In the recent years, the amount of churches across the world that celebrate these holidays has grown. But God has given them for a far greater reason that that. 10. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29, NLT), he understood the Old Testament reference. If you are a student of Bible prophecy then the answer could, or should, be different. You may know them as the Jewish holidays,but did you know the Bible calls them Feasts of the LORD? Part 2 of the booklet was a fascinating account of how the feasts relate to the development of the baby in the womb. Following this I will do a separate study on each of the seven feasts. In fact, Passover only happened on the first day. But let's start with a series of questions to get the grey matter firing (or maybe misfiring as the case may be! It commences with the Antichrist profaning the rebuilt Temple and concludes exactly 1260 days later. God established the biblical feasts for His people to observe. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. Day of Atonement in Hebrew is called Yom Kippur. This depicted the principle that even the delicacies of life all come from free enterprise. In fact, an old Jewish tradition claims that King David was born and also died on the Feast of Pentecost. But the richness of Gods Word is that it often reveals a deeper truth if you know where to look. The generations from Abraham to David are fourteen, from David to the Babylonian captivity are fourteen, and from the captivity to Christ are fourteen. The Haggadah, the Jewish liturgy, says that at the Passover, In every generation, each person should feel as though she or he were personally redeemed from Egypt.. This was another feasts totally fulfilled by the Lord. The later autumn feasts all deal with the events at the end of the age including the rapture and resurrection, the second coming of Christ and the long awaited Messianic Kingdom on earth. All of the spring feasts were fulfilled EXACTLY in Jesus' first coming 2000 years ago. This separation signifies the two comings of Jesus Christ. It is called the intercalation when the Church Age is inserted into the Jewish Age. God also included specific signs that were appointed before the foundation of the world and represent His desire for all of mankind. It proves that there is a Creator God that guides the affairs of man. That is because the Hebrew calendar is slightly different from the western Gregorian calendar. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Since Israel was dispersed during the Church-age, our Lord first re-gathers Israel at the Second Advent. The nation of Israel had other feasts that became part of the culture throughout their history (such as Purim, the feast of Lots, celebrating the victory won in the book of Esther) but there are seven feasts specifically given by God to Moses as indicated in Leviticus chapter 23. But, as "the Lord's appointed times", we can learn a great deal from them as we shall see. You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of twotenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. (23:44), Leviticus 23 briefly covers all of the feasts of the Lord. On Yom Kippur, the tenth day of Tishri, the holiest day of the Jewish Year the Arab armies attacked Israel without warning. These look at His death, burial, and resurrection, as well as the sending of the Holy Spirit: Passover Feast of Unleavened Bread Firstfruits Feast of Weeks The Fall feasts are the most famous ones in the Jewish holiday cycle. Not everyone knows, but Pentecost is the biblical Feast of Weeks, Shavuot. The seven feasts in Lev 23 were to be celebrated annually: Passover, Unleavened Bread; First Fruits; Pentecost; Trumpets, Atonement, and then Tabernacles. - Noahs Ark Rested on Mount Ararat (GEN 8:4), After the flood destroyed all of humanity except for Noah and his family, the ark floated above the waters until, by Gods mercy, it finally came to rest, on the seventeenth day of Nisan, on Mount Ararat in Turkey. * THE 8TH DAY OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES is on Monday, October 17th at sundown through Tuesday, October 18th (service at 1PM). No human being could have understood the gestation period 3,500 years ago. Aaron, the High Priest, made Atonement for Israel for the First Time in the Wilderness. Just look at how many times that phrase is repeated in a single chapter of Leviticus: These are thefeasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. Pentecost was a one-day feast in the first week in June. Later, that meal became known as the Last Supper, and it happened the night before His crucifixion. Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. Birth takes place on the tenth day of the ninth month. These covenants are fulfilled to bornagain Jews only, not simply to racial Jews. This feast occurred exactly fifty days after the Passover, LEV 23:1521. God has given these feasts to foretell in advance the work of His Son, Jesus Christ, in specific relation to His death, resurrection and return. The final three feasts, the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled at the Second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Festival of Light called Chanukah and the holiday of Purim are times when the Jewish people celebrate God saving them from the hands of their enemies. The gap between Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets is about 5 months. Jesus is called Emmanuel, meaning God is with us (Matthew 1:23, NLT). 1CO 15:51-52, Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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 shall be changed. Four feasts occur in the spring and are connected to Jesus' first appearance on earth. When GEN 8:4 describes Noahs ark resting on Mount Ararat on the seventeenth day of the ancient calendars seventh month, it is the same day exactly as the seventeenth day of the new calendars first month which ultimately became the Feast of Firstfruits for Israel. The Day of Atonement will be fulfilled in a wonderful way when the Lord returns at His second coming. Written with Christian and Jewish audiences in mind, The Feasts of the Lord takes the reader through all the holy days of Israel. We know Jesus had a Passover meal with His disciples. WebEach feast is a prophetic mile marker in the outworking of the Lords plan of redemption from the crucifixion through the Messianic (Millennial) Kingdom, the futuremost age revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures as a dwelling for those who love the Lord. The establishment of the Jewish Holy Days was given to Moses by Jehovah, Himself. -The Exodus Passover Supper. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lords Passover. The day is called Tisha BAv and it is a day of mourning and fasting. But that isn't what this word means. (23:37) You shall keep it as afeast to the Lord (23:41) So Moses declared to the children of Israel thefeasts of the Lord. Seek refuge, do not stand {still,} For I am bringing evil from the north, And great destruction. Time alone will prove whether this interpretation is correct and whether or not the Battle of Armageddon will begin on Rosh HaShanah, known as the Feast of Trumpets. In the New Testament, the Greek term pneuma, normally translated as "breath," is applied to the "Holy Spirit." This feast taught that all Israel is not Israel. It is no mere coincidence that our Lord was sacrificed on Passover. The Relationship of Feasts to the Agricultural Economy of the Ancient World. God performed this exact ceremony with the burial of Jesus and more importantly, He performed it on the exact day of the Jewish feast. Can you see the imagery? This could possibly be the day for the Battle of Armageddon. Secondly: The trumpet was a signal for the field workers in Israel to come to the Temple, and the Jews will begin their journey back to the Temple right after the Church is Raptured. How sorrowful Israel will feel indeed, in the presence of their King. ZEC 13:6, And one will say to him, What are these wounds between your arms? Then he will say, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.. There are a few Hebrew words for feast. One is Chag, which means to circle, as in to circle dance or feast. God covers over the sins of His people through the blood of the sacrifice. Finally I want to mention a couple of books that have helped in this topic which I will be quoting from occasionally. But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. Because of the story of creation, in Hebrew the days of the week are simply called: Day First (Sunday), Day Second (Monday), Day Third The count ends with Shabbat, the seventh day. The four spring feasts are Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. Christs age of thirty-three and a half years at His death on the Feast of Passover, as evidenced by the historical information we have available would correspond precisely to this birth date of the fifteenth day of Tishri, the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles were observed during the early rains and the time of sowing. The Feast of First Fruits is one of three Jewish harvest feasts to thank and honor God for all he provided. ZEC 14:9, And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be {the only} one, and His name {the only} one. The Dedication of Solomons Temple was on the Feast of Tabernacles. The Jewish people and the state of Israel still follows this rule. This definition is rooted in the Biblical description of the Yom Kippur holiday inLeviticus23:32, where it says the holiday lasted from evening to evening. WebOther words used to describe Gods seven feasts are hag, a noun meaning a feast, and hagag, a verb meaning to hold a feast, a pilgrim feast, to celebrate a holy day (ibid., pp. Called Sukkot in Hebrew (booths), it points to the commandment of God to stay in temporary dwellings for a week. LEV 23:15-19, You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath [a Sunday], from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths [7 x 7 or 49 days]. This celebration was a feast of lighted candles, paraded and displayed as a memorial to the restoration of the freedom of spiritual life to the nation. Consecration: Living in newness of life as a New Creation in Christ and offering ourselves back to Him. Not wanting to lead the gynecologist off from the subject at hand, he didn't say anything, but continued to listen. This was a reminder that as a nation sows against divine institutions, they destroy themselves; but as they sow in the utilization of divine institutions, they become great. What we commonly refer to as the Jewish feasts should more appropriately be called Biblical Feasts or Feasts of the Lord. Especially, since in the Bible God calls these festivals simply His own. This book had been lost, it was found and celebrated on the Passover Supper, 2CH 34:14-15; 2CH 35:1. Thats when they began the first of many complaints to Moses: EXO 14:11-12, Then they said to Moses, Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? It was this spiritual (not natural / outward) that Paul spoke about when he wrote: It is the second pilgrimage holiday and it opens the season of harvest in Israel. The feasts of the Lord are the public calling of God for anyone to come to these holy convocations. When God created the world, He did so in six days. To those at Colossae Paul wrote: Although there is no clear, scriptural proof of the exact date of the birth of Christ, Johns Gospel is very suggestive that the day was in fact the Feast of Tabernacles when he uses the unusual word tabernacled to describe the birth of Christ. And for twenty-four hours the people were to do no work but were to spend the entire time confessing their sins that they had committed during the past year. Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? This is where God first taught about the 'Passover' and 'Unleavened Bread' as mentioned in Exodus 12. In the haste of the Israelites to leave Egypt, there was no time to add leaven (yeast) to their bread. That arrival was the day the Church was born Pentecost and the harvest began with 3,000 souls. On this day, Israels rejected Messiah will finally be accepted by the nation He chose. There will be perfect objectivity in the administration of justice. The New Testament commentary on this feast (known today as Yom Kippur is found in ROM 3:2326 and HEB 9:2428. Apparently these individuals had just recently died because for them to appear to many as a miraculous event, the many would have had to know that they died! Through Jesus, this plan was revealed. 3. The unleavened bread that is eaten reminds Israel of that terrible but hopeful night when the Jews ate the sacrificial lamb and unleavened bread in obedience to Gods command. The Feast of the First Fruits was held during the wheat harvest. - A second great event which happened on the Feast of Firstfruits, the seventeenth day of Nisan, is Israel miraculously crossed over the Red Sea. For the Jews of his time, understanding the Old Testament was key to discovering that Jesus is their promised Messiah. These feasts deal with the death and resurrection of Christ as well as the sending of the Holy Spirit. In English followed by the Hebrew names in brackets: Are believers told to keep the feasts today? - The first day of the month was the Feast of Trumpets and the new moon. Neither shall you do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. Its correlation with the human gestation period is not only remarkable; it proves "Intelligent Design." The Church-age as an intercalated dispensation was unknown to any Old Testament writer, ROM 16:2526; EPH 3:16; COL 1:2526. And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised [the Holy Spirit], Which, He said, you heard of from Me; And the Holy Spirit did come exactly on the day of the feast. The Beginning of the Kingdom Age, the Millennium. There are historically important events which have happened on the Feast of Firstfruits, the seventeenth day of Nisan. The first Holy day God set aside is the Sabbath day, which is to be observed every week. Let me just say right from the start here that the feasts which God gave to the nation of Israel (and are often called the feasts of Israel) are incredible in their truth about Jesus and for their prophetic revelation concerning God's plan to redeem and retake this planet. Weve put this guide together for you so that you have all you need to know about these holidays that God calls His own. During Passover, while the Lord sent the destroyer to slay all the first born of Egypt, the children of Israel prepared to leave Egypt in a hurry. The Hebrew word is 'mo'ed' which means 'an appointment, that is, a fixed time or season; specifically a festival'. Israel now waited for three days at the base of Mount Sinai for Moses to return from conversing with God. The Lord himself was with the Israelites in the desert, in a tented temple called the tabernacle, so the feast also celebrates his presence as he tabernacles (dwells) with us. However, God changed Israels calendar so that, from the time of the Exodus, their New Years Day began in the Spring on the first day of the month of Nisan, around March or April. In the Bible, who came up with the idea of having feasts? The prophet Zechariah, after describing the Battle of Armageddon, goes on to describe a supernatural out-flowing of grace to the Jewish remnant several days after their Messiah defends them at the Battle of Armageddon. ), Unlocking the secrets of the Feasts - Michael Norton (a smaller, quicker read but with some interesting information), After the Rapture - Jerry L. Dart (a very comprehensive book on Bible prophecy/end times in general but includes useful information on the 'days of awe' between the feast of Trumpets and the day of Atonement.). To make atonement is to make restitution for wrongs committed. When they arrived at the Red Sea, after camping in the desert, they looked back and saw the approaching Egyptian army. Observant Jews still celebrate them now. The biblical calendar reckons the beginning of a new day from sunset as God did at creation. It is no coincidence that, on the same day of Pentecost in which God appeared to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai and revealed to man a new relationship based upon His sacred Law that He again revealed to man a new relationship based on the Holy Spirit. However, in Israel today, the year starts in early fall but more on that further below. This day reminds us what a gift we have in Jesus, who became the ultimate atonement for our sins. God gave very specific directions for counting the proper number of days until the Feast of Harvest which we refer to as Pentecost. 1. That will be our focus. The Hebrews who believed God to keep them safe were protected from death by the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. - On days 1521 was the Feast of Tabernacles. EXO 12:1-2, Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.. It is a clear picture of the sacrifice of Jesus, who saved us through his death on the Cross. So let me ask you: If you had all the events of mankind's history to chose from, which seven events would you choose as the most important to celebrate each year?2 What we find is that each of the feasts find their fulfillment in the life of the Messiah Jesus and God's plan to redeem this world! Samson Raphael Hirsch The Heptadic Calendar 52 sabbaths + 7 days of Passover (including its related feast days) + 1 Shavout, Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) + 1 Yom Teruah, Feast of Trumpets At a natural level each of the feasts celebrated some aspect of Jewish history. You'll also receive ongoing updates about our work. The feasts were given to the nation of Israel, as part of their law, to be celebrated each year. It must have been a major argument of the disciples following Pentecost, as they witnessed to the Jews, that the feasts had been totally fulfilled in a remarkable fashion by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is both commemorative and prophetic in its meaning. Next, the gynecologist said, "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the lungs become fully developed. They are: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Weeks. 6. This passage tells us the time when all believers who had died were transferred from Paradise in Hades to the third heaven or new Paradise. Some scholars believe that the final three festivals: the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled at the climactic Battle of Armageddon and the ushering in of the Millennium. The first section includes the "Passover," the Feasts of "Unleavened Bread," of "First-Fruits" and At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son. The Lord confirmed His covenant with Abraham on the first Passover. The Jewish fourth of July held on December twenty-fifth is a holiday that continues until January 1, called Hanukkah. These feasts were to be celebrated from the time in the wilderness when God gave the law and would carry on into the future. ), Let's start with some general questions and then I'll give the answers. In the Hebrew calendar, a day runs from one sunset to the next. Youre invited to explore what it means to be part of the kingdom of heaven here on earth in our free, 7-day devotional called A Place at the Table.. This occurs in the fall or in September. For a year Noah and his family had floated upon the waters wondering if they would ever see land again. Unleavened bread emphasizes the impeccability of the humanity of Christ and therefore His qualification to be our sin offering. You may be wondering, should Christians observe the biblical feasts? The Elapse of Time between Feasts for the Church Age. However, he also clearly revealed that the festivals or the feasts were intended by the Lord as prophetic signs of future events. 42 You shall dwell in [ g]booths for seven days. If you are like me, when you hear 'feast' you think 'food' and possibly/hopefully lots of it. Passover. So, lets dive deeper into what they are. We can celebrate the miracles He has done.