Feasts of the Lord - Part 3

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE SPRING FEASTS

Three times in Lev. 23:1-4 God emphasizes that these are my appointed Feasts. God claims ownership of them. This is one of the most overlooked points regarding the Feasts. They are neither Old Testament Feasts, nor are they the Feasts of Israel or Jewish Feasts. God says "These are My Feasts". God established them as part of His covenant with Israel and with all of mankind.

OVERVIEW OF THE FEASTS

Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Pentecost (Spring Feasts) are most familiar to Christians because these feasts were fulfilled in the Messiah at His first coming when the “Church Age” began. Most believers are not very knowledgeable with the fall feasts of Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (Tabernacles).

The first four feasts are interconnected; Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits occur within the same week, with Pentecost occurring fifty days later. The Fall Feasts are interrelated, numbering ten days between Trumpets and Atonement and five days until Tabernacles. Just as the first Spring Feast Passover is a seven day celebration so also the final feast Tabernacles is a seven day celebration.

The seven feasts of the Lord are also progressive in nature. Passover is a time of redemption while Sukkoth (Tabernacles) is a time of rejoicing. Passover represented atonement for a family (Ex. 12: )Yom Kippur atonement for a nation, and Jesus’s atonement is for all who believe both Jew and Gentile. John 3:16

Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah): The final three feasts are celebrated in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, (September-October). The number seven is important in the Jewish calendar and in God’s plan for Israel. There are seven feasts, three of them in the seventh month. The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. Pentecost is fifty days after firstfruits (seven times seven plus one). The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles each lasted seven days.

The Hebrew word for “seven” comes from a root word that means “to be full, or to be satisfied.” It’s also related to the word meaning “to swear, or to make an oath.” Whenever the Lord “sevens” something, He’s reminding His people that what He says and does is complete and dependable. Nothing can be added to it.

Rosh /Hashanah/ is a time for prayers and good wishes for the coming year. Customs include eating apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year and eating the head of a fish, with the wish that they be the head - not the tail. Because Rosh Hashanah coincides with Trumpets the Jews start each new year with self examination and repentance.

According to Numbers 10:1–10, the priests blew the silver trumpets for three occasions:

To call the people together
To announce war
To announce special times, such as the new moon.

The Feast of Trumpets was held on the first day of the seventh month and ushered in the new civil year (Rosh Hashanah, “the head of the year”) and the beginning of the agricultural year.

The sacrifices for the Feast of Trumpets are listed in Numbers 29:1–6.

The Feast of Trumpets is so important in Jewish thinking that it stands with Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) to comprise what Judaism calls the high holy days on the Jewish religious calendar. It begins the Ten Days of Awe, or Days of Repentance, before the Day of Atonement. This is a time for serious soul-searching, a time to consider the sins of the previous year and repent before Yom Kippur. According to Leviticus 23:24-27, the celebration consisted of a time of rest, an offering made by fire, and the blowing of the trumpets.

The Trumpets call the people to prepare for Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur): The Day of Atonement is considered to be the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

It was the most remarkable of all the Feasts because it was the one day of the year when the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, into the very presence of God. He entered in properly clothed. He would lay aside his golden garments and clothe himself in pure white linen garments.

The Lord’s purpose on the Day of Atonement was not only to judge the sins of the nation but also for His presence to appear in the glory cloud upon the mercy seat, within the Holy of Holies.

The three main compartments of the Tabernacle and the temple relate to the three major Festivals. Passover relates to the Outer Court, Pentecost to the Inner Court (the Holy Place) and Tabernacles to the Holy of Holies, when the High Priest would enter in on this one day of the year.

The scriptures spoke of two goats that were offered on this Day of Atonement. One was killed for the Lord, the other called the scapegoat was let loose in the wilderness after the High Priest would lay hands on it and transfer the sins of the nation to this goat. He would be led into the wilderness to die. This goat was released as a testimony that all the sin of the nation had been atoned for and had been forgiven. This goat carried the sin away outside the camp. He was the scapegoat taken outside of the city speaking of the presence of sin being removed.

We know that it was on this day when Jesus offered himself as the Passover lamb and our atonement that the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom representing that the way into the holy of holies was now made available for Gods people. (Heb 10:19) He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf.

NOTE: According to Josephus and other historians, a miracle occurred when both goats were accepted before God. A scarlet woolen cord tied to the entrance of the temple miraculously turned white. However this ceased about 40 years before the temple was destroyed. On the Day of Atonement during the year after Jesus was crucified, the cord stayed red. No longer was it the blood of the goat which took away sin, but the blood of the Passover lamb, Jesus Christ.

The Day of Atonement signifies the 3 most vital aspects of Christianity:

Willing repentance on the part of those to be saved.
The completed sacrifice of Jesus Christ formally presented to God The Father to make atonement for the sins of humanity.
The final guilty verdict upon Satan as the source of all evil, and the sentencing of him to eternity in the abyss.

There’s a prophetic message to the Day of Atonement. After Israel is gathered to her land, the Jews will see their rejected Messiah, they will repent of their sins, the scattered nation will be gathered, and the sinful nation will be cleansed.

The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot or Booths): Is the last of the seven annual Biblical festivals (Holy Days). It was introduced at the time of the Exodus. It was one of the annual Pilgrimage Festivals for which the people journeyed from all over the nation of Israel to keep the feast in Jerusalem. It was to be a joyous celebration.

The Feast of Tabernacles represents the following:

It is a celebration of the abundance of God's blessings in connection with the ingathering of the Fall Harvests.
It is a memorial to the Exodus, when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, living in tabernacles or booths (temporary dwelling places) in route to the Promised Land. It is therefore a representation of Faith in God's protection and promises.
It looks forward to the great ingathering of Believers after the resurrection and judgment which ushers in the millennial rule of the Messiah on earth.

At the Feast of Tabernacles Jews build booths outside, roofed with branches. They decorate them with fruit and foliage. They live in them or eat their meats in them. They must be able to see the stars through the roof as the meal starts once the third star can be seen. The meal includes all sorts of seasonal fruit and vegetables, salads, stuffed vegetables, apple strudel, plum dumplings.

Living and eating in a simple shack is a reminder that our bricks and mortar life is only temporary. Just as the weather gets cooler and we feel satisfied and comfortable after the harvest, God tells us to go and live in a shack for a while.

While most Jewish people still celebrate the feasts, it's unfortunate that many don't understand Jesus's fulfillment of them, and thus miss the Messiah that was sent for their salvation. It is also unfortunate that most Christians don't celebrate the feasts, for we would clearly see that the feasts symbolize Jesus's work. We could then use the feasts to better understand and praise God and rejoice in His plan for the salvation of man.

The message of the fall feasts is repentance. Repentance means to turn around and go in the opposite direction. It involves a change of ones heart. Meaning that you will return to that which is most important in life.

Some concluding thoughts

Remember, the cycle of seven feasts starts with Passover and ends with the Feast of Tabernacles. We can only celebrate the last feast if we started our journey at the first feast !

The ingathering is the culmination of forty years of wandering which brought the children of Israel into the land God promised them! We are seeing Jews returning from all the nations to Israel right now.

Romans 11 talks of "And so all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26) and of "until the full number of the gentiles have come in.” (Romans 11:25)

Is this not the final ingathering of the cultivated and the wild branches together; finally united in Jesus Christ the Messiah?