As everyone has noticed by now, my name is Jubilee.
Its primary meaning connects to the sounding of a trumpet, particularly a ram's horn.
Here’s what Google has to say about it.
“The name Jubilee is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "ram's horn". Jubilee has a joyous and jubilant aura, but it wouldn't be an easy name to carry, what with all that pressure to be a living, breathing, 24-7 party.”
I laughed out loud when I read this because it’s seriously the biggest misconception I’ve dealt with from people. The joy of the Lord has been a mandate I’ve carried my whole life, but as with anything that has its origin in God, it’s been the greatest challenge to maintain.
However, my greatest consolation has been the fact that it isn’t something that I have to conjure up. The joy that is bound up in the name Jubilee is not of my own making or imagination. Like the breath I breathe, it comes from God Himself, the originator of the ram’s horn.
We’ve just kicked off the season of the year on the Jewish calendar called Rosh Hashanah, a series of Fall feasts beginning with the Feast of Trumpets. The ram’s horn was traditionally used for these feasts, and Christians like myself believe Jesus will return to the sound of trumpets at the time of Rosh Hashanah.
But the first time the ram’s horn is mentioned in Scripture is in Genesis 22 when Abraham was told to offer up his only son Isaac. He went up the mountain believing for something he didn’t see—a lamb to replace his son, since he knew God had given Isaac as the fulfillment of a promise. Right as Abraham was about to kill his son, hoping that God would intervene, God did, showing him not a lamb, but a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
The lamb was still to come. Jesus would eventually be the ultimate Sacrifice of earth-shaking significance, offered for the sins of the whole world. But in the meantime, God had provided a ram to save Isaac.
Abraham worshipped, calling God El-Jireh, the God who Provides.
So, that’s what Jubilee means to me. The ram’s horn of joyous praise and abundant feasting, the call to war and worship that resounds in my heartbeat is forever connected to and dependent on the Provider Himself, the One who sent both the ram and the Lamb.
He is and always will be my reason for rejoicing and my ability to do so.
And the best news is…He’s your ram’s horn too!
Start afresh this season. Open your heart to the God of Trumpets and let His joyful grace resound over you, echoing through everything you desire, singing over everything you fear. Let Him answer every question, every need...with Himself! And your joy will never truly fade.