We all tell ourselves a story about who we are and what kind of world we live in. Often this story gets influenced by what happens around us: the loss of a loved one, the fear of rejection, the desire to be a certain kind of person, and so on. Jesus’ invitation to look back and remember our true identities is an invitation to transfer our citizenship from the fading empires of our world to the Kingdom of God.
Instead of securing one’s identity through wealth, popularity, or power, we can recognize the fraudulent nature of human kingdoms, promising far more than they can deliver, and we can remember our intended purpose and royal calling from the garden. Rosh Hashanah is a reminder that the story of God is aimed at a whole-world restoration, and humans are invited to participate.
The apostles Paul and John, being Jewish, understood this participatory nature of Rosh Hashanah. And they saw how the life and death of Jesus fulfilled this Hebrew New Year festival. It’s a counterstrike against the pain, poverty, and death that deceives us every day. Paul sees Jesus’ kingship most clearly in his defeat over death.
“Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep [die], but we will all be changed—in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NET 2nd ed.)
The last trumpet rings, the eternal New Year begins again, and humans start inhabiting a new existence where death will no longer get the last word. This is the finish line of living as the royal priesthood from Genesis 1, Exodus 19, and 1 Peter 2. John writes about the same idea.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
Revelation 11:15 (NET 2nd ed.)
