to offer a wave sheaf offering: “When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf” (Lev. 23:10-11). It can be demonstrated from Scripture that they brought this offering from firstfruits of the barley harvest.

Fifty days later, on the Feast of Pentecost, God commanded them to offer two wave loaves: “The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD” (Lev. 23:20). This time, they brought the offering from the firstfruits of the wheat harvest (Ex. 34:22).

Some folks interpret these wave offerings as a type of resurrection. Since they identify the wave sheaf as foreshadowing Jesus Christ’s ascension after His resurrection, they conclude that the wave loaves offered fifty days later must also picture a resurrection — namely, the First Resurrection.

I disagree with every aspect of these interpretations, but for our purposes today, most of my disagreements are moot points. Regardless of how you interpret the wave offerings, it’s clear that they do NOT picture resurrections. The wave sheaf offering was never offered on the weekly Sabbath, which is the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

In truth, a wave offering is simply a gift to God from the offerer. Hence the instruction “you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD.” Deut. 26:1-10 spells out what the offeror should say when presenting the firstfruits as such an offering. It mostly consisted of giving God thanks for His bountiful blessings.

But God’s Word identifies other wave offerings, too. When the priests received the Levites as helpers in the tabernacle services, the Levites were presented to God and to the priests “like a wave offering” (Num. 8:10-22). The word used for “wave offering” is the Hebrew tenufah (Strong’s # H8573), the same word used for the wave offerings above. This same word described the Israelites’ donations for building the tabernacle: “They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering [tenufah] of gold to the LORD” (Ex. 35:22).

So a wave offering is a gift, not a resurrection. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the Sabbath, not on the day of the wave sheaf offering. Presenting a wave offering and being resurrected are two entirely different things.

Pentecost is not the day of the First Resurrection. While the Day of Trumpets fits the Biblical pattern for it, Pentecost simply doesn’t fit. It’s mathematically impossible.

Remember that the Holy Days lay out the path of salvation. God put them in a specific order because that’s the order of His plan. Pentecost represents one part of the journey; Trumpets another part. Let’s explore this concept a little further.

The Journey From Pentecost to Trumpets

At Pentecost, as we’ve already noted, the covenant is sealed. We have entered into a covenant with our Creator, and He has given us His Holy Spirit and promised us eternal life. That promise, that fulfillment, of the covenant still awaits.

Without the Holy Spirit, which God poured out on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), we have no covenant. “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9).

The Holy Spirit seals the covenant. Here’s 2 Cor. 1:21-22: “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

Again we read, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who [fn: which] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13-14). And again, “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Cor. 5:5).

The word “guarantee” used in these three verses is the Greek arrabon (Strong’s # G728); it means “an earnest; a pledge, i.e. part of the purchase-money or property given in advance as security for the rest.” Interestingly, this Greek word stems from a Hebrew word, aravon (Strong’s # H6162), which signifies a pledge or surety.

If you intend to buy a house, you sign a contract and put down earnest money. If you’re engaged to be married, you enter into a promise and either give or receive an engagement ring, depending on which party you are. This ring is a token or pledge of the engagement.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit, as we just read three times, serves as the pledge of our future inheritance. It’s a downpayment, a guarantee. We are betrothed to Jesus Christ, but the wedding hasn’t happened yet.

This is why the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2).

The betrothal is now, the marriage is later. Pentecost pictures the betrothal. But there’s a lot that has to happen between the betrothal and the wedding!

Just as an earthly bride must prepare for her wedding, so Jesus Christ’s Bride must also prepare. This is the meaning of the nearly four months between Pentecost and Trumpets.

After receiving the Holy Spirit, as we noted at the beginning, the journey isn’t over. No, it’s only beginning! There’s a lot of work to be done.

We must “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4), as we noted earlier. This involves overcoming our sinful nature and obeying the command to “put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).

This means walking forward on the path, not remaining in the same spot. After beginning to walk in newness of life, we don’t turn around and go back to Pentecost again. No, we continue on to the next Holy Day. We continue moving forward on the path, not going around in circles.

But this work of preparation for God’s Kingdom isn’t merely our own work. It’s God’s work in us. He is the Potter, we are the clay (Isa. 64:8). He Himself is preparing us for eternal life. Here’s 1 Pet. 2:4-5: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

We are like stones being prepared for God’s spiritual temple. Now, when King Solomon built an earthly temple to God, we read, “And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built” (1 Kings 6:7).

This earth, this life, is the quarry. God is quarrying and preparing us for His temple right now! This process occupies the four months between Pentecost and Trumpets. When we are brought into His temple, the work will have already been done. There will be “no hammer or chisel or any iron tool” heard in God’s house. The work of overcoming, and God’s work of preparing us, will be complete. We will enter into His Sabbath rest.

Now, for most of humanity, the process isn’t completed at Trumpets. The First Resurrection is only for a select few, the very elect, whom God will choose. After this, many more people will be saved during Jesus Christ’s thousand-year reign on earth. And still afterward is the Second Resurrection, during which the rest of humanity, all who have ever lived and died, will have a chance at salvation.

Thus, there are still other Holy Days after the Day of Trumpets. But God’s process of salvation is the same for everyone. Everyone will have to repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and walk in newness of life. They will have to overcome and be prepared for God’s temple. Should we be among the firstfruits on the Day of Trumpets, it will be our job to help prepare them!

So it should be apparent that God placed each of His Holy Days in its proper place. They represent a roadmap of His plan of salvation.

• Passover = repentance

• Last Day of Unleavened Bread = baptism

• Pentecost = receiving the Holy Spirit

• The time between Pentecost and Trumpets = walking in newness of life

• The Day of Trumpets = the First Resurrection.

Everything must be in its proper order!