Our bibles are full of festivals and Holidays. Our Old Testaments and particularly the book of Leviticus has all kinds of rules for the holidays and how they were to be celebrated.
Jesus in explaining His ministry to the men on the road to Emmaus went to the OT to teach about his life and ministry.
Luke 24: 27
27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
All the Scriptures pointed forward to Christ and His coming. That means that the entire OT points forward to Jesus and His Ministry, Death, Burial, and Resurrection, and His Second Coming.
This morning I want to something that you might find odd but I want to preach the Gospel or Good News of Jesus from the Feasts of the Jews.
The Jews had Seven main feasts that are found in our canonical Old Testament books and can all be found in Leviticus. This morning I want to show you how all of these feasts have their fulfillment in Jesus and hopefully give you a greater appreciation of how God shaped history just for the coming of Jesus. These feasts found their fulfillment in Israel’s life but also looked forward to Jesus.
I.) Passover We all remember as children hearing the story of the 10th plague in Egypt of the death angel coming and killing the first born son of the home where the blood of the lamb was not applied to the doorposts.
1st Feast – Passover (Pesach) (Late March or Early April)- Feast that celebrates the liberation from Egypt and the passing over of the death angel with the 10th and final plague.
5 days before Passover- Choosing of the Lamb – Jesus enters Jerusalem- On the Jewish Month of Nisan on the 10th day, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what many Christians call Palm Sunday. This was the day the Passover lambs were chosen.
5 days later the Lamb is killed – Jesus is crucified that day- Jesus was crucified on the day that Passover lambs were killed.
John 19:14 tells us that that as Jesus stood before Pilate; it was the day for the preparation of the Passover and it was about the 6th hour
1 Peter 1:18-19 “18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
“Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." [1 Cor. 5:7]
Application:
In the feast of Passover we find our true Passover lamb. Jesus was sinless and perfect. He was the unblemished lamb that was killed on our behalf.
In Isaiah 53 we learn that He was like a lamb led before the ones that would kill him without a word.
Passover tells us that Jesus the perfect Lamb of God died for our sins.
II. The second feast that we will look at is the Feast of Unleavened bread.
2nd Feast – Unleavened Bread – (Late March or Early April) Israelites plant grain in the ground and pray for God to bring the harvest. This would happen at the conclusion of Passover.
This feast began on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nisan and included two high Sabbaths and the Sabbath that Jesus was in the grave was a High Sabbath of rest and worship
On that feast Jesus was put into the grave just as the Jews planted the grain in the ground and prayed for a great harvest
John 12: 23-24 “23 And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone ; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Jesus makes it clear that part of His glorification is that He is to be planted in the ground like wheat. This is what this feast celebrated was the planting of wheat in the ground with a look forward to the harvest.
Jesus is the bread of life that comes down from Heaven and he will be planted in the tomb to be raised again and this raising will bring a great and glorious harvest of Christians.
Leaven to the Jews represented sin in that leaven would get into a whole lump and bring about a chemical change in that it was change the entire lump and make it unholy.
Sin in the camp was not tolerated in Moses’ time. God wanted his people to be holy and set apart.
Paul makes this point in 1 Corinthians 5:4-7
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
The leaven of sin can enter an assembly of a church, an individual, or a family and destroy it. Paul says to cast the immoral brother out of the assembly and that seems harsh to our modern ears but Paul knows how dangerous sin can be and what it can do to a flock.
Application:
Jesus is planted in the ground and is resurrected because of this going into the ground. This feast tells us that death is not final. There is something more.
Also, this feast tells us that because Jesus died for us we should now live holy lives and get rid of the leaven of sin. Sin has no place among God’s people and must be removed.
III. The next feast on the Jewish calendar was the feast of First-fruits.
3rd Feast – First fruits – (Late March or Early April) This feast celebrates the first fruits of the harvest in the Promised Land. They celebrated the Harvest that God brought forth.
This feast fell on the 17th day of Nisan and would fall on the first day after the High Sabbath that came after Passover. In other words it was the Sunday that came after the Friday that Jesus was crucified.
Jesus was the first fruits of those that rose from the dead. Jesus resurrection was an advanced sign of our resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:20,23
"But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept."..."For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."
Jesus is the advanced sign of what is to come for all of us.
Application:
The gospel looks forward to the resurrection from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection looks forward to this time of when we will all be resurrected. Jesus is the harvest of the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead.
IV. Pentecost (Weeks) comes fifty days after the Passover Feast.
4th Feast – Pentecost (Weeks) (Mid to late May)– Celebration of the Law being given and late harvest – second harvest –
The Holy Spirit comes down on Pentecost and we compare this to Moses coming down after receiving the Law. When Moses comes down 3000 disobey, when Holy Spirit comes down 3000 obey.
The language used to describe the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles and the Upper Room would remind one of the description of Sinai and the fire and noise.
2nd harvest of those that obey – Jesus was the first fruits to come back from the dead but the Holy Spirit will come and make the new Christians at Pentecost the 2nd harvest that is to come.
Application:
Pentecost is about the giving of God’s Word and our obedience. God gives us His word and expects us to be obedient. Pentecost is the reversal of Israel’s disobedience. The Spirit has come as the down payment as to what is to come.
Our life in the Spirit begins now because of the work of Jesus on the cross. Pentecost= Obedience to Christ – God is putting it all back together again.
We as the Church are advanced signs to a lost and dying world that God is doing a mighty work and things are getting put back together again. We are beacons of obedience and hope something that people want to attach to and hope for.
THESE FOUR FEASTS MARK A TURNING POINT – THEY HAVE ALL BEEN FULFILLED BY PAST EVENTS BUT THE LAST THREE FEASTS ARE YET TO BE FULFILLED.
NOW WE WILL SHIFT TO HOW THESE FINAL FEASTS FIND THEIR FULFILLMENT IN FUTURE EVENTS OF HISTORY. GOD HAS BEEN FAITHFUL TO SUM UP ALL OF THESE OTHER FEASTS IN CHRIST AND WILL BE FAITHFUL TO THE SAME WITH THESE.
V. Feast of Trumpets- Jugdment
5th Feast – Trumpets (Rosh HaShahna) (Mid September) – Announcing Judgment and is announced with trumpet. Some scholars believe that there may be a connection with Jericho and Rosh HaShahna. The trumpet blasts echoed the judgment of the evil of the Canaanites and the beginning of the Conquest of the land. Rosh HaShahna ushered in a 10 day period of national repentance and purification looking forward to Yom Kippur. Rosh HaShahna was believed by some Rabbi’s to be the birth day of Adam and humanity. This day could possibly look forward to the rebirth of humanity in the New Heavens and the New Earth when God’s final judgment comes.
Second Coming of Christ will be announced with a Trumpet
I Corinthians 15: 51-52 “51 Behold, I tell you a mystery ; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet ; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
VI. The Day of Atonement – Day of Salvation
6th Feast – Yom Kippur- Day of Atonement (10 days after Rosh HaShahna) – Salvation- The High Priest would offer a propitiation on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant once per year. This would be the only time the High Priest would enter the Most Holy Place of the Temple. This was the final day of the 10 days of repentance that began on Rosh Hashahna. Jews called this the Days of Awe because they believed that people’s lives were being decided in the law court of Heaven during this time. Your very eternal destiny hung in the balance.
The Hebrew writers ties in Yom Kippur with the Second Coming of Christ:
Hebrews 9: 24-28 “24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world ; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”
Jesus entered the true MOST HOLY PLACE of Heaven and offered an atonement for our sin. According to the book of Hebrews we find that the final atonement of salvation from sin will occur for those that eagerly await Him.
We will not actually receive this promised Salvation until He comes. The Yom Kippur for Christians happens at His coming and we are given final salvation.
Many people see only the present aspect of Salvation but there is a future aspect to this too. There is a sense that salvation is not culminated until we hear:
WELL DONE MY GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT!
VII. The last and final feast is the Feast of Tabernacles
7th Feast – Sukkot -Tabernacles-(5 days after Yom Kippur –early October) Promised land feast that celebrated the Land and the Inheritance and was a celebration. This was a joyous time that ended the time of Awe and Repentance. The Israelites would construct booths to stay in for seven days constructed of things like Palm branches.
The Christian fulfillment of this feast and time of celebration is the entering into Heaven –
The New Heavens and the New Earth. It will be a time of celebration, of resurrection, of victory. This will be the time of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Revelation 7 finds fulfillment to this feast in the people that overcome the tribulation that is to come for those that follow Jesus and persevere to the end.
Revelation 7:9-17 “9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands ; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, " Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures ; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, " Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen." 13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" 14 I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 "For this reason, they are before the throne of God ; and they serve Him day and night in His temple ; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. 16 "They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat ; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life ; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."
In this passage we find the multitude holding Palm branches and also being TABERNACLED over by God. Also water is alluded to and this is a reference to the water ceremony from the pool of Siloam that marked the Feast of Tabernacles.
The lighting of the Temple Candlebras were a part of this feast that is a foreshadowing to the light of God’s presence.
Revelation 22: 5 “5 And there will no longer be any night ; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.”
Just as the pillar of fire illuminated the path of Israel in the Wilderness wandering, God will be our light in the New Heavens and New Earth.
Peter talks about the inheritance of the Christian as being Heaven.
1 Peter 1: 3-4 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,”
Conclusion:
IN these feasts we see the entire gospel and life of the Church wrapped up and fulfilled.
We learn that Jesus is the Lamb of God to take away our sins.
He died, was buried, and was resurrected as a first fruits for us to look forward to our own resurrection
The Spirit came and energized the start of the Church which is obedient to Christ and His Word
Christ will come again to Judge and Save, and there will be a great celebration.
In the ancient world there is a story that indicates a point I want to make. In 63 AD an earthquake leveled the city of Pompey. The earthquake was terrible and probably would have been a 9 on the richer scale. This earthquake was a warning of something to come. The Romans decided they would rebuild Pompey even greater. Public baths, gymnasium and a 20,000 seat theater. They rebuilt the entire city. Just seven years later at 1 pm the unthinkable happens.
Romans are there visiting Pompey maybe in the thousands, some sunning on the beach, others at work going through the normal walks of life. Many are taking a ciesta and are drinking wine in their villas, 70 gladiators are chained up in the theater getting ready for afternoon battle. Life is going on like normal and all the sudden a dormant volcano named Vesuvias erupts. It literally explodes and blows the top half of the mountain off. It had been dormant for years. The earthquake had been a natural warning sign of the seismic activity going on and the possible eruption to come. Pompey is frozen in time. People running for their lives are frozen in the lava and ash. One scene has a guard dog that was chained turned on its master and has already killed him out of fear. People have trampled one another in fear as they ran for their lives.
What do you take from this story? The entire Biblical Narrative is running to a conclusion.
WE are part of this story whether we want to admit or not. We are running a course that leads to a day of trumpet blasts, a day of destruction for those that are not prepared.
2 Peter 3: 3-4, and 10-13
3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming ? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat ! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
Peter tells us that it is much like those people at Pompey. They didn’t expect one day at 1pm to look up and have their entire world transformed into a time of terror and death.
The Lord’s Day is coming and we must be prepared. It can be a day of rejoicing or a day of destruction, horror, or eternal death.
This morning we have an opportunity to make a choice. Everyday we get up we make the choice to be converted to Christ by the life we live. We are to live in expectancy of His return. That is how this story ends, our King returns in Glory and in Him we will glorify and celebrate.
INVITATION
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