Curt Landry… the Mystery of the Shofar
“How truly wonderful and delightful to see brothers and sisters living together in sweet unity! It’s as precious as the sacred scented oil flowing from the head of the high priest Aaron, dripping down upon his beard and running all the way down to the hem of his priestly robes. This heavenly harmony can be compared to the dew dripping down from the skies upon Mount Hermon, refreshing the mountain slopes of Israel. For from this realm of sweet harmony God will release his eternal blessing, the promise of life forever!”
—Psalm 133 (The Passion Translation)
The whole unified assembly of God is Psalm 133. In Hebrew it is, Hine ma tov u’ma na-im shevet achim gam ya-chad; which translates to, how good and how pleasant it is when brethren (from all different tribes) dwell together in unity. This creates the atmosphere that Paul spoke about in Ephesians 2:14-16:
“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” (NKJV; emphasis added)
When covenant is restored to Jew and Gentile it creates an abiding place for God’s presence. This becomes like the Ark of the Covenant where the Holy Spirit rests. The beautiful thing is that it releases an oil from Heaven that comes from the head (the apostle) to the beard (the prophet), down the garment—the fivefold ministry—all the way on to earth.
What this does is bring the oil from the Courts of Heaven, down into right alignment with God and His ways to earth. Transforming earth back into that which the Blood of Yeshua paid for.
What does this have to do with the shofar?
In Psalm 133—the very Psalm which speaks of anointing with oil—God Himself commands the blessing of life. The word, life, in Hebrew is, L’ Chaim, which is the root word of breath; the breath of God. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:6). Everything that we breathe out, everything we speak out… let it praise the Lord.
If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, that Holy Spirit, when He speaks through us, causes it to be as if God spoke from His throne right through us!
“Let everything that has breath…”—Psalm 150:6
God commands that when we dwell together in unity, He will then command the blessing of unity… so we can speak and decree like Him! What better thing than to have the Lord’s breath flowing through us?
One of the expressions of the Lord’s breath in Hebrew is Ruach—the breath of God—the Holy Spirit. Yet, the Lord’s breath does not merely flow out of our words, but through the oldest instrument known to man—the shofar. It is a weapon in the natural AND the spirit!
Yet, it is not only a weapon as we might think… it is a reminder.
Numbers 10:9 says, “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.” (emphasis added)
Why is that?
In Hebrew culture, and as Jewish people, there is a belief that the quantum physics sound from a shofar holds every note of every Word that is written in the Bible. So, when we blow a shofar, what happens is God’s Word—the Word that shall not come back void but shall prosper in that which it is sent to do—is being sent from the shofar.
Please understand that the shofar cannot do anything without cooperation from the man or woman of God who places their lips to the horn and sends the breath God gave them forth. They HAVE to give that breath back to God through the shofar for the Word within to flow forth. This is why the Word says, “let everything that has breath, praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).
The Word says that the angels of the Lord will hearken unto the trump, the sound of His Word which they have come for to perform (see Psalm 103:20), because they will stand accountable before the saints for activating, performing, and delivering His Word. That is good news, because everything that we need can be released in one blast. God is that simple, yet that complex.
There is a story in the Bible all of us know; when Israel crossed the Jordan River and were going to take their first city, Jericho. The Lord told them to march around the city silently; quite probably challenging and painful because they—all the males—had just been circumcised. Then, at the proper moment, He said to give the alarm, and when they did so to blow the shofars and give a shout… because when they did the walls would actually come down. Scientifically that sound can move rocks, and that is what happened with the walls of Jericho that day. It was the perfect note—the perfect sound, from God, which is His Word. And with that sound they brought the walls down… with horns and breath crafted by God!
Why is that?
Think about it. An innocent animal first has to give his life, separating himself from his dominion; because the animal’s strength to dominate and multiply is determined by his horns. So, the old nature is removed, and a new season started.
After the rabbi removes the horn from the old nature, he puts it in water and salt. He immerses it in a sanctification tank—a mikveh—and washes the shofar and cleanses it. He takes it out after it soaked long enough to be twisted.
The rabbi’s hands are a gift from the Lord, so when he picks up the cleansed horn and holds it, he knows just enough twists for the exact sound of that horn. Then the horn is taken, put out into a drying place and it sits. It sits until it is perfectly dry. Sometimes for up to a year!
After the rabbi is sure the shofar is good and dry, he does the most important thing. He goes to the place of its strength, the place that used to be used for force, but now he says, it is “‘not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord…” (Zechariah 4:6). No longer will this horn ever fight again on its own strength, it only fights with the sound it makes—the breath of Heaven.
Its sound becomes its dominion…
Its sound becomes its purpose…
Its sound becomes its glory…
The rabbi then drills out the end of the horn perfectly and precisely. He knows he gets one shot at it or he ruins the horn. He drills it out and then files it off. He then picks the horn up for the first time and blows. He is looking for the perfect sound—the sound from Heaven. This is what he is listening for.
This is why we need to understand the price that was paid to get that perfect sound. Because, for we who believe in Yeshua as Messiah, we need to know that a symbol, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the earth—the Passover Lamb—is in our hand through that shofar!
We know His Words, where He says that He can do nothing of Himself, lest My Father in Heaven speaks it. (See John 5:19.)
Whether we knew it or not, when our day came, when we surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ and were born again, we took that same journey. Anytime there is a seasonal change, there is always an awakening blast!
Today, we are preparing for the ultimate blast, when we will hear shofars going off all over the world, and the prophets decreeing, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh! Behold, the bridegroom cometh!”
It is time for us to blow the shofar and command our souls, according to Psalm 103, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! And forget not all His benefits…” We have authority over our souls, it’s the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, it is self-control. We need to command our souls to sit down, listen to God’s Word, receive the impartation from the Holy Spirit, and allow the Word to transform us into what we were sent here to do… which is to be in the likeness of our Messiah, Yeshua.
Let us, through the breath God gave us, send His Word into the atmosphere, send forth His angels to fulfill it, and command our souls to follow after Him. Let us blow the victory shout of the shofar!