People often ask why it is that the Jewish New Year is in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar rather than the first. The reason is that, in Jewish tradition, history began on this date. They believe that creation was completed on the Feast of Trumpets—Rosh Hashanah, they call it. Strangely, this is also said to be the date of Man’s sin and banishment from the Garden of Eden, which begins yet another phase of human history.

The peculiarity of this festival is that, in Scripture, there really is no particular meaning attached to it—whereas all the others apply to a major event like the departure of Israel from Egypt. So what does the Feast of Trumpets memorialize?

For the Jews it is a New Year’s celebration, but what might the day symbolize for Christians? There are the seven trumpets of Revelation (accompanying yet another new phase in human history), but today I’d instead like to take you to a familiar chapter in one of Paul’s epistles which really focuses on the resurrection of the dead and, interestingly, ties it to the Feast of Trumpets. It’s the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians…