Seven Appointed Feasts of God
God’s
festivals are based on the agricultural year, as the crops grow with the
spring and autumn rains. The festivals are grouped together in two
separate groups:
·
The first four festivals are known as the spring festivals, which
are celebrated with the spring rains and teach about the first coming of
the Messiah. Jesus
prophetically fulfilled all these when He came to earth two thousand years
ago.
·
The second groups of festivals are the last three, the fall
festivals, which are celebrated in the fall with the autumn rains.
These feasts teach about His second coming.
This
makes a total number of seven festivals, which is God’s perfect number,
and speaks to the completion of all things.
When Jesus returns to the earth, He will complete God’s plan for
us! The festivals are
described in Leviticus 23 and are specified as to when they are celebrated
by God. God grouped the
festivals this way in order to point to the fulfillment of these festivals
through His Son, Jesus Christ, first as a suffering servant who redeemed
all things, and then as a conquering King!
Here
are some verses that emphasize this theme:
“These (religious festivals, New Moon celebration, Sabbath Day) are a
shadow of the things to come; the reality, however, is found in
Christ”
(Col. 2:17).
“Let us acknowledge the Lord, let us press on to acknowledge Him.
As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us
like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth” (Hos.
6:3).
“Be patient then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming.
See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop
and how patient He is for the autumn and spring rains.
You, too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming
is near” (Jas. 5:7-8).
“He told them, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into
his harvest field” (Lk. 10:2).
What
follows are brief descriptions of the feasts:
THE
FIRST COMING OF JESUS AND THE SPRING FESTIVALS
The
Passover
Historically,
Passover celebrates God’s deliverance of the children of
Israel
from the
bonds of
Egypt
.
Egypt
represents
the world system (sin) and the Pharaoh of Egypt is a type of Satan.
God instructed the people of
Israel
to slay a
lamb, and sprinkle the blood of the Lamb on the doorposts.
The children of
Israel
were spared
from the death angel (the 10th plague), which took the lives of
the first born of
Egypt
.
Then Pharaoh allowed
Israel
to leave
Egypt
.
This feast pointed to the ultimate fulfillment in Jesus being the
Passover Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world and released
Satan’s bondage on mankind. “Get
rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast- as you
really are. For Christ, our
Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7).
Unleavened
Bread
This
is a 7-day festival to the Lord in which God forbids the people of
Israel
to have any
leavened bread (leaven representing sin).
This feast is to remind us that Jesus, the Passover lamb, cleansed
us from sin. As we accept Him,
as Lord and Savior. He begins
a process of sanctification from sin.
The fact that the feast lasts for 7 days is a reminder of God’s
completion and perfection of His work in us; so, we are to keep the feast
to the fullest, just as we are to surrender every part of our lives to the
Lord so that He might fully sanctify us.
It also is a reminder that the work of the Cross is complete:
it covers all the 7 days of creation (7000 years of mankind’s
existence). “Therefore
let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and
wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth”
(1 Cor. 5:8).
First
Fruits
“The
Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Speak to the children of Israel and say to them:
When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its
harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest.
He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on
your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath’”
(Lev. 23:9-11).
A
sheaf is representative of a person (Gen. 37:5-11).
Spiritually, we understand this to mean those who put their trust
in Messiah to rise from the dead into life everlasting.
“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
But each in his own turn: Christ,
the first fruits, then, when He comes, those who belong to Him” (1
Cor.
15:22
-23).
This
feast was always celebrated on the Jewish month of Nisan, on the 17th
day. In God’s display of
orderly power, He made some profound things happen on this day throughout
history:
From
Ed Chumney’s book, The Seven Festivals of Messiah:
·
The day the children of
Israel
ate of the
first fruits of the promised land (Jos.
5:10
-12)
·
Evil Haman (a type of Satan) who plotted to destroy the Jews in the
Book of Esther was defeated on Nisan 17 (Est. 3:1-6)
·
Noah’s ark rested on
Mt.
Ararat
(Gen. 8:4)
·
Israel
crosses the
Red Sea
(Ex.
3:18
, 5:3,14)
·
The resurrection of Jesus!
Jesus
is the first fruits raised from the dead.
It is written in Scripture that He rose from the dead the day after
the Sabbath, which is Nisan 17, or First Fruits.
The
Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost
Lev
23:15-18: From the day
after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering,
count off seven full weeks. Count
off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present
an offering of new grain to the LORD.
From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an
ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of first fruits
to the LORD. On that same day
you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work.
This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come,
wherever you live.
Historically,
on this day, the children of Israel received the law on Mt. Sinai, and,
hundred of years later, the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples of
followers of Jesus Christ (Ac. 2:1-4).
THE
SECOND COMING OF JESUS AND THE FALL FESTIVALS
Rosh
Hashanah, or The Feast of Trumpets
“The
Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites:
“on the first day of the seventh month you are the have a day of
rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.
Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the Lord by
fire”’” (Lev.
23:23
-25).
There
are many names and themes associated with this feast.
It is known as the head of the year, which is the Jewish New Year.
It is also associated with a theme of repentance and falls between
a 40-day season of repentance. It
is called Yom Terah, which means, “The day of the awakening blast.”
1
Thess. 4:16-18: For the
Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in
Christ will rise first. After
that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the
Lord forever. Therefore,
encourage each other with these words.
Rosh
Hashanah is also known as Yom Ha Din, the day of Judgment (see Dan.
7:9-10): As I looked,
thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His
clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands
upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before
him. The court was seated, and
the books were opened.
Another
name is, Yom HaZikkaron: The
Day of Remembrance or Memorial (Mal.
3:16
-18).
It is also known as the day the gates of heaven are opened.
Whenever you see a reference in Scripture to doors opened or gates
standing open, it is a reference to this holiday (see Rev. 3:10, Isa.
26:2-3). In John’s vision in
Rev. 4:1, we see the theme of the trumpet (Day of Awakening blast) and the
door standing open in heaven:
Rev
4:1: After this I looked,
and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I
had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here,
and I will show you what must take place after this.”
Another
name is, the day that “no one knows the day or the hour.”
This is because it was a 2-day holiday that could only begin at the
sighting of the New Moon. So,
no one knew at what point the holiday would actually begin.
Another
name is, “The Last Trump.” The
first trump was associated with the giving of the law on
Mount Sinai
(this was the
first wedding contract). The
Last Trump is associated with the renewal of the wedding between the Bride
and Jesus on Rosh Hashanah.
1
Cor 15:51-52: Listen, I
tell you a mystery: We will
not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet. For
the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will
be changed.
Every
year at this feast, when the last trumpet is sounded in Jewish synagogues,
it is to remind us of God’s promise to raise the dead!
Yom
Kippur
Lev
16:29-31: This is to be a
lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must
deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien
living among you—because on this day atonement will be made for you, to
cleanse you. Then, before the
LORD, you will be clean from all your sins.
It is a Sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a
lasting ordinance.
Yom
Kippur is a one-day festival, placed 10 days after Rosh Hashanah, and
comes at the very end of a 40-day season of repentance.
During the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are 10 days
called the “Days of Awe,” and have been seen as a yearly rehearsal of
the Birth Pangs of the Messiah, or the time of Jacob’s Trouble (seen as
the Great Tribulation). During
this time, the world will be tested, and many will repent and return to
God.
Israel
will receive
Jesus corporately as a nation.
Zech
12:10: And I will pour out
on the house of David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem
a spirit
of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have
pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and
grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
Yom
Kippur is known as, the Day We Will See God Face to Face.
The Israelites have been rehearsing this since the days the law was
given to Moses. The High
Priest could only go into the Holy of Holies once a year.
God told the Israelites that they could not see His face and live
(Lev. 16:2). It was only on
the “Day of Atonement” (Yom Kippur) after careful heeding to the
requirements God gave to enter the Holy of Holies, that the Priest could
hope to enter where God’s presence dwelt and live to tell about it.
Actually, Yom Kippur is the feast that taught the Israelites the
necessity of meeting God right on time—exactly as He prescribed.
The Hebrew word for God’s appointed times is, “moedim,” which
has a strong emphasis of meaning exactly at that time.
He did this to teach about his plan throughout history for the
coming of His Son. The
fact is, that Jesus became our atonement when He came to earth the first
time, and tore the curtain of the Holy of Holies in half—symbolizing
that His sacrifice, once and for all, allows us to enter into the presence
of a Holy God, continually. But,
because Jesus was not accepted by the nation of
Israel
when He came
the first time, the fulfillment of this feast is yet to come when He
returns as the conquering King to judge the earth.
Yom Kippur is also known as the day when the gates of heaven are
closed. If you have not
repented by Yom Kippur, it is too late, because we will see our Judge face
to face.
Rev
3:7: And to the angel of
the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He
who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one
shuts, and shuts and no one opens.”’
Feast
of Tabernacles
Historically,
the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (Succoth) was to remind the Israelites
of the 40-year time in the wilderness (see Lev.
23:39
-43).
God was their provision in the wilderness.
However, the tabernacle is also symbolic of the wedding canopy, or
the time when we will be wedded to Jesus and serving Him in the Millennial
reign of Christ (the 1,000 year earthly reign—see Rev. 20:4).
The Feast of Tabernacles is also known as the Season of our Joy.
It is celebrated as one of the most joyous and festive of all the
feasts and is known as The Feast of all feasts.
The joyous festival corresponds to the 1,000 years of peace and joy
we will experience under the earthly reign of our Savior and King, Jesus
Christ.
The
festival is also known as the Feast of the Ingathering.
Agriculturally, it is the time of year for the final ingathering of
crops. Spiritually, it is the
harvest ingathering of the people of the world.
Another
name for the feast is, the Feast of Nations.
The feast will continue to be celebrated during the millennial
reign of Christ (Zech.
14:16
-18).
In Num. 29:12-35, a total of 70 bulls were sacrificed over the
7-day period for 70 nations. The
association with the sacrifices for the nations is recorded in Zech.
14:16-18:
Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked
Jerusalem
will go up
year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate
the Feast of Tabernacles. If
any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to
Jerusalem
to worship
the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain.
If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have
no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations
that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
There
are many other themes associated with this feast.
Another one is called, the Feast of Leviathan.
After the nations are judged, those who are not written in the Book
of Life will be destroyed and given as food for the birds of the air (see
Rev. 19:17-20).
The
last day of the feast is called the 8th day.
This day symbolizes eternity. The
fulfillment of this feast day is seen in Rev. 21.
The New Jerusalem is brought down from heaven and all things will
be made new.
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