Yom Teruah 2018
Looking at the calendar for the Fall Feasts, Yom Teruah, which is Hebrew for Feast of Trumpets, fell on September 9th-11th in 2018. There’s only one problem… that date is still in Summer, not Fall. Fall doesn’t begin until September 22nd. So if Yom Teruah is supposed to coincide with the sighting of the crescent of the first new moon in the Fall then the date would have to be October 8th-9th, not September 9th-11th. Is it possible that the Jews made such a mistake when reinstituting their calendar?
What do we know for sure? From Exodus 12:2 we know that God told Moses and Aaron that Nissan is the first month when Passover would be recognized. We also know from Leviticus 23:23 that the Feast of Trumpets would be in Tishrei which is the seventh month. Simple, right? Not really.
Another possibility of how the calendar could be off is related to the Jewish leap year which adds a 13th month called Adar II or Adar Bet which occurs every 19 years to account for the difference between the Jewish 360-day lunar calendar and the Gregorian 365.25 day Solar calendar. This is the Jewish year 5779 which happens to be just such a leap year. Adar and Adar Bet roughy correspond to March and April. So can you now see how adding a thirteenth month can push dates on the calendar out thirty days?
To reiterate, while many of us believe that the Rapture of the Church will take place on Feast of Trumpets, and while many of the pre-tribulation indicators are flashing red, this is not an attempt to set a date and never has been. Someday soon there will be a trumpet blast and shout from above calling all true believers to ‘come up here’. Until then, we will continue watching, warning and waiting for our Blessed Hope. Maranatha!