This was God’s invitation to the people of Israel. When he gave them instructions as to how they were to live in fellowship with him in the Promised Land, he established festivals for them to observe throughout the year. These were important dates on their calendars for remembering, worshiping, and thanking God.
Leviticus 23 tells us there were seven feasts. These were holy events involving pilgrimages, sacrificial offerings, special sabbaths, and sacred assemblies. There were specific instructions as to how they were to be observed.
I have been writing about these Feasts of the Lord in this space for the last seven weeks. Why would these matters of ancient Hebrew history be of interest to us today? I believe it is because these Feasts of the Lord are keys to our understanding of God’s plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. They symbolize Jesus and apply to God’s program for the church. We who believe in him are also invited to come to the feast.
Romans 15:4 says that “Everything that was written in the past (the Old Testament) was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” I suspect that when our Lord Jesus explained to his disciples “what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27), he may have alluded to Leviticus 23.
The first of the feasts is Passover. It commemorated the Israelites’ national deliverance from slavery in Egypt. They were redeemed by the blood of sacrificial lambs. Passover testifies to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ as the ultimate Lamb of God, who shed his blood to redeem us (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). We must believe in him as savior to be able to enjoy redemption from sin and fellowship with God.
Beginning the next day after Passover, and continuing for a week, the Jews celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They ceremoniously removed all leaven (yeast) from their dwellings and feasted together as families. In the Bible, yeast is a picture of sin. Once a person has received Jesus Christ as savior, he or she should endeavor to resist sin and remove it from their lives (2 Corinthians 7:1).
After the week of unleavened bread, came the Feast of Firstfruits. It was always on the first day of the week, following the sabbath. The people were to bring to the priest a first sample of the spring harvest as a sacrifice to God. In the New Testament, Firstfruits pictures the resurrection of Jesus Christ and of all who believe in him (1 Corinthians 15:23). It is worth noting that the first day of the week, for Christians, is resurrection day.
Fifty days later came the Feast of Weeks (seven weeks), also called Pentecost, meaning “fifty.” The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, in accordance with the promise of Jesus (Acts 2:1-21). The church was born when the Holy Spirit came.
The Feast of Trumpets speaks of the Lord’s gathering his people together. Trumpets were blown to announce the moving of the camp of Israel, to declare war, or to assemble the people for a special occasion. This may illustrate the gathering together of God’s church when the trumpet sounds to raise the dead and living believers are “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, came next. It was a solemn day of fasting, stillness, sacrifice, mourning, and confession of sins. Devout Jews consider this day to be the holiest day of the year. Kippur means “covering.” It signified that the sins of the people were covered and forgiven by a merciful God. There will come a day when national Israel will repent. The features of the Day of Atonement are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 2:2).
The seventh feast is the Feast of Tabernacles, It was observed in the fall of the year in connection with the preceding two feasts. It followed the Day of Atonement with a week-long remembrance of Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, the forty years in the wilderness. During the week of this festival, Hebrew families camped in temporary shelters called sukkot. It was to be a joyful celebration of God’s past faithful provision, and anticipation of the future earthly kingdom of Messiah (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
These feasts tell us that God is interested in how we live our lives. The people of Israel were to keep the Lord first in all aspects of their days, months, and years. He had given them their seasonal rains and harvests, and they remembered to thank him. Our lives, likewise, should be regulated by his word.
These seven feasts are pointers to our Savior, Jesus Christ. They are pictures of the blessings of his great salvation. They tell us that fellowship with God is possible through him.
The first four feasts, in the spring of the year, picture Jesus’ first coming, his death and resurrection and the descent of the Spirit. The last three feasts, in the fall of the year, picture our Lord’s second coming. So we live in grateful remembrance of what God has done for us in the past. We also live in joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of his promises of a glorious future with him.
Pastor Randy Faulkner